List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft, pre-1950

This is a list of notable accidents and incidents involving military aircraft grouped by the year in which the accident or incident occurred. For more exhaustive lists, see the [http://www.baaa-acro.com/ Aircraft Crash Record Office] or the [http://aviation-safety.net/ Air Safety Network] .

:See also: List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft, 1950-1974:See also: List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft, 1975-1999:See also: List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft, 2000 -

1908

*17 September - Army Signal Corps Wright Model A, Army serial number "1", piloted by Orville Wright, crashed at Ft. Myer, Virginia, killing Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge. Rebuilt. Retired 4 May 1911, and now in Smithsonian Institution National Air & Space Museum, Washington, D.C. Selfridge AFB, Michigan, was later named for the first U.S. military aircrash victim.

1913

*9 September - Imperial German Navy Zeppelin, "L 1", LZ14, pushed down into the North Sea in a thunderstorm, drowning 14 crew members. This was the first Zeppelin incident in which fatalities occurred.
*17 October - Imperial German Navy Zeppelin "L 2", LZ18, destroyed by an exploding engine during a test flight - the entire crew was killed.

1914

*12 August - Sole Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.4, "628", crashlands at 1145 hrs. while being flown by Norman Spratt when one of the wheels collapsed, airframe overturning, sustaining such extensive damage that it is abandoned. [Bruce, J.M., "War Planes of the First World War, Fighters, Volume Two", Doubleday & Company Inc., Garden City, New York, 1968, Library of Congress card number 65-25323, page 72.]

1915

*6 March - First fatal accident involving Japanese Naval aviators occurs when Yokosho-built Navy Type Mo Large Seaplane (Maurice Farman 1914 Seaplane), serial number 15, crashed at sea with Sub-Lieuts. Tozaburo Adachi and Takao Takerube, and W/O 3/c Hisanojo Yanase on board, all KWF. [Mikesh, Robert C., and Abe, Shorzoe, "Japanese Aircraft 1910-1941", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 1990, ISBN 1-55750-563-2, page 265.]
*17 November - Imperial German Navy Zeppelin, "L 18", LZ52, destroyed in shed fire at Tondern during refilling.

1916

* Afternoon of 7 June - Fokker's chief designer and test pilot Martin Kreutzer takes a Fokker D.I for test flight, but when he kicks rudder hard over, it jams and he is severely injured in subsequent crash, dying in hospital the next day. [Westburg, Peter, "Deadly D-VIII", Wings, Granada Hills, California, April 1979, Volume 9, Number 2, page 43.]
*3 September - Imperial German Army Zeppelin "LZ86", LZ56, crashed when the fore and aft nacelles broke away from the ship's hull after a raid.
* Night of 6 September - The Roland (Luftfahrzeug Gesellschaft mbH, or LFG) Adlershof, Germany, aircraft plant burns, destroying seven complete aircraft, including the prototype Roland C.III (and only one built), as well as ten fuselages. Assembly jigs and fixtures, models and some drawings are salvaged and production resumes a week later in commandeered Automobile Exhibition Hall.Abbott, Dan S., and Grosz, Peter M. "The Benighted Rolands", Air Enthusiast Quarterly, Bromley, Kent., U.K., Volume 3, 1976, pages 39-40.]
*16 September - Two Imperial German Navy Zeppelins destroyed when "L 6", LZ31, took fire during refilling of gas in its hanger at Fuhlsbüttel and burnt down together with "L 9", LZ36.
*21 September - One only prototype Avro 521 fighter, "1811", (a serial that duplicated one assigned to a Bleriot monoplane), assigned to Central Flying School Upavon, crashes killing pilot Lt. W.H.S. Garnett. [Bruce, J.M., "War Planes of the First World War, Fighters, Volume One", Doubleday & Company Inc., Garden City, New York, 1965, Library of Congress card number 65-25323, page 38.]
*7 November - Imperial German Army Zeppelin "LZ90", LZ60, broke loose in the direction of the North Sea in a storm and never seen again.
*12 December - Sole prototype of Kishi No.2 "Tsurugi-go" ("Sword" type) Aeroplane, 'II', single-engine pusher biplane, makes first and last flight when Lt. Inoue lifts off, immediately banks sharply to port, wingtip contacts ground, airframe cartwheels sustaining considerable damage. Cause of accident assumed to be due to the sweptback wing design. [Mikesh, Robert C., and Abe, Shorzoe, "Japanese Aircraft 1910-1941", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 1990, ISBN 1-55750-563-2, page 80.]
*28 December - Imperial German Navy Zeppelin "L 24", LZ69, crashed into a wall while being "stabled", broke its back, and burned out together with "L 17", LZ53.
*29 December - Imperial German Navy Zeppelin "L 38", LZ84, damaged beyond repair in a forced landing (due to heavy snowfall) during an attempted raid on Reval and Saint Petersburg.

1917

*28 January - Royal Aircraft Factory test pilot Maj. Frank W. Goodden is killed in the second prototype S.E.5, "A4562" at RAE Farnborough, when it breaks up in flight. Inspection found that the wings had suffered failure in downward torsion. Plywood webs were added to the compression ribs, curing the trouble and were standardized on all later S.E.5s and 5a's. [Bruce, J.M., "War Planes of the First World War, Fighters, Volume Two", Doubleday & Company Inc., Garden City, New York, 1968, Library of Congress card number 65-25323, page 78.] London, U.K.: Aeroplane, Maynard, John, "Think of the Risks...", March 2006, Volume 34, Number 3, No. 395, page 31.]
*7 February - Imperial German Navy Zeppelin "L 36", LZ82, damaged during landing in fog at Rehben-an-der-Aller and decommissioned.
*16 June - Imperial German Navy Zeppelin "L 40", LZ88, damaged beyond repair in a failed landing at Nordholz.
*7 August - Squadron Commander Edwin H. Dunning, RNAS, (17 July 1892 - 7 August 1917) during landing attempt aboard HMS "Furious", Pennant number 47, in Sopwith Pup, "N6452", decides to go around before touchdown, but Le Rhône rotary engine chokes, Pup stalls and falls into the water off the starboard bow. Pilot stunned, drowns in the 20 minutes before rescuers reach still-floating airframe. Dunning had made two previous successful landings on "Furious", the first-ever aboard a moving vessel.Bruce, J.M., "Sopwith's Pedigree Pup", Air Enthusiast Quarterly, Bromley, Kent., U.K., Volume 4, 1976, pages 204.]
*25 August - First Vickers F.B.26 Vampire, "unnumbered", piloted by Vickers test pilot Harold Barnwell, crashes at Joyce Green, when he attempts a spin without sufficient altitude for recovery. Pilot KWF. [Bruce, J.M., "War Planes of the First World War, Fighters, Volume Three", Doubleday & Company Inc., Garden City, New York, 1969, Library of Congress card number 65-25323, pages 127-128.]
*19 October - Imperial German Navy Zeppelin "L 16", LZ50, damaged beyond repair in a forced landing near Brunsbüttel.
*December - Second prototype Sopwith Snipe, "B9963", tricky to fly as its 230 hp. Bentley BR2 rotary engine had immense torque that made directional control difficult, as well as being tail heavy while climbing, and nose heavy while diving, crashes, probably at RAE Farnborough, England. [Connors, John F., "The 11th Hour Sopwiths", Wings, Granada Hills, California, February 1976, Volume 6, Number 1, pages13-14.] This airframe may have been a rebuild of B.R.1 prototype. [Bruce, J.M., "War Planes of the First World War, Fighters, Volume Three", Doubleday & Company Inc., Garden City, New York, 1969, Library of Congress card number 65-25323, page 21.]

1918

*5 January - Imperial German Navy Zeppelin, "L 47", LZ87, destroyed by a giant explosion at the air base in Ahlhorn, along with "L 46", LZ94, "L 51", LZ97, and "L 58", LZ105, and one non-Zeppelin-type airship, stabled in three adjacent hangars. This is supposed to have been an accident, though sabotage could not be ruled out.
*10 March - Sole prototype Nieuport B.N.1, "C3484", operating out of Sutton's Farm, a home aerodrome, Great Britain, catches fire in the air and is destroyed. No further development undertaken. [Bruce, J.M., "War Planes of the First World War, Fighters, Volume One", Doubleday & Company Inc., Garden City, New York, 1965, Library of Congress card number 65-25323, page 171.]
*28 March - Sole prototype of the Breguet LE (Laboratoire Eiffel), a single-seat fighter monoplane, crashes on its second flight, out of Villacoublay, France, when it dives into the ground at full-throttle, killing pilot Jean Sauclière. Further development suspended. [Green, William, and Swanborough, Gordon, "Fighter A To Z", AIR International, Bromley, Kent, U.K., September 1974, Volume 7, Number 3, page 152.]
*13 August - Jarvis Jennes Offutt, (1894-1918), becomes the first fatality among natives of Omaha, Nebraska in World War I, when his S.E.5 crashed during a training flight near Valheureux, France, and succumbs to his injuries. The Flying Field, Fort George Crook, Nebraska renamed Offutt Field, 6 May 1924.
*19 August - First of three crashes of new Fokker E.V. ("Eindekker Versuchs", or monoplane experimental), six of which are delivered to "Jasta" 6 of the Imperial German Air Force on 7 August, to occur in a week, kills "Leutnant" Emil Rolff when wing fails, and, like the Fokker Triplane before it, the type is grounded for investigation. Problem traced to shoddy workmanship at the Mecklenburg factory where defective wood spars, water damage to glued parts, and pins carelessly splintering the members instead of securing them are discovered. Upon return to service two months later, design is renamed the Fokker D.VIII in an effort to distance type's reputation as a killer. Rolff had scored the first kill in the type on 17 August. [Connors, John F., "Fokker's Flying Razors", Wings, Granada Hills, California, August 1974, Volume 4, Number 4, pages 45, 48.] [Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War I, Military Press, New York, 1990, page 148, ISBN 0-517-03376-3.]

