Oklahoma

The aircraft departed Bridgeport, Connecticut, for California at 1245LT carrying two crew members. Two stops were then made at White Plains,N. Y. and at LaGuardia Field where 2 passengers boarded the aircraft. At 1346 the flight left La Guardia for Tulsa, Oklahoma, under Visual Flight Rules and no flight plan was filed. At Tulsa the aircraft was refueled with 906 gallons of gasoline which filled to capacity both main tanks, the nose tank and the rear fuselage tank. After the pilots were briefed by the Tulsa U.S. Weather Bureau Office, an Instrument Flight Rules flight plan was filed with the Air Route Traffic Centre. At 2114LT Oklahoma City Airway Communications Station received a call from the flight on 126.7 mcs requesting cancellation of the IFR flight plan and asking for a landing clearance at Oklahoma City. The flight was given the special 2100LT weather as 10,000 feet overcast, sky partially obscured, fog. visibility 1-1/2 miles, and was advised to contact RAPCON (Radar Approach Control) on 119.3 mcs for a clearance to land as IFR conditions prevailed. The crew advised that it desired clearance for Will Rogers Field. This was the last radio contact with the aircraft. It crashed at 2117LT 2 3/8 miles northwest of Union City, Oklahoma, and 23 miles west of Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma City. Two explosions were heard in the air prior to the crash and portions of the empennage and fuselage were found along the last 3 miles of the flight path. All four occupants were killed, among them George Skakel Sr., founder of Great Lakes Carbon Corporation and his wife Ann.

While cruising by night at an altitude of 5,500 feet in good weather conditions, the engine number three caught fire. The crew feathered the propeller and received the permission to divert to Gage municipal Airport for an emergency landing. Following a normal landing, the right main gear collapsed. The aircraft veered off runway and came to rest in flames. All 82 occupants were able to evacuate safely while the aircraft was totally destroyed by fire.

Just after liftoff, while in initial climb, the twin engine aircraft stalled and crashed 75 yards from the runway. All four occupants were injured, one of them seriously.