1919

*9 April - Second of only two Bristol M.R.1 metal-covered, two-seat biplanes built, "A5178", flown by Capt. Barnwell, strikes pine tree on approach to RAE Farnborough's North Gate and is written off. [Bruce, J.M., "War Planes of the First World War, Fighters, Volume One", Doubleday & Company Inc., Garden City, New York, 1965, Library of Congress card number 65-25323, page 110.]
*July - Three-engine bomber, designed by Juan de la Cierva, reminiscent of the German Gotha, is destroyed on its first flight. Pilot, Capt. Rios, is shaken up but survives.
*Summer - Sole flying prototype of Curtiss 18-B two-bay biplane version of 18-T triplane trainer, USAAS "40058", 'P-86', crashes early in flight trials at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio. Type not ordered into production. One non-flying prototype also delivered for static testing. [Green, William, and Swanborough, Gordon, "Fighter A To Z", AIR International, Bromley, Kent, U.K., February 1976, Volume 10, Number 2, page 98.]

1921

*23 March - In an all-night training flight, a U.S. Navy free balloon launches from NAS Pensacola, Florida, with five crew and drifts over the Gulf of Mexico. Two messages received by pigeon indicate it first is 20 miles from
*24 August - The British airship "R38" ("ZR-2") due to be delivered to the United States Navy as the "ZR-2", broke in two on a test flight near Hull, England, half falling to the ground in flames. 44 died, including British Air Commodore E.M. Maitland, Leader of Airships.Vaeth, J. Gordon, "They Sailed the Skies: U.S. Navy Balloons and the Airship Program", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 2005, ISBN 1-59114-914-2, pages 22-23.]
*28 December - Second Lieutenant Samuel Howard Davis (1896-1921) is killed in the crash of Curtiss JN-6HG-1 (possibly USAAS serial "44796", seen wrecked at Carlstrom AAF, date unknown) [ [http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/1908-1920.html 1908-1921 USAAS Serial Numbers ] ] in which he was a passenger, at Carlstrom Field, Arcadia, Florida. Davis-Monthan Landing Field, later Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona, is named in part for him, 1 November 1925. He attended high school in that community.Mueller, Robert, "Air Force Bases Volume 1: Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982", United States Air Force Historical Research Center, Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C., 1989, ISBN 0-912799-53-6, page 97.]

1922

*21 February - U.S. Army semi-rigid (blimp with a keel) Roma, bought from Italy, formerly "T34", buckled in flight, nosed into the ground, struck power lines at Army supply base, Norfolk, Virginia, and burst into flames, killing 34 of 45 on board. This would remain the worst American aviation accident until the loss of the Accident spurs American lighter-than-air operations to switch to helium, less buoyant than hydrogen, but non-inflammable.
*22 October: 1st Lt. Harold R. Harris becomes the first member of the U.S. Army Air Service to save his life by parachute, when the Loening PW-2A he is testing out of McCook Field, Ohio, suffers vibration, loses part of left wing or aileron, so he parts company with the airframe, landing safely.Maurer Maurer, "Aviation in the U.S. Army, 1919-1939", United States Air Force Historical Research Center, Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C., 1987, ISBN 0-912799-38-2, page 163.] McCook Field personnel create the "Caterpiller Club" for those whose lives are saved by parachute bail-out with Harris the plank-holding member.
*11 November - 1st Lt. Frank B. Tyndall is the second U.S. Army Air Service pilot to utilize a parachute in a life-saving effort when the Boeing-built MB-3A he is testing at Seattle, Washington sheds its wings in flight almost directly over the Boeing factory.Maurer Maurer, "Aviation in the U.S. Army, 1919-1939", United States Air Force Historical Research Center, Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C., 1987, ISBN 0-912799-38-2, page 163.]

1923

*31 July - RAF Bristol F.2B, "E2431", crashes at RAF (Cadet) College, Cranwell, when it stalls during landing. Aircraft was marked incorrectly "1342E". [London, U.K.: Aeroplane, Jarrett, Philip, "Lost & Found: Mistaken Identity", October 2006, Volume 34, Number 10, No. 402, page 12.]
*23 September - 1st Lts. Robert S. Olmsted and John W. Shoptaw enter U.S. Army balloon "S-6" in international balloon race from Brussels, despite threatening weather which causes some competitors to drop out. "S-6" collides with Belgian balloon, "Ville de Bruxelles" on launch, tearing that craft's netting and knocking it out of the race. Lightning strikes "S-6" over Nistelrode, Holland, killing Olmsted outright, and Shoptaw in the fall. Switzerland's "Génève" is also hit, burns, killing two on board, as is Spain's "Polar", killing one crew immediately, second crewman jumps from 100 feet, breaking both legs. Three other balloons are also forced down.Maurer Maurer, "Aviation in the U.S. Army, 1919-1939", United States Air Force Historical Research Center, Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C., 1987, ISBN 0-912799-38-2, page 174.] Vaeth, J. Gordon, "They Sailed the Skies: U.S. Navy Balloons and the Airship Program", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 2005, ISBN 1-59114-914-2, page 17-18.] Middletown Air Depot, Pennsylvania, was later renamed Olmsted AFB.
*23 November - First of only three Bristol Jupiter Fighters, essentially adaptations of the F.2B airframe converted with 425 hp. Bristol Jupiter IV engines and oleo-type undercarriage, crashes due an engine seizure at high altitude. Second conversion was sold to Sweden in May 1924, and third was converted to a dual-control trainer. [Green, William, and Swanborough, Gordon, "Fighter A To Z", AIR International, Bromley, Kent, U.K., January 1975, Volume 8, Number 1, page 46.]

1924

*27 March - British-born 2nd Lt. Oscar Monthan (1885-1924) is killed when his Martin NBS-1 bomber of the 5th Composite Group fails to clear baseball field backstop on takeoff from Luke Field, Oahu, Hawaiian Islands. Davis-Monthan Landing Field, later Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona, is named in part for him, 1 November 1925. He attended high school in that community.Mueller, Robert, "Air Force Bases Volume 1: Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982", United States Air Force Historical Research Center, Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C., 1989, ISBN 0-912799-53-6, page 97.]

1925

* 3 September - The USS "Shenandoah" airship, "ZR-1", crashed after encountering thunderstorms near Ava, Ohio after an in flight break up due to cloud suck about 0445 hrs. Fourteen of 43 aboard are killed. The ship's commanding officer, Lt. Cdr. Zachery Lansdowne is killed on what was to have been his final flight before reassignment to sea duty.Vaeth, J. Gordon, "They Sailed the Skies: U.S. Navy Balloons and the Airship Program", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 2005, ISBN 1-59114-914-2, pages 32-33.]

1926

*22 March - On its seventh test flight during tests at Taura Beach, Yokosuka, Japan, the Kaibo Gikai KB experimental flying boat is seen in a glide with both engines stopped, which steepens until it strikes the water in a near-vertical attitude, killing all four crew. Cause attributed to a malfunction of the flight control system. [Mikesh, Robert C., and Abe, Shorzoe, "Japanese Aircraft 1910-1941", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 1990, ISBN 1-55750-563-2, page 59.]
*11 August - Second Lieutenant Eugene Hoy Barksdale is killed when the Douglas O-2 observation plane he was testing went into an uncontrollable spin over McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio. His parachute snagged on the wingstruts, preventing escape from the aircraft. Barksdale Field, later Barksdale Air Force Base, is named for him upon establishment at the Military Reservation, Bossier Parish, Louisiana on 2 February 1933.Mueller, Robert, "Air Force Bases Volume 1: Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982", United States Air Force Historical Research Center, Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C., 1989, ISBN 0-912799-53-6, page 15.]

1927

*February - RAF Cierva C.6J autogyro, "J8068", based on an Avro 504K fuselage, constructed by A.V. Roe at Hamble, Hampshire, flown by test pilot Frank T. Courtney, suffers spectacular crash at Hamble in which two opposing rotor blades come loose in flight after failure of tubular rivet fitted in the rotor blade spar root, coming down adjacent to rail line crossing the airfield. Pilot survives.
*29 September - Georg Wulf, co-founder of Focke-Wulf, is killed in the crash of the first Focke-Wulf F 19 Ente ("Duck"). Second airframe is constructed, eventually put on display in Berlin air museum, destroyed in bombing raid.Green, William, "The Warplanes of the Third Reich", Galahad Books, New York, 1986, Library of Congress card number 86-80568, ISBN 88365-666-3, page 172.]

1929

*24 January - Surplus RAF S.E.5a, (original serial unknown), presented to "Aviación Naval" (Argentine Naval arm), "E-11/AC-21", written-off in crash landing at Campo Sarmiento, Argentina when pilot Alferez de Fragata Alberto Sautu Riestra approaches field too flat and lands short, collapsing undercarriage. Pilot uninjured. As the airframe was an obsolescent one-only on strength design, with no supporting plans or parts, it is scrapped. [London, U.K.: Aeroplane, Jarrett, Philip "Skywriters", October 2006, Volume 34, Number 10, No. 402, page 22.]
*15 October - Martin XT5M-1 divebomber, BuNo "A-8051", during terminal dive test at 350 IAS at 8,000 feet, lower starboard wing caves in, ripping extensive hole. Pilot Bill McAvoy staggers aircraft back to the Martin field north of Baltimore, Maryland, landing at 110 mph with full-left stick input. Aircraft will go into production as the BM-1. [Boyne, Walt, "Test Pilot", Airpower, Granada Hills, California, September 1974, Volume 4, Number 5, pages 36, 40.]

1930

*5 October - British rigid airship "R101", completed in 1929 as part of the Imperial Airship Scheme. After initial flights and two enlargements to the lifting volume, it crashed this date, in Beauvais, France, during its maiden overseas voyage, killing 48 people. Amongst airship accidents of the 1930s, the loss of life surpassed the Hindenburg, "LZ-129", disaster of 1937, and was second only to that of the USS Akron, "ZRS-4", crash of 1933. The demise of "R101" effectively ended British employment of rigid airships.

1931

*19 October - Sole Lockheed-Detroit YP-24, "32-320", crashes during tests at Wright Field, Ohio, pilot bails out. Four Y1P-24 pre-production models cancelled due to Detroit Aircraft's shaky financial situation. Two will be built as Consolidated Y1P-25s after Detroit's chief designer Robert Wood joins that firm. Second Y1P-25 completed with a supercharger as Y1A-11. [Bowers, Peter M., "Airborne Cobra", Airpower, Granada Hills, California, November 1978, Volume 8, Number 6, page 21.] [Andrade, John M., "U.S. Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909", Midland Counties Publications, Limited, U.K., 1979, page 144.]
*14 December - RAF pilot Douglas Bader (21 February 1910 – 5 September 1982), undertaking a low-level roll in Bristol Bulldog Mk. IIA, "K1676", of 23 Squadron at Woodley, Great Britain, hooks a wingtip, rolls the biplane into a ball, and loses both his legs. Undeterred, he returns to the air and becomes a renowned World War II fighter pilot with 22 credited "kills" before being downed over France, 9 August 1941. As a POW, he has such determination to escape that he is eventually sent to Colditz Castle for recidivist escapees. [Stamford, Lincs., U.K.: FlyPast, Ford, Daniel, "Bulldog Pedigree", June 1999, Number 215, page 44.]

1932

*June - Lockheed Y1C-25, "32-393", Altair Model 8A c/n 153, "NR119W". Struck off charge after belly landing. Burned in tests 27 September 1932.
*15 November - On first flight of United States Navy Hall XP2H-1 four-engine flying boat, BuNo "A-8729", it noses straight up on take-off due to incorrectly rigged stabilizer, test pilot Bill McAvoy and aircraft's designer Charles Ward Hall, Sr., manage to chop throttles, plane settles back, suffering only minor damage. Incident occurred at NAS Anacostia, Washington, D.C.. This sole prototype was the largest four-engine biplane the U.S. Navy ever procured, with a wingspan of 112 feet. [Boyne, Walt, "Test Pilot", Airpower, Granada Hills, California, September 1974, Volume 4, Number 5, pages 38, 52.]

1933

*3 April - United States Navy airship USS Akron, "ZRS-4", encounters severe weather and crashes into the Atlantic off the coast of New Jersey. 73 passengers and crew, including Rear Admiral William A. Moffett, were killed.Vaeth, J. Gordon, "They Sailed the Skies: U.S. Navy Balloons and the Airship Program", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 2005, ISBN 1-59114-914-2, pages 95-96.]
*4 April - U.S. Navy airship "J-3", sent out from NAS Lakehurst to search for USS Akron survivors, experiences engine failure, ditches in the surf of the New Jersey shore. Two crew lose their lives.Vaeth, J. Gordon, "They Sailed the Skies: U.S. Navy Balloons and the Airship Program", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 2005, ISBN 1-59114-914-2, page 96.]
*9 October - Prototype Martin XB-10, "33-157", assigned to Langley Field, Virginia, is lost when landing gear will not extend during routine flight, Lt. E.A. Hilary parachutes from bomber, which is destroyed with only 132 flight hours. [Boyne, Walt, "B-10: Baltimore's Best", Airpower, Granada Hills, California, May 1972, Volume 2, Number 3, pages 37-38.]

1934

*11 May - Sole prototype of U.S. Navy Douglas XO2D-1, BuNo "9412", noses over on water landing near NAS Anacostia, Washington, D.C., after starboard landing gear would not retract, nor support runway landing. Pilot survives. Aircraft salvaged, rebuilt, but no production contract let. [Karstens, Nick, "Surplus to Requirements", Wings, Granada Hills, California, April 1981, Volume 11, Number 2, page 31.]
*14 June - United States Navy Curtiss XSBC-1, BuNo "9225", crashed at Lancaster, New York. Redesigned new-build airframe as XSBC-2 received same Navy serial.
*3 October - Martin B-12A, "33-171", c/n 545, of the 11th Bomb Squadron, 7th Bomb Group, crashed into Inyo National Forest, California, 3 killed, one bailed out. Surveyed at March Field, California, 7 January 1935. This accident resulted in the grounding of all B-12s. Fault traced to wing and aileron flutter and a backlash developed by the props when the engine was shut down. [http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/1930.html]
*31 October - First prototype Tupolev ANT-40RT suffers engine problems on flight test out of Central Aero and Hydrodynamics Institute (TsAGI), and pilot K.K. Popov makes gear-retracted forced landing of the twin-engine bomber at Moscow Central Airfield. Repairs will take until February 1935. It had made its first flight on 7 October. [London, U.K.: Aeroplane, Maslov, Mikhail, "Database: Tupolev SB bombers", January 2007, Volume 35, Number 1, No. 405, pages 63-66.]
*5 November - Pioneer Air Service aviator Col. Horace Meek Hickam, (1885-1934), died when his Curtiss A-12 Shrike, "33-250", struck an obstruction during night landing practice on the unlighted field at Fort Crockett, Texas, flipped over. Hickam Field, Hawaiian Islands, named for him 21 May 1935.Mueller, Robert, "Air Force Bases Volume 1: Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982", United States Air Force Historical Research Center, Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C., 1989, ISBN 0-912799-53-6, page 227.]

1935

*12 February - The US Navy's last rigid airship, the USS Macon, "ZRS-5", loses its upper fin off Point Sur, California, sinks to the surface of the Pacific Ocean in a controlled crash, and is lost, although the inclusion of lifevests on board allows the saving of 81 of 83 crew. The airship's remains lie unfound until 1990 when a fisherman brings up a girder. Wreck is subsequently found by manned Navy submersible "Sea Cliff".Vaeth, J. Gordon, "They Sailed the Skies: U.S. Navy Balloons and the Airship Program", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 2005, ISBN 1-59114-914-2, page 101.] [http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/firstseries2.html]
*22 March - Prototype Grumman XF3F-1, BuNo "9727" (1st), c/n 257, company model G.11, disintegrates when pulled sharply out of a terminal velocity dive, killing pilot Jimmy Collins. G-forces in this dive estimated at 12-13. 9727 serial applied to three Grumman prototypes, two of which crashed. [Boyne, Walt, "Test Pilot", Airpower, Granada Hills, California, September 1974, Volume 4, Number 5, page 52.] [http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/firstseries2.html]
*April - Yugoslavian Air Force Ikarus IK-1, high-wing monoplane fighter, first prototype crashes on third flight at Zemun airfield when it fails to recover from power dive, pilot Capt. Leonid Bajdak, parachuting to safety. Examination of wreck revealed that fabric covering of the port wing had failed due to negligence in sewing the seams. Second prototype ordered as IK-2, wings metal-skinned. [Green, William, "War Planes of the Second World War - Fighters, Volume Four", Doubleday & Company Inc., Garden City, New York, 1961, pages 203-204.]
*17 May - Second of three Grumman XF3F-1 prototypes, BuNo "9727" (2nd), crashes after entering irrecoverable spin - pilot Lee Gelbach bails out safely. A third XF3F-1 prototype will be built, also with BuNo 9727, but pilot Bill McAvoy will be luckier than his two fellow test pilots, and NOT have to evacuate the Flying Barrel during testing. [Boyne, Walt, "Test Pilot", Airpower, Granada Hills, California, September 1974, Volume 4, Number 5, page 52.] [http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/firstseries2.html]
*20 June - Douglas Y1O-35, "32-319", c/n 1119, of the 88th Observation Squadron, suffers loss of power on right engine during takeoff from Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California for flight to Rockwell Field, San Diego, California, at approximately 1000 hrs. Pilot, Cadet Tracy R. Walsh, manages to hop over soldiers breaking camp alongside runway but does not have sufficient flying speed. Airplane crashes through a tent, a fence, and into an automobile, demolishing itself, the vehicle, and killing three civilians in the car. Three crew on plane unhurt. O-35 surveyed and dropped from records, 15 October 1935.Pelletier, Alain J., "Bombers As Postmen", Air Enthusiast No.122, Stamford, Lincs., U.K., March/April 2006, pages 38-40.]
*Summer - Prototype Junkers Ju 87 V1, fitted with a pair of vertical fins, suffers tail section oscillation during medium-angle test dive, loses starboard fin during attempted recovery, crashes at Dessau, Germany. All subsequent Ju 87s have single fin tail unit.Green, William, "The Warplanes of the Third Reich", Galahad Books, New York, 1986, Library of Congress card number 86-80568, ISBN 88365-666-3, page 428.]
*30 October - Prototype Boeing Model 299, "NX13372", 'X13372', c/n 1963, the future B-17, crashes on take-off from Wright Field , Ohio, due to locked control surfaces, killing early military aviator and test pilot Maj. Ployer Peter Hill. Other engineers taken to hospital with injuries. Boeing test pilot and observer Les Tower died later. Ogden Air Depot, Utah, renamed Hill Field, (later Hill Air Force Base), on 1 December 1939. As the prototype was owned by Boeing, it had no USAAC serial.Bowers, Peter M., "Fortress In The Sky", Sentry Books, Granada Hills, California,1976, Library of Congress Card No. 76-17145, ISBN 0-913194-04-2, page 37] Mueller, Robert, "Air Force Bases Volume 1: Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982", United States Air Force Historical Research Center, Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C., 1989, ISBN 0-912799-53-6, page 237.] Freeman, Roger, with Osborne, David, "The B-17 Flying Fortress Story: Design - Production - History", London, U.K.: Arms & Armour Press, 1998, ISBN 1-85409-301-0, page 71.]

1936

*25 May - Maj. Hezekiah ("Hez") McClellan, (1894-1936), was killed while flight-testing Consolidated TPB-2A, "35-1", which crashed near Centerville, Ohio. Posthumously awarded the DFC, McClellan prepared early charts and records while pioneering Alaskan air routes. Sacramento Air Depot renamed McClellan Field on 1 December 1939.Mueller, Robert, "Air Force Bases Volume 1: Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982", United States Air Force Historical Research Center, Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C., 1989, ISBN 0-912799-53-6, page 397.]
*7 November - Polish "Lotnictwo Wojskowe" PZL.30 Żubr ("Bison") prototype, a hideously ugly twin-engine bomber design modified from a transport rejected by LOT, the Polish airline, disintegrates in mid-air when wing structure fails. First flown in March 1936, the uninspired composite design of metal, wood and fabric was the first twin-engined bomber of home design to leave the ground, powered by 680 hp. P.Z.L. (Bristol) Pegasus radials, but only 16 "Żubrs" were completed, most relegated to training, none seeing combat. [Cynk, Jerzy, "Blitzkreig", Airpower, Granada Hills, California, July 1983, Volume 13, Number 4, pages 30-53.]