Aircraft Commander Major Charles Crecelius, Pilot Major William Apgar, and Co-pilot Captain Harold Barry, a crew of thirteen, and a civilian observer took off from Carswell AFB in B-36D, 49-2658 of the 436th Bomb Squadron of the 7th Bomb Wing at 8:00 A.M. on April 27, 1951. 49-2658 was an element in a flight of three B-36Ds. Their mission included bombing practice at the Midland, Texas bombing range followed by gunner training with a simulated air attack by North American F-51D Mustangs near Oklahoma City. Four Mustangs from the 185th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron took off from Will Rogers Field in Oklahoma City at 1:20 in the afternoon. They climbed to 20,000 feet altitude to intercept the bombers. They made a series of passes by the bombers to give their gunners practice tracking real airplanes. Training began with a series of high side passes. Then the B-36D reversed course for a series of high frontal passes. Major Crecelius flew the B-36D straight and level at 20,000 feet altitude. One of the regular gunners was back at Carswell AFB occupied by other duties, so Crew Chief M/Sgt William Blair was invited back to the rear compartment to man the lower left gunner station. Each Mustang flew past the B-36D, headed the same direction as the bomber, and then made a 180 degree turn to approach it from the front. The gunners aboard the B-36D tracked the F-51Ds with their General Electric manufactured gun sighting mechanisms, shooting pictures instead of bullets. A flight of two Mustangs piloted by Captain Robinson Risner and 1st Lt Fred Black made a high frontal pass on the bomber. The gunners estimated that Captain Risner's Mustang passed less than 100 feet below the wing of the B-36D. Radio Operator T/Sgt Albert Wolf commented over the intercom, "Man, he nearly hit the props". In the rear compartment, Crew Chief M/Sgt William Blair exclaimed, "He went between the props, didn't he?" As Lt Black approached in his F-51D, Wolf asked, "What's this guy going to do?" The gunners in the rear compartment never saw Lt. Black's Mustang, but they felt the collision. The F-51D hit the fuselage of the B-36D on the top left about nine feet back from the nose. The Mustang broke into two big pieces and lots of small chunks and burst into flames. The three surviving Mustang pilots saw two flaming objects tumble away from the B-36D. The B-36D porpoised for several seconds and pitched up into a steep climb. Then it fell off to the left into a spiral dive. Flight Engineer 1st Lt. Elroy Melberg manned the lower left gunner's station in the rear compartment. His first attempt to head for the exit hatch was thwarted by the web safety straps that connected his parachute harness to the floor. Precious seconds passed as he struggled to unclip his parachute harnesses from the safety straps. He had to use both hands to unfasten the clips as the pitching of the B-36D kept throwing him off balance. Gunner T/Sgt Milton Hewitt was in the lower right gunner's station across from 1st Lt Melberg. T/Sgt Hewitt refused to wear his parachute pack and had ridiculed crew members who wore them. His first impulse was to get to the bunk where he had left his parachute pack. Crew Chief M/Sgt William Blair was giving Gunner T/Sgt Milton Hewitt a replacement gun film canister when the collision occurred. M/Sgt. Blair injured his left leg as he was thrown against the bunks by the impact. He grabbed the exit hatch, but it would not open against the compartment pressurization. M/Sgt Blair called to T/Sgt. Hewitt to open the emergency pressure dump valve, but Hewitt was trying to get to his bunk to retrieve his parachute pack. They ran into each other as Blair reached for the pressure dump valve. Gunner T/Sgt Dick Thrasher occupied the upper left gunner's station. He had been aboard B-36B, 44-92075 when the crew was forced to bail out over Vancouver Island on February 13, 1950. Gunner T/Sgt Ellis Maxon sat across from T/Sgt. Thrasher in the upper right gunner's station. They climbed down the ladders to the exit hatch as the gyrations of the crippled bomber flung them about. M/Sgt. Blair dumped the pressure in the compartment and T/Sgt Thrasher pulled open the exit hatch. T/Sgt Thrasher lay down on his left side next to the exit hatch, grabbed the edge of the hatch and rolled himself headfirst out through the narrow opening. Having never bailed out of an airplane before, M/Sgt Blair paid careful attention to T/Sgt Thrasher's method of egress, intending to copy his moves. M/Sgt Blair assisted 1st Lt Melberg to release his parachute harness from the safety straps. He found the exit hatch blocked by the seven-foot long wooden dip stick that was used to measure the amount of fuel in the tanks. He moved the dip stick out of the way, but it fell across the hatch again. He injured the fingers of his right hand in the effort to get out the hatch. He crawled under the dipstick and stuck his head out the hatch. At that moment, the tail section of the B-36D ripped away from the rest of the fuselage from the bottom to the top at the forward bulkhead of the rear crew compartment. T/Sgt Maxon, 1st Lt Melberg, and M/Sgt Blair were thrown from the rear crew compartment as it ripped open. T/Sgt Hewitt was last seen trying to get his parachute pack from his bunk, but he did not survive the crash. The air around the survivors was filled with falling metal debris. One of the turret bay doors struck the shroud lines of M/Sgt Blair and the tail section tumbled past him on the way down. 1st Lt Melberg's parachute shroud lines struck him in the throat as his parachute opened. His disorientation and the nausea from the pain caused him to vomit repeatedly during the descent. The chest strap and quick release button of TSgt. Maxon's parachute hit him in the face and throat as his parachute opened, but he was too relieved to have escaped from the airplane to notice any pain. None of the twelve men in the forward compartment were able to escape from the falling bomber as it spun to the ground:
Maj Charles Crecelius, pilot,
Maj William Apgar, copilot,
Cpt Harold Barry, copilot,
Maj Aurther Burmeister, navigator,
Maj Robert Renner, radar observer,
Cpt William Walsh, radar observer,
Cpt William Zurivitza, radar observer,
Ernest Cox Jr., flight engineer,
T/Sgt Nathan Fetters, radio operator,
T/Sgt Albert Wolf, radio operator,
T/Sgt Edward Ennis, radar mechanic,
Benedict O'Conner, civilian observer.
Wreckage from the B-36D fell across 3-1/2 miles of Oklahoma pasture land, ten miles south of the town of Perkins, Oklahoma and 37 miles north northeast of Tinker AFB at 1:41 P.M. CST. The F-51D impacted 12 miles south of Stillwater with 1st Lt Fred Black still in the cockpit. The four survivors saw several other empty parachutes descending with them. They were unable to control the oscillation of their parachutes. Each of them hit the ground in an uncontrolled fashion. T/Sgt Maxon landed in a 3-foot deep ditch and injured the medial meniscus of both knees. As he was dragged a short distance by his parachute, he suffered abrasions to his right knee, contusions to his left thumb and the left side of his neck, and a laceration to his scalp. M/Sgt Blair's parachute dragged him a few feet after landing, and he suffered additional abrasions on his leg, abdomen, and lower left eyelid. T/Sgt Thrasher and 1st Lt Melberg also suffered rough landings. M/Sgt Blair landed just 100 yards from the home of a civilian oil company employee. The civilian got his company car and drove Blair to the place where T/Sgt Maxon and 1st Lt Melberg had come down. Melberg looked pretty beat up, so the civilian took him and Blair to the doctor in Perkins, Oklahoma. T/Sgt Thrasher and T/Sgt Maxon were picked up by officers of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and were also transported to the doctor in Perkins. The fuel tanks in the wings of the B-36D ruptured when it hit the ground. The gasoline erupted in flames, but a large portion of the fuel drained down the hill away from the crash. The resulting grass fire burned about 8 acres. It burned itself out before emergency vehicles from Tinker AFB arrived at the crash site approximately two hours after the crash. The parachute and billfold of one of the deceased crew members on the B-36D were found 40 miles northeast of the main crash site.
Source & photos:
http://www.air-and-space.com/b-36 wrecks.htm#49-2658

Crashed on landing. There were no casualties.