1937

*May 19 - Prototype Sud-Est LeO H-47 flying boat sustains fatigue failure damage to hull bottom on take-off and, upon landing at Antibes at 41,890 lbs., took in water that displaced the centre of gravity, sinking the aircraft. [Green, William, "War Planes of the Second World War - Flying Boats, Volume Five", Doubleday & Company Inc., Garden City, New York, 1962, page 47.]
*Early July - Blohm und Voss Ha 137 V6 dive bomber, "D-IDTE", destroyed in crash. No production contract awarded for the type.Green, William, "The Warplanes of the Third Reich", Galahad Books, New York, 1986, Library of Congress card number 86-80568, ISBN 88365-666-3, page 71.]
*18 August - Col. William Caldwell McChord, (1881-1937), rated a junior military aviator in 1918, was killed while trying to force-land his Northrop A-17 near Maidens, Virginia. At the time of his death, he was Chief of the Training and Operations Division in HQ Army Air Corps. Tacoma Field, Washington, was renamed McChord Field, 17 December 1937.Mueller, Robert, "Air Force Bases Volume 1: Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982", United States Air Force Historical Research Center, Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C., 1989, ISBN 0-912799-53-6, page 391.]
*19 September - Junkers EF 61 V1, first prototype of pressurized bomber, suffered control surface flutter, crashed at Dessau, Germany, killing both crew.Green, William, "The Warplanes of the Third Reich", Galahad Books, New York, 1986, Library of Congress card number 86-80568, ISBN 88365-666-3, page 447.]
*24 October - During engine start at an airfield on Saishuto Island (now Cheju Do) off of the southern coast of South Korea, a Hirosho G2H1 Navy Type 95 attack aircraft catches fire and soon explodes. Fire spreads to other G2Hs, armed with bombs, destroying four and damaging a fifth. [Mikesh, Robert C., and Abe, Shorzoe, "Japanese Aircraft 1910-1941", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 1990, ISBN 1-55750-563-2, page 101.]
*December - Junkers EF 61 V2, second prototype of pressurized bomber, crashes at Dessau, Germany, before high-altitude trials can be conducted. Program is abandoned.Green, William, "The Warplanes of the Third Reich", Galahad Books, New York, 1986, Library of Congress card number 86-80568, ISBN 88365-666-3, page 447.]

1938

*6 February - Junkers Ju 90 V1, "D-AALU", "Der Grosse Dessauer", combination of wings, engines, undercarriage and tail assembly of Junkers Ju 89 V3, Werk Nummer "4913", mated to a new transport fuselage, broke up in flight while undergoing flutter tests out of Dessau, Germany.Green, William, "The Warplanes of the Third Reich", Galahad Books, New York, 1986, Library of Congress card number 86-80568, ISBN 88365-666-3, page 504.]
*May 14 - First prototype Focke Wulf Fw 187 V1, "D-AANA", crashes at Bremen, Germany, when test pilot Bauer, having completed test series, makes high-speed run across airfield, pulls up too sharply, stalls, spins in next to the control tower.Green, William, "The Warplanes of the Third Reich", Galahad Books, New York, 1986, Library of Congress card number 86-80568, ISBN 88365-666-3, page 185.]
*24 July - In the airfield Mars in Santa Ana, Usaquén, Colombia, during an airshow, a F11C Goshawk crashed into the audience and killed 75 people.
*21 September - USAAC Chief Maj. Gen. Oscar Westover is killed in crash of Northrop A-17AS, "36-349", c/n 289, '1', out of Bolling Field, Washington, D.C., in a crosswind short of the runway at Lockheed Aircraft's air field in Burbank, California, now known as Bob Hope Airport. The single-engined attack design crashed into a house at 1007 Scott Road in Burbank. Also KWF is his mechanic S/Sgt Samuel Hymes. [Bowers, Peter M., "Captain of the Clouds", Airpower, Granada Hills, California, July 1972, Volume 2, Number 4, page 33.] Westover AFB, Massachusetts was named for him.
*October 5 - Blohm und Voss BV 141 V3 assymetric reconnaissance design, "D-OLGA", plagued with hydraulic problems, makes forced landing in ploughed field with mainwheel undercarriage legs only partly extended, suffers extensive damage to starboard wing.Green, William, "The Warplanes of the Third Reich", Galahad Books, New York, 1986, Library of Congress card number 86-80568, ISBN 88365-666-3, page 82.]

1939

*19 January - Yugoslav Rogožarski IK-3 prototype, piloted by Capt. Pokorni, fails to recover from terminal velocity dive out of Zemun airfield, destroying airframe. Subsequent investigation exonerates the design and production order for twelve placed. [Green, William, "War Planes of the Second World War - Fighters, Volume Four", Doubleday & Company Inc., Garden City, New York, 1961, page 205.]
*11 February: After cross-country speed flight, Lockheed XP-38 prototype, "39-974", crashlands on Cold Stream Golf Course on approach to Mitchel Field, Long Island, New York when engines fail due to icing. Pilot Ben Kelsey survives. Bodie, Warren M. "The Lockheed P-38 Lightning". Hayesville, North Carolina.: Widewing Publications, 1991, ISBN 0-9629359-5-6, pages 33-42.]
*4 September - Supermarine Type 300, F.37/34, the prototype Spitfire, "K5054", is wrecked when Flt. Lt. "Spinner" White misjudges his landing approach at Farnborough, bouncing several times before fighter noses over onto its back. Pilot dies in hospital four days later. Spitfire is not repaired. [London, U.K.: Aeroplane, Price, Dr. Alfred, "The Birth of a Thoroughbred", March 2006, Volume 34, Number 3, No. 395, page 53.]
*10 December - Second production Sud-Est LeO H-470 flying boat written off when pilot alighted in error in shallow water on Lake Urbino, Corsica, airframe too badly damaged to permit repairs. [Green, William, "War Planes of the Second World War - Flying Boats, Volume Five", Doubleday & Company Inc., Garden City, New York, 1962, pages 47-48.]

1940

*3 February - US Army Air Corps Chief of Staff Gen. Henry H. Arnold's personal staff transport, Northrop A-17AS, "36-350", c/n 290, 3-seat command transport, written off in accident this date. [Bowers, Peter M., "Captain of the Clouds", Airpower, Granada Hills, California, July 1972, Volume 2, Number 4, page 33.]
*April - Prototype Sud-Est S.E.100-01 crashes (at Marignane, France?) when the pitch of one propeller was reversed at low altitude. [Green, William, "War Planes of the Second World War, Fighters, Volume One", Doubleday & Company Inc., Garden City, New York, 1960, page 70.]
*7 April - Blackburn B-20, experimental flying-boat with retractable lower-hull, lost after suffering severe aileron flutter - 3 crew killed, 2 rescued.
*11 April - The XF4F-2 Wildcat prototype, BuNo "0383", c/n 356, suffers engine failure during test flight out of NAS Anacostia, Washington, D.C., force lands causing considerable damage. Aircraft grounded for several weeks for repairs. [Editors, "Grumman's Willing Wildcat", Air Enthusiast Quarterly, Bromley, Kent., U.K., Number 3, 1976, page 51.]
*27 April - Prototype Yakovlev I-26, first of what became the Yak-1 fighter, crashes, killing pilot. [Kosminkov, Konstantin Y., "Red Star Rising", Wings, Granada Hills, California, October 1996, Volume 26, Number 5, page 42.]
*13 August - Three members of the Australian cabinet, the Chief of the Australian Army's General Staff and six other passengers and aircrew were killed when the Lockheed Hudson they were travelling in crashed near Canberra. [cite web|url=http://www.naa.gov.au/about-us/publications/fact-sheets/fs142.aspx|title=Fact sheet 142 – Canberra air disaster, 1940|date=2004|publisher=National Archives of Australia|accessdate=2008-08-24]
*5 September - "Flugkapitän" Fritz Wendel, Messerschmitt's chief test pilot, performing series of diving trials on Me 210 V2, Werk Nummer 0002, "WL-ABEO", loses starboard tailplane in final dive, bails out, twin-engined fighter crashing at Siebentíschwald, Germany. This was the first of many losses of the type.Green, William, "The Warplanes of the Third Reich", Galahad Books, New York, 1986, Library of Congress card number 86-80568, ISBN 88365-666-3, page 611.]
*20 September - "Svenske Flygvapnet" (Swedish Air Force) Seversky 2-PA Guardsman B6, "7203", '16', of Flotilla 6 (F6), written off during landing at Karlsborg at 1025 hrs. by neophyte pilot who attempts go-around, but only lifts nose without applying power, stalls. Pilot G.B.H. Lindstrom killed, flight cadet A.G. Nystrom in backseat severely injured. Aircraft stricken 22 October 1940. [Dorr, Robert F., "An American Guardsman in Swedish Service", Wings, Granada Hills, California, October 1983, Volume 13, Number 5, pages 12-14.]
*18 October - First Bell YP-39 Airacobra, "40-027", crashes near Buffalo, New York on eighth flight when landing gear would not extend. Bell test pilot Bob Stanley bailed out rather than try a wheels-up landing. [http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/1940.html] [Bowers, Peter M., "Airborne Cobra", Airpower, Granada Hills, California, January 1979, Volume 9, Number 1, page 18.]
*19 November - First Republic YP-43 Lancer, "39-704", caught fire in air over Farmingdale, Long Island, New York, pilot bailed out.
*16 December - The XF4F-3 Wildcat prototype, BuNo "0383", c/n 356, modified from XF4F-2, is lost under circumstances that suggested that the pilot may have been confused by poor lay-out of fuel valves and flap controls and inadvertently turned the fuel valve to "off" immediately after takeoff rather than selecting flaps "up". This was the first fatality in the type. [Editors, "Grumman's Willing Wildcat", Air Enthusiast Quarterly, Bromley, Kent., U.K., Number 3, 1976, page 51.]
*18 December - Boeing Y1B-17, "36-157", c/n 1981, of the 2nd Bomb Group, Langley Field, Virginia, crashed E of San Jacinto, California, en route to March Field, California.

1941

*5 January - Renowned aviatrix Amy Johnson takes off from an overnight stopover at Squire's Gate, Blackpool in Airspeed Oxford "V3540" on an ATA delivery flight from Prestwick, Scotland to RAF Kidlington, in Oxfordshire. The weather is foggy and foul, and, ATA crews flying without radio, Johnson becomes lost. When next seen more than three hours later over the Thames Estuary, Johnson is parachuting into the water, where the Royal Navy destroyer HMS "Hazlemere" spotting her descent hurries to pick her up. By the time the vessel reaches Johnson she is exhausted and unable to grab the line thrown to her. An officer from the destroyer, Lt Cmdr Walter Fletcher, dives into the sea to help, but numbed by the cold Johnson sinks beneath the surface. Johnson's body is never recovered. Fletcher succumbs to the cold and also dies. Johnson had made headlines in 1930 when she had become the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia. [Aeroplane Monthly - August 1973 issue - "What Happened to Amy?" article]
*Post-January - Prototype Tupolev ANT-58, first of what became the Tupolev Tu-2, crashes after uncontrollable fire in problematic starboard Mikulin AM-37 engine. Pilot Mikhail A. Nyutikov and observer A. Akopyan bail out, but Akopyan's parachute lines entangle in tail structure and he is killed. [Editors, "Tupolev's Tractable Twin", Air Enthusiast Quarterly, Bromley, Kent., U.K., Volume 4, 1976, pages 175.]
*4 February - Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle prototype, "P1360", written off in crash landing on test flight out of RAF Boscombe Down when six-foot square panel is lost from port wing surface. Norman Sharp bails out successfully, but John Hayhurst's parachute entangles with tail structure and he releases his chute just before touchdown on a flat ridge on top of a quarry SE of Crewkerne, Somerset, landing at ~150 mph in snow and bushes, surviving with serious injuries. Pilot Brian Huxtable survives crash landing. [Stamford, Lincs., U.K.: FlyPast, Heffernan, Terry, "A Bitterly Cold Morning", February 2002, Number 247, pages 60-62.]
*10 May - At 2305 hrs. Messerschmitt Bf 110D, Werknr "3868", 'VJ+OQ', appears over Eaglesham, Renfrewshire. Pilot bails out and when challenged by David McLean, Head Ploughman of a local farm, as to whether he is German, the man replies in good English; "Yes, I am Hauptmann Alfred Horn. I have an important message for the Duke of Hamilton". Horn is taken to McLean's cottage where McLean's wife makes a pot of tea, but the German requests only a glass of water. Horn has hurt his back and help is summoned. Local Home Guard soldiers arrive and Horn is taken to their headquarters at the Drill Hall, Busby, near Glasgow. Upon questioning by a visiting Royal Observer Corps officer, Major Graham Donald, Horn repeats his request to see the Duke. Donald recognises "Hauptmann Horn" to be non-other than Rudolph Hess. The remains of Hess' Messerschmitt Bf 110 are now in the Imperial War Museum. [Aeroplane Monthly - December 1986 issue - "Rudolf Hess" article. P. 628]
*14 May - Grumman XP-50 Skyrocket, "40-3057", crashed into Long Island Sound during first test flight when a turbo-supercharger exploded. Pilot bailed out. Built as a company project, it was allocated a USAAF serial, but was destroyed before being taken on charge. [Green, William, "War Planes of the Second World War, Fighters, Volume Two", Doubleday & Company Inc., Garden City, New York, 1961, pages 100-101.]
*16 June - USAAF Douglas O-38F, "33-324", c/n 1177, first aircraft to land at Ladd Field, Alaska, in October 1940, this aircraft flew various missions until it crashed on 16 June 1941, due to engine failure about 70 miles SE of Fairbanks. Uninjured, the pilot, Lt. Milton H. Ashkins, and his mechanic, Sgt. R.A. Roberts, hiked to safety after supplies were dropped to them. The abandoned aircraft remained in the Alaskan wilderness until the National Museum of the United States Air Force arranged for its recovery by helicopter in June 1968. Despite being exposed to the Alaskan weather for 27 years, the aircraft remained in remarkable condition. Only the wings required extensive restoration. [http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet_print.asp?fsID=342&page=1]
*29 June - Curtiss XSO2C-1 Seagull, BuNo "0950", crashed at NAS Anacostia, Washington, D.C.. To mechanics school at NAS Jacksonville, Florida.
*27 August - Four Boulton Paul Defiants of 256 Squadron on practise formation flight, on NE heading a little W of Blackpool at 2,000 feet, break formation - right into a trio of Blackburn Bothas of 3 School of General Reconnaissance, flying NW at 1,500 feet. First two Defiants avoid Bothas, but third off the break, "N1745", 'J-TP', strikes one Botha, "L6509", cutting it in two, and losing one of its own wings. Botha comes down on ticket office of the Central Railway Station, setting large gasoline-fed fire. Defiant impacts on private home at No. 97 Reads Avenue. Thirteen killed outright, including all four aircrew, 39 others injured. Of 17 detained in hospital, five later died. All civilian casualties were visitors to the seaside resort, except for one occupant of the house on Reads Avenue. This accident caused more casualties than all the enemy air raids on Blackpool and Fylde during the entire war. [Stamford, Lincs., U.K.: FlyPast, Moran, Peter, and Brown, Russell, "Seaside Tragedy", August 2004, Number 277, pages 40-45.]
*4 November - Tail section of YP-38, "39-689", separates in flight over Glendale, California, Lightning crashes inverted on house at 1147 Elm Street, killing Lockheed test pilot Ralph Virden. Home owner survives, indeed, sleeps right through the crash. Bodie, Warren M. "The Lockheed P-38 Lightning". Hayesville, North Carolina.: Widewing Publications, 1991, ISBN 0-9629359-5-6, pages 72-74.]
*19 November - North American P-64, "41-19086", assigned to Luke Field, Arizona, crashes and burns. [Bowers, Peter M., "Economy Fighter", Wings, Granada Hills, California, October 1972, Volume 2, Number 5, page 45.]
*21 December - Curtiss XSB2C-1 Helldiver, BuNo "1758", destroyed after suffering inflight wing failure. Airframe had previously crashed on 8 February 1941 due to engine failure during approach. Sustained damage to fuselage but was repaired.

1942

*13 January - Heinkel test pilot Helmut Schenk becomes the first person to escape from a stricken aircraft with an ejection seat after the control surfaces of the first prototype He 280 V1 ice up and become inoperable. The fighter, being used in tests of the Argus As 014 impulse jets for Fieseler Fi 103 missile development, had its regular HeS 8A turbojets removed, and was towed aloft from Rechlin, Germany by a pair of Bf 110C tugs in a heavy snow-shower. At 7,875 feet, Schenk found he had no control, jettisoned his towline, and ejected.Green, William, "The Warplanes of the Third Reich", Galahad Books, New York, 1986, Library of Congress card number 86-80568, ISBN 88365-666-3, page 363.]
*14 January - A Douglas B-18A Bolo bomber returning from submarine patrol duties went off course due to high winds, darkness and poor radio contact. Instead of landing at Westover Field, later Westover AFB, in Massachusetts they crashed into Mount Waternomee in New Hampshire's White Mountains. 5 of the 7 crew members survived. [http://hikethewhites.com/bomber/bomber.html] [http://www.logginginlincoln.com/Page2.html]
*26 March - The fifth P-47B Thunderbolt, "41-5899", is lost when pilot George Burrell is forced to bail out after fabric-covered tail surfaces balloon and rupture. Future P-47s have enlarged all-metal surfaces.Lake, Jon, "P-47 Thunderbolt Part 1: Early development and combat in the ETO", International Air Power Review, Volume 1, AIRtime Publishing Inc., Westport, Connecticut, Summer 2001, ISBN 1473-9917, page 143.]

*7 June - The Handley Page Halifax, "V9977", carrying a secret H2S radar system crashes at Welsh Bicknor, Herefordshire, killing the crew and several Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) personnel on board, including Alan Blumlein, pioneer of television and stereo audio recording. A fire in the starboard outer engine burns through the outer main spar at low altitude whilst attempting to reach an open area to put down, causing the outer wing to fold and detach, whereupon the aircraft rolls almost inverted and impacts the ground. The aircraft's highly-secret cavity magnetron is recovered the next day by a TRE team from RAF Defford led by Bernard Lovell. An investigation into the cause of the fire by Rolls-Royce concludes that an insufficiently tightened inlet valve tappet locknut during maintenance caused the inlet valve to drop, allowing burning fuel to enter the rocker cover whereupon it quickly spread. [ name="The crash of Halifax V9977" http://www.doramusic.com/crashsite.htm.]
*16 June - B-17E-BO converted to XB-38-VE, "41-2401", with Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled engines. Wrecked near Tipton, California after engine fire. The pilots bailed out after pointing the aircraft to an uninhabited area. The pilot was killed when his parachute did not deploy, and the other crewmember was seriously injured when his parachute did not deploy properly.
*8 August - The sole XP-47B Thunderbolt, "40-3051", operating out of the Republic plant at Farmingdale, New York, is lost when the pilot interrupted wheel retraction, leaving the tailwheel in the superchargers' exhaust gases. This set the tire alight which ignited the magnesium hub. When the burning unit retracted into the fuselage, it severed the tail unit control rods, forcing the pilot, Fillmore "Fil" Gilmer, a former naval aviator, to bail out with the airframe crashing in the waters of Long Island Sound.Lake, Jon, "P-47 Thunderbolt Part 1: Early development and combat in the ETO", International Air Power Review, Volume 1, AIRtime Publishing Inc., Westport, Connecticut, Summer 2001, ISBN 1473-9917, page 144.] Loss of prototype went unpublicized at this early stage of the war. Nothing is ever found of the wreckage. [Bodie, Warren M., "Whine From The Jug", Wings, Granada Hills, California, April 1974, Volume 4, Number 2, page 49.]
*16 August - U.S. Navy airship "L-8", a former Goodyear advertising blimp, departed Treasure Island, San Francisco, California, with crew of two officer-pilots. Five hours later the partially-deflated "L-8" is sighted drifting over Daly City, California where it touches down sans crew. Nothing is ever found of Lt. Ernest D. Cody and Ensign Charles E. Adams. It is assumed that they were lost over water but were never found.Vaeth, J. Gordon, "They Sailed the Skies: U.S. Navy Balloons and the Airship Program", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 2005, ISBN 1-59114-914-2, page 125.] The control car from this blimp is now in the National Museum of Naval Aviation, NAS Pensacola, Florida.http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/L-8_crash_site.htm
*30 August - One-off General Aircraft G.A.L.45 Owlet, "DP240", ex-"G-AGBK", a tandem, two-seat primary trainer with tricycle undercarriage, impressed by the RAF 1 May 1941 to train Douglas Boston pilots with tricycle techniques, of 605 Squadron at Ford, crashed this date. ["Plane Facts", AIR International, Bromley, Kent, U.K., June 1975, Volume 8, Number 6, page 309.]
*4 September - On the night of 4-5th, Handley Page Hampden, "AE436", of No. 44 Squadron RAF crashes on the remote Tsatsa Mountain in Sweden while en route from Sumburgh in the Shetlands to Afrikanda, Northern Russia, after being forced down to lower altitude by overheating engine. Pilot Officer D.I. Evans and passenger Cpl B.J. Sowerby survive with only slight injuries, three other members of crew die. Evans and Sowerby take three days to cross mountains and reach the village of Kvikkvokk, ~20 miles to the south east. Wreckage of Hampden is re-discovered by three girl hikers at 5,000ft in August 1976, with remains of dead crew still in wreckage. [Aeroplane Monthly - June 1986 issue - "Arctic Venture" article, P. 327-330]
*12 September - Martin-Baker MB 3, prototype fighter crashes after engine failure while trying to land. Captain Valentine Baker (Company manager, aircraft-designer and test pilot) killed.
*15 September - Vultee XA-31B-VU Vengeance overturns in a tobacco field while making forced landing in Connecticut after engine failure. [Bowers, Peter M., "Vengeance!", Airpower, Granada Hills, California, September 1985, Volume 15, Number 5, page 53.]
*21 October - B-17D, "40-3089", of the 5th Bomb Group/11th Bomb Group, with Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, America's top-scoring World War I ace (26 kills), aboard on a secret mission, is lost at sea in the central Pacific Ocean when the bomber goes off-course. After 24 days afloat, he and surviving crew are rescued by the U.S. Navy after having been given up for lost.
*23 October - Mid-air collision at 9,000 feet altitude between American Airlines DC-3, "NC16017", “"Flagship Connecticut",” Flight 28 out of Lockheed Air Terminal (now Burbank Airport) en route to Phoenix, Arizona and New York City, and USAAF Lockheed B-34 Ventura II bomber on ferry flight from Long Beach Army Air Base to Palm Springs Army Air Field. Pilot of B-34, Lt. William N. Wilson and copilot Staff Sergeant Robert Leicht, were able to make emergency landing at Palm Springs, but DC-3, carrying nine passengers and a crew of three, its tail splintered and its rudder shorn off by B-34’s right engine, went into a flat spin, clipped a rocky ledge in Chino Canyon below Mount San Jacinto, and exploded in desert, killing all on board. Among the passengers killed was Academy Award-winning Hollywood composer Ralph Rainger, 41, who had written or collaborated on such hit songs as “Louise,” “Love in Bloom” (comedian Jack Benny’s theme song), “Faithful Forever,” “June in January,” “Blue Hawaii” and “Thanks for the Memory,” which entertainer Bob Hope adopted as his signature song. Initial report by Ventura crew was that they had lost sight of the airliner due to smoke from a forest fire, but closed-door Congressional investigation revealed that bomber pilot knew the first officer on the DC-3, Louis Frederick Reppert, and had attempted to wave to him in mid-air rendezvous. However, Wilson misjudged the distance between the two aircraft and triggered the fatal collision when, in pulling his B-34 up and away from the DC-3, its right propeller sliced through the airliner’s tail. The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) placed the blame directly on the “reckless and irresponsible conduct of Lieutenant William N. Wilson in deliberately maneuvering a bomber in dangerous proximity to an airliner in an unjustifiable attempt to attract the attention of the first officer (copilot) of the latter plane.” Lt. Wilson subsequently faced manslaughter charges by the U.S. Army but about a month after the accident a court martial trial board acquitted him of blame. In a separate legal development, a lawsuit seeking $227,637 was filed against American Airlines on behalf of crash victim Ralph Rainger’s wife, Elizabeth, who was left widowed with three small children. In June 1943 a jury awarded her $77,637. [http://members.aol.com/jaydeebee1/crash40s.html]

1943

*13 January - Junkers Ju 290 V1, (Ju 90 V11), modified from Ju 90B-1, Werk Nummer 90 0007, "D-AFHG", "Oldenberg", crashed on takeoff evacuating load of wounded troops from German 6th Army at Stalingrad. The need for large capacity transports was so dire at this point that the "Luftwaffe" was taking Ju 290As straight from the assembly line into operation.Green, William, "The Warplanes of the Third Reich", Galahad Books, New York, 1986, Library of Congress card number 86-80568, ISBN 88365-666-3, page 506.]
*18 February - Second prototype XB-29, "41-003" [Aircraft information - XB-29-BO, serial number "41-003", manufacturers serial number 2481] , crashes into Frye meat packing plant at Seattle, Washington after R-3350 engine catches fire, killing all 10 crew including chief test pilot Eddie Allen along with 20 on the ground.Brown, J., "RCT Armament in the Boeing B-29", Air Enthusiast Quarterly, Bromley, Kent., U.K., Number 3, 1976, page 80.]
*4 April - B-25C, "41-12634", of the 376th Bomb Squadron, 309th Bomb Group(M), ditches in Lake Murray, South Carolina, during skip-bombing practice, after starboard engine failure. Crew of five escapes before Mitchell sinks after seven minutes afloat, about two miles west of the Lake Murray Dam in 150 feet of water. On 19 September 2005, the bomber was raised to the surface by aircraft recoverer Gary Larkins for preservation (not restoration) at the Southern Museum of Flight, Birmingham, Alabama. [London, U.K.: Aeroplane, Sheppard, Mark, "A Mitchell Resurfaces", March 2006, Volume 34, Number 3, No. 395, page 13-15.]
*9 April - P-38G-10-LO, "42-12937", flown by Col. Ben Kelsey, gets into inverted spin during dive flap test, loses one wing and entire tail section. Kelsey bails out, suffers broken ankle, while P-38 hits flat on hillside near Calabasas, California. Bodie, Warren M. "The Lockheed P-38 Lightning". Hayesville, North Carolina.: Widewing Publications, 1991, ISBN 0-9629359-5-6, pages 166-167.]
*3 May - During an inspection tour, Lt. Gen. Frank Maxwell Andrews (1884-1943) is killed in crash of B-24D-1-CO, "41-23728", of the 8th Air Force out of RAF Bovingdon, England, on Mt. Fagradalsfjall on the Reykjanes peninsula after an aborted attempt to land at the Royal Air Force station at Kaldadarnes, Iceland. Andrews and thirteen others died in the crash; only the tail gunner survived. Andrews was the highest-ranking Allied officer to die in the line of duty to that point in the war. At the time of his death, he was Commanding General, United States Forces, European Theatre of Operations. Camp Springs Army Air Field, Maryland, is renamed Andrews Field (later Andrews Air Force Base), for him on 7 February 1945.Mueller, Robert, "Air Force Bases Volume 1: Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982", United States Air Force Historical Research Center, Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C., 1989, ISBN 0-912799-53-6, page 5.] [http://web.archive.org/web/20060709024035/www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/afp/b24crash.htm]
*6 May - Curtiss XP-60D, "41-19508", crashed at Rome Air Depot, New York. Was second XP-53 - later redesignated XP-60D.
*10 May - First Consolidated XB-32, "41-141", crashes on take-off, probably from flap failure. Although bomber does not burn when it piles up at end of runway, Consolidated's senior test pilot Dick McMakin is killed. [Johnsen, Frederick A., "Dominator: Last and Unluckiest of the Hemisphere Bombers", Wings, Granada Hills, California, February 1974, Volume 4, Number 1, page 10.]
*10 May - First Curtiss YC-76 constructed at the Louisville, Kentucky plant, "43-86918", loses tail unit at 1729 hrs. due to lack of "forgotten" securing bolts during test flight, crashes at Okalona, Kentucky, killing three Curtiss test crew, pilot Ed Schubinger, co-pilot John L. "Duke" Trowbridge, and engineer Robert G. Scudder. Miserable attempt at building all-wood cargo design is cancelled by the USAAF on 3 August with only nineteen completed, all grounded by 12 September 1944. Four C-76s at the St. Louis, Missouri plant are granted one-time flight clearance and flown directly to Air Training Command bases for use as instructional airframes. [Boyne, Walt, "C-46 [sic] : 'The Basketcase Bummer' " Airpower, Granada Hills, California, May 1974, Volume 4, Number 3, page 64.]
*June - Second production Mitsubishi J2M2 "Raiden" (Thunderbolt), Allied codename "Jack", noses over shortly after take-off and crashes for unknown reasons. When pilot of tenth production J2M2 experiences same phenomenon just after gear-retraction on test flight, he has enough altitude to drop gear and recover. It is discovered that retractable tailwheel shock strut can press against elevator torque tube during retraction, forcing control stick full-forward. This is modified and fighter production resumes. [McCullough, Anson, "Fortress Killer", Wings, Granada Hills, California, October 1973, Volume 3, Number 5, page 48.]
*3 June - A B-17 Flying Fortress flying to Grand Island, Nebraska from Pendleton Army Air Base in Oregon crashes on Bomber Mountain in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming. 10 crew members were killed.
*4 August - North American XB-28A-NA, "40-3058", c/n 67-3417, crashes into the Pacific Ocean off California after the crew bails out. Project not proceeded with. [Dean, Jack, "The Charge Of The Light Brigade", Airpower, Granada Hills, California, November 1998, Volume 28, Number 6, page 39.]

1944

*January - Thirtieth Mitsubishi J2M2 "Raiden" (Thunderbolt) disintegrates over Toyohashi airfield. Cause never satisfactorily explained but believed to have been either violent engine shaking due to failed attachment point causing secondary airframe failure, or, possibly, engine cowling detaching and striking tail assembly. Both power attachment points and cowling fasteners strengthened, but "Raidens" continue to be lost "after" these modifications. [Green, William, "Warplanes of the Second World War - Fighters, Volume Three", Doubleday & Company Inc., Garden City, New York, 1961, page 55.]
*24 March - RAF Flight Sergeant Nicolas Alkemade jumps without a parachute from a burning Avro Lancaster flying at 18,000ft during a raid on Germany. Alkemade falls into a forest and is decelerated by fall through tree branches before landing in deep snowdrift. Alkemade survives fall with severe bruising and a sprained leg. Captured and unable to show them his parachute, his captors disbelieve his story and suspect him of being a spy until he shows them bruising and indentation in snowdrift. Alkemade finishes war in Stalag Luft III and dies in 1987.
*8 April - Fifth Fisher XP-75 Eagle, "44-32163", crashes after pilot engaged in low-level aerobatics that reportedly exceeded the placarded limitations. Pilot killed. [Boyne, Walt, "P-75 Eagle: GM's Flying Frankenstein", Wings, Granada Hills, California, February 1973, Volume 3, Number 1, page 14.]
*31 July - Noted aviation pioneer and author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry vanishes without a trace while flying a Free French Forces Lockheed F-5B-1-LO, "42-68223", c/n 2734, of II/33 Squadron, out of Borgo-Porreta, Bastia, Corsica, a variant of the P-38 Lightning, over the Mediterranean Sea; his fate remains a mystery until 2004 when the wreckage of his plane is discovered. While the cause of the crash is unknown, analysis of the wreckage and enemy wartime records suggests that the crash was an accident unrelated to enemy action. [http://www.aero-relic.org/English/F-5B_42-68223_St_Exupery/e-00-stexuperyf5b.htm] A former "Luftwaffe" pilot has published a volume in which he claims to have shot down a French-marked Lightning, but his claim is largely discounted.
*5 August - Third Fisher XP-75 Eagle, "44-32161", crashes after an explosion and fire at 23,000 feet - pilot bailed out at 4,000 feet. [Boyne, Walt, "P-75 Eagle: GM's Flying Frankenstein", Wings, Granada Hills, California, February 1973, Volume 3, Number 1, page 14.]
*23 August - Freckleton Air Disaster - A United States Army Air Force B-24H-20-CF Liberator, "42-50291", crashed into a school at Freckleton, Lancashire, England on approach to Warton Aerodrome. 61 people died including 38 children.
*6 September - First prototype (and only one completed) McDonnell XP-67 Moonbat, "42-11677", suffers fire in starboard engine during functional test flight at 10,000 feet. Pilot E.E. Elliot manages to bring stricken airframe into Lambert Field, St. Louis, Missouri, flames gut the fuselage, engine nacelle and wheelwell before firefighters halt blaze. As jet engined project that will become the FD-1 Phantom is already on the horizon, project is cancelled. [Boyne, Walt, "It Might Have Been Moonbat", Wings, Granada Hills, California, December 1973, Volume 3, Number 6, pages 52-53.]
*10 October - First Fisher P-75A Eagle, "44-44549", crashes on flight test out of Eglin Field, Florida, when propellers apparently run out of oil, pilot Maj. Bolster attempts dead-stick landing but crashes short on approach, dies. [Boyne, Walt, "P-75 Eagle: GM's Flying Frankenstein", Wings, Granada Hills, California, February 1973, Volume 3, Number 1, page 14.]
*20 October - Lockheed YP-80A Shooting Star, "44-83025", c/n 080-1004, crashed at Burbank, California, killing test pilot Milo Burcham. [Stamford, Lincs., UK: AIR International, Dorr, Robert F., "Lockheed F-80: A Star is Born", August 1994, Volume 47, Number 2, pages 94-100.]
*6 December - Lockheed XF-14 Shooting Star, "44-83024", c/n 080-1003, originally YP-80A No 2, redesignated during production. Destroyed in mid-air collision with B-25J-20-NC, "44-29120", near Muroc Army Air Base, California. All crew on both planes killed.
*6 December - First prototype Heinkel He 162 V1 Salamander, or "Volksjager" ("Peoples' Fighter"), loses wheel-well doors on first flight due to improper bonding. Nonetheless, flight testing is not delayed for a thorough inspection, and on another flight in front of German high brass several days later, V1 starboard wing comes apart in high-speed pass, killing pilot. [Bowers, Peter M., "Ernst Heinkel-Aviation Pioneer:Fighters of the Hitler Years 1933-1945, Pt II", Airpower, Granada Hills, California, September 1984, Volume 14, Number 5, page 55.]
*16 December - Second of two prototypes of the Douglas XB-42 "Mixmaster", "43-50225", on routine flight out of Bolling Field, Washington, D.C., suffers in short order, a landing gear extension problem, failure of the port engine, and as coolant temperatures rose, failure of starboard engine. Maj. Hayduck bails out at 1,200 feet, Lt. Col. Haney at 800 feet, and pilot Lt. Col. (later Major General) Fred J. Ascani, after crawling aft to jettison pusher propellers, at 400 feet - all three survive. Secret jettisonable props caused a problem for authorities in explaining what witnesses on ground thought was the aircraft exploding. Possible fuel management problem speculated, but no proof. [Boyne, Walt, "The First, The Last, And The Only: The Douglas XB-42/42A/43", Airpower, Granada Hills, California, September 1973, Volume 3, Number 5, pages 13-14.]

1945

*28 February - First manned flight test of Bachem Ba 349 Natter, '23', a vertically-launched bomber interceptor, fails when "Oberleutnant" Lothar Siebert, a volunteer, is killed as rocket-powered aircraft reaches ~1,650 feet, cockpit canopy detaches, Ba 349 noses over onto back, then falls from ~4,800 feet, killing pilot. No cause for crash determined but it was thought that improperly latched canopy may have knocked Siebert unconcious. Three successful manned flights subsequently flown and a group of the fighters readied for intercept mission, but advancing U.S. 8th Army armoured units overrun launchsite before Natters can be used.Green, William, "The Warplanes of the Third Reich", Galahad Books, New York, 1986, Library of Congress card number 86-80568, ISBN 88365-666-3, page 67-68.]
*20 March - Lockheed test pilot Tony LeVier is forced to bail out of first XP-80A prototype, "44-83021", c/n 080-1001, '01', after catastrophic turbine blade failure slices off tail, coming down on Highway 99 near Rosamond, California. [Stamford, Lincs., U.K.: FlyPast, Thompson, Lance, "Valley of the Kings", December 1997, Number 197, pages 25-26.]
*8 April - First prototype Rikugun Ki.93, '1', twin-engine fighter makes first and only flight from Tachikawa airfield, a successful 20 minute test of its low-speed handling characteristics, piloted by Lt. Moriya of the "Koku Shinsa-bu" (Air Examination Department) with 2nd Lt. Ikebayashi in the second seat. Unfortunately, pilot undershot the runway and touched down in soft soil, ground-looping airframe and tearing off port undercarriage leg, engine mount, and bending six-blade propeller. Repairs completed in four weeks, but the night before the scheduled second test flight, a B-29 bombing raid on Tachikawa destroyed the hangar housing the airframe. ["A Japanese rara avis...The Giken Fighter", AIR International, Bromley, Kent, U.K., May 1977, Volume 12, Number 5, pages 254-255 .]
*21 April - Lufthansa Focke-Wulf Fw 200B-2, "D-ASHH", "Hessen", hastily loaded with baggage of the Berlin Headquarters Staff, departs for Barcelona, Spain via Munich, piloted by "Flugkapitän" Künstle. Condor reaches Munich safely, but never appears in Spain. Extensive inquiries in Germany, Switzerland and Spain turn up no clues to fate. In 1954, evidence finally is discovered that the overloaded transport crashed and burned with no survivors near Piesenkofen Kreis Mühlberg, Bavaria. [Green, William, "Warplanes of the Second World War - Bombers and Reconnaissance Aircraft, Volume Nine", Doubleday & Company Inc., Garden City, New York, 1968, page 70.]
*23 April - A U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) Boeing B-17G-95-BO Flying Fortress "43-38856", 'GD-M', of the 381st Bombardment Group (Heavy), crashes on the east facing slope of North Barrule in the Isle of Man killing 31 US service personnel (including ground crew) en route to Belfast for memorial service for President Roosevelt. [Freeman, Roger, with Osborne, David, "The B-17 Flying Fortress Story: Design - Production - History", London, U.K.: Arms & Armour Press, 1998, ISBN 1-85409-301-0, page 256.]
*4 June - Aichi E13A "Jake" floatplane, c/n 41116, of 634 Kokutai-Teisatsu, 302 Hikotai, crashed into the sea during night time search mission. Salvaged from waters off Kaseda city, Kagoshima prefecture on 22 August 1992, it is displayed in unrestored condition at the Kasedo Peace Museum, Kyushu, Japan. [Stamford, Lincs., U.K.: FlyPast, Werneth, Ron, "Exploring the Warbirds of Japan", February 2000, Number 223, pages 91-92.]
*7 July - On the first flight of the prototype Mitsubishi J8M1 Shusui, Japanese derivative of the Me 163, aircraft reaches 1,300 feet in a steep climb, then the rocket motor cut out, airframe crashing at Yokosuka Naval Aeronautical Engineering Arsenal. Cause believed either hydrogen peroxide shifting to rear of partially-empty tank, or air leak in fuel line causing blockage. Pilot Lt. Cdr. Toyohiko Inuzuka dies in hospital the next day. No additional flights made before Japanese capitulation in August. [Green, William, "Warplanes of the Second World War - Fighters, Volume Three", Doubleday & Company Inc., Garden City, New York, 1961, page 64.]
*28 July – A US Army Air Forces B-25D-20-NC Mitchell bomber, "41-30577", "Old John Feather Merchant", crashes into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building in fog at 0949 hrs., killing 3 on aircraft plus 11 on ground and causing over $1 million in damage [http://history1900s.about.com/od/1940s/a/empirecrash.htm] .
*5 August - First production Martin JRM-1 Mars flying boat, BuNo "76819", c/n 9263, "Hawaii Mars", crashes on test flight in the Chesapeake Bay after porpoising during landing - never delivered to the US Navy.London, U.K.: Aeroplane, Septer, Dirk, "Twilight of the Lake Monsters?", March 2007, Volume 35, Number 3, No. 407, page 35.] [http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/thirdseries8.html US Navy and US Marine Corps BuNos-Third Series (70188 to 80258) ] ]
*6 August - All-time highest-scoring American flying ace (40 credited kills) Richard Bong is killed trying to bail out of a Lockheed P-80A-1-LO Shooting Star jet fighter, "44-85048", after a fuel pump failure during a test flight at Burbank Airport, Burbank, California, USA. News of Bong's death is overshadowed by the dropping of the first nuclear weapon on Hiroshima the same day.
*17 August - During Operation Dodge, the RAF airlift of troops home from Italian deployment, Avro Lancaster, "ME834", 'K-OG', of 115 Squadron, based at RAF Graveley, struck "HK798", 'K-OH', of the same squadron, and "PB754", 'TL-A', of Graveley-based 35 Squadron when it swerves off runway while taking off from Bari, Italy. [Stamford, Lincs., U.K.: FlyPast, Hamlin, John F., "Operation Dodge: From Italy with Love", September 1997, Number 194, page 55-56.]
*17 August - Two B-29 Superfortress bombers collide over Weatherford, Texas during a bomber training exercise. 18 crew members were killed, 2 managed to escape from the falling wreckage and parachute to safety.
*14 September - Hurricane destroys several wooden hangars at NAS Richmond, Florida, southwest of Miami, with 140 mph winds. Fire consumes twenty-five blimps, 31 non-Navy U.S. government aircraft, 125 privately-owned aircraft, and 212 Navy aircraft. Thirty-eight Navy personnel injured, civilian fire chief killed.Vaeth, J. Gordon, "They Sailed the Skies: U.S. Navy Balloons and the Airship Program", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 2005, ISBN 1-59114-914-2, page 128.]
*29 September - Silverplate B-29-36-MO, "44-27303", "Jabit III", of the 509th Composite Group, Wendover Army Air Field, Utah, on cross-country training mission, strikes several objects on landing at Chicago Municipal Airport, Illinois, never flies again. Assigned to the 4200th Base Unit at the airport pending disposition decision, it is salvaged there in April 1946.
*1 November - First prototype McDonnell XFD-1 Phantom, BuNo "48235" crashes, killing McDonnell's chief test pilot. [Linn, Donn, "Banshee!: McDonnell's Flying Banjo", Airpower, Granada Hills, California, November 1979, Volume 9, Number 6, page 21.]
*5 December – Flight 19, a training flight of 5 TBM Avenger torpedo bombers, manned by 14 US Navy and Marine personnel from Ft Lauderdale Naval Air Station, Florida, USA, vanishes over the Bermuda Triangle under mysterious circumstances. Avengers were four TBM-1Cs, BuNo "45714", 'FT3', BuNo "46094", 'FT36', BuNo "46325", 'FT81', BuNo "73209", 'FT117', and TBM-3, BuNo "23307", 'FT28'. A US Navy PBM-5 Mariner, BuNo "59225", carrying 13 sailors searching for the missing planes also disappears after a large mid-air explosion is seen near its last reported position. [ [http://www.check-six.com/lib/Famous_Missing/Flight_19.htm Flight 19 ] ]

1946

*28 January - First prototype Short Shetland I, "DX166", the largest British-built flying boat, burns out at its mooring from fire in galley before flight testing can be completed. [Stamford, Lincs., UK, FlyPast, "Flying-Boats of the RAF: From 'Shrimp' to Shetland ", November 1994, No. 160, pages 28-29.]
*1 March - Two Silverplate B-29s written off in taxi accident at Kirtland Army Air Field, New Mexico. Pilot of B-29-60-MO, "44-86473", of the 509th Composite Group, assigned to Roswell AAF, New Mexico, attempts to taxi without energizing the hydraulic brake system, cannot stop bomber which collides with B-29-36-MO, "44-27296", "Some Punkins", also of the 509th. "Some Punkins" stricken in August 1946 and destroyed in fire-fighting training. "44-86473" dropped from inventory, April 1946, after salvage.
*7 March - Silverplate B-29-30-MO, "42-65387", from Kirtland Army Air Field, New Mexico, on practice mission to Los Lunas bombing range, releases 10,150 pound Fat Man shape, and then disintegrates for unknown reasons and spins in from 32,000 feet. Ten crew die, wreckage strewn up to 16 miles from main portion. B-29 that drops the weapon in Operation Crossroads test "Able" on 1 July 1946, is named "Dave's Dream" for bombardier Dave Semple, killed in this accident. [cite book
author=Richard H. Campbell
title=The Silverplate Bombers: A History and Registry of the Enola Gay and Other B-29s Configured to Carry Atomic Bombs
editor=
publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc.
id= ISBN 0-7864-2139-8
year=2005| pages=48, 59]
*19 March - Col. George Vernon Holloman, (1902-1946), aviation instrument inventer and early experimenter with guided missiles, is killed in a B-17 accident on Formosa, while enroute from China to the Philippines. Holloman had received the DFC for conducting the first instrument-only landing of an aircraft. Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico, renamed Holloman AFB, 13 January 1948.Mueller, Robert, "Air Force Bases Volume 1: Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982", United States Air Force Historical Research Center, Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C., 1989, ISBN 0-912799-53-6, page 245.]
*7 July - Eccentric, iconoclastic millionaire and aviator Howard Hughes is gravely injured when he mishandles a propeller pitch control failure and crashes his controversial XF-11 reconnaissance plane, "44-70155", during its maiden flight.
*4 September - First prototype Bell XP-83, "44-84990", bailed back to Bell Aircraft Company by the USAAF as a ramjet testbed, and modified with an engineer's station in the fuselage in lieu of the rear fuel tank and pylon for test ramjet under starboard wing, suffers fire in ramjet on flight out of Niagara Falls Airport, New York. Flames spread to wing, forcing Bell test pilot "Slick" Goodlin and engineer Charles Fay to bail out, twin-jet fighter impacting at ~1020 hrs. on farm in Amhurst, New York, ~13 miles from Niagara Airport, creating ~25 foot crater. [Koehnen, Richard C., "Bell's No Name Fighter", Airpower, Granada Hills, California, January 1982, Volume 12, Number 1, page 50.]
*27 September - Geoffrey de Havilland, Jr., is killed when DH 108, "TG306", second prototype, breaks up in flight, coming down in the Thames near Egypt Bay.
*1 October - RAF Bristol Brigand TF.1, "RH744", failed to develop sufficient power on takeoff from RAE Farnborough, overran into soft ground and flipped over, without injuries to crew. This was the first Brigand written off.Crouchman, Alan F., "Last of the 'Colonial Policemen'?", Air Enthusiast No.83, Stamford, Lincs., U.K., September/October 1999, page 22.]
*10 December - A Curtiss R5C-1 Commando military transport plane, BuNo "39528", c/n 26715/CU355, (ex-USAAF "42-3582"), of VMR-152, crashed into Mount Rainier's South Tahoma Glacier, killing 32 U.S. Marines.cite web |title=HistoryLink: A Curtis Commando R5C transport plane crashes into Mount Rainier, killing 32 U.S. Marines, on 10 December 1946|url=http://historylink.org/essays/printer_friendly/index.cfm?file_id=7820| date=2007|publisher=HistoryLink.org] Wreckage not found until July 1947. [http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/thirdseries4.html]

1947

*27 January - United States Air Force Silverplate B-29-36-MO Superfortress, "44-65385", of the 428th Base Unit, Kirtland Army Air Field, New Mexico, for Los Alamos bomb development testing, crashed immediately after take-off from Kirtland on routine maintenance test flight. No specific cause is documented , a fire in one engine and the pilot's failure to compensate for loss of power is believed to have caused the accident. Twelve crew KWF.
*21 February - United States Air Force B-29-95-BW Superfortress, "45-21768", "Kee Bird", of the 46th/72nd Reconnaissance Squadrons, on mission out of Ladd Field, runs out of fuel due to a navigational error and is forced to land in a remote area of northern Greenland. The aircrew is rescued unharmed 3 days later, but the plane is abandoned in place. The accident achieves continuing notability for the exceptionally fortuitous rescue and later for a well-publicized and ultimately disastrous 1994 recovery attempt.
*19 July - RAF Bristol Brigand TF.1, "RH742", assigned to the A&AEE, piloted by F/L T. Morren, failed to pull out of firing pass during exercise in the Lyme Bay area off the Dorset coast, entered slow roll and lost speed while inverted, into spiral dive into sea, killing both crew. It was thought that one of the dive brakes may have failed. This was the first fatal accident in the type.Crouchman, Alan F., "Last of the 'Colonial Policemen'?", Air Enthusiast No.83, Stamford, Lincs., U.K., September/October 1999, pages 22-23.]
*15 October - Second prototype Westland Wyvern TF Mk. 1, "TS375", crashes during attempted forced landing at Farnborough after its propeller stopped, killing Westland test pilot Squadron Leader P.J. Garner.
*3 November - English Electric test pilot Johnny W.C. Squier takes off from Salmesbury, Lancs. in EE-built Vampire F.3, "VP732", intended for the RCAF as "17043", experiences engine failure, force lands on a farm, narrowly missing trees. Fighter is wrecked but pilot survives. [Stamford, Lincs., UK, FlyPast, "Johnny Squier and the Supersonic 'Bang-Out'", May 2006, No. 298, page 80.]

1948

*23 May - In the early evening, ex-RAF Handley Page Halifax C.MK 8, registered "G-AIZO", ex-"PP293", and operated by Bond Air Services Ltd. carrying a cargo of apricots from Valencia, Spain, crashes at Studham, Bedfordshire while on a Standard Beam Approach (SBA) to Bovingdon in bad weather. After a steep turn to port and losing height rapidly, the Halifax sideslips towards the ground until, seeming to recover and flying straight and level and with engines at full power, the aircraft strikes the ground flat and disintegrates, breaking into its component sections. Miraculously, the crew escape alive. After initial suspicions that the cargo may have shifted in flight, the subsequent AAIB report blames loss of control by the pilot whilst the aircraft was too close to the ground for recovery. [Aeroplane Monthly - May 1984 issue - "Unscheduled Arrival" article - P. 252-253]
* [5 June - Northrop YB-49-NO, "42-102368", c.n. 1488, crashes in desert near Muroc Air Force Base, California after both outer wings become detached from center section during spin recovery, killing pilot Maj. Daniel Forbes, co-pilot Capt. Glen Edwards, and three crew. Forbes Air Force Base, Kansas, is named for the pilot, and Muroc is renamed Edwards Air Force Base for the co-pilot on 5 December 1949. Flying wing bomber design will be revived in the 1980s as the B-2 Spirit