The flight departed Minneapolis, Minnesota, at 0746LT, bound for Houston, Texas, via schedules intermediate points. A crew change was made at Kansas City, Missouri, and no mechanical discrepancies were reported by the incoming crew with the exception that the left engine torque meter pressure indication was approximately 90 FSI, the normal being approximately 145 PSI The flight departed Kansas City and proceeded in a routine manner to Tulsa, arriving at 1244. The left engine, torque meter pressure indicator was considered inoperative because of its low reading, and was, therefore, disregarded during the flight 2. Following touchdown at Tulsa, the propellers were placed in reverse thrust, and when being returned to positive thrust, the left propeller went to the full feathered position and the engine ceased operation. While taxiing to the loading ramp, attempts were made to start the left engine but were not successful. On departure from Tulsa, no difficulty was encountered in starting the left engine, and the propeller which was in the full feathered position was returned to the low pitch position by use of the propeller governor control. Take-off was accomplished from Tulsa at 1302LT, with 29 passengers, including one infant, and a flight crew consisting of Paul C. Walters, captain, Forrest A. Hull, copilot, Cecelia Littell and loan Stoltenberg, the two stewardesses. Total aircraft weight was 40,304 pounds, which was within the allowable gross weight of 40,500 pounds, and the load was distributed so that the center of gravity was within the certificated limits. Prior to take-off, the engines were run up and the pre-flight check accomplished using a check list. All items checked satisfactorily, with the exception that the left engine torque meter pressure indicator was abnormally low. Flaps were positioned at 24 degrees for take-off. The take-of roll was started on Runway 12, and the signal devices in the cockpit indicated that the automatic feathering unit and the anti-detonation injection unit were functioning. During the take-off roll, the copilot called out the following indicated air speeds. VMC, 107 miles per hour, V1, 121 miles per hour, and V2, 122 miles per hour. The aircraft became airborne at 124 miles per hour, or slightly higher. The landing gear was immediately retracted and the air speed was then observed to be 145 miles per hour at this time, at an altitude estimated to be not over 50 feet, the left propeller was observed to feather and then immediately to rotate slowly. It continued to rotate until the aircraft struck the ground. The crew first became aware that the left engine was malfunctioning when a severe vibration was felt immediately after the gear had been retracted and at the same time the aircraft yawed to the left momentarily. Both engine controls were left at the take-off setting, and a single-engine climb was then initiated. The air speed decreased to approximately 124 miles per hour during the climb to a maximum altitude of approximately 150 feet. At this point, since it was doubtful that this air speed could be maintained, the aircraft was leveled off and a shallow turn to the left was made to avoid flying over a building. As the aircraft started turning at an approximate air speed of 122 miles per hour, the captain, according to the copilot, gave the command to retract the flaps from the 24-degree position to the 12-degree position. The copilot states that he immediately executed the command, stopping the retraction of the flaps at 12 degrees. The captain states that he gave the following command, “ 12-degree flaps. No, leave them where they are.” However, the captain testified that the command was given when the air speed was 107 miles per hour and at a point approximately 3000 feet further along the flight path than where the copilot stated he retracted the flaps. While in the left turn, the aircraft was observed to lose altitude steadily until it struck a grove of trees at a point approximately 17 feet above the ground. After striking the trees it slid on the ground on the underside of the fuselage. All passengers and crew were evacuated safely and in an orderly manner. The aircraft was destroyed by fire.

Shortly after takeoff from runway 17, while in initial climb, the throttle linkage failed on the right engine. The aircraft stalled and crashed one mile southwest of the runway end. All crew members were injured and the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Crashed on takeoff. Crew fate unknown.

The crew was performing a flight from Cherry Point AFB (North Carolina) to Moffett AFB, California, with an intermediate stop in Tinker AFB near Oklahoma City. During the final approach, the left engine failed. The aircraft stalled and crashed in flames in a field. All six occupants were injured while the aircraft was partially destroyed by fire.

Just after liftoff, while in initial climb, the aircraft stalled and crashed. A pilot was killed and the second occupant was injured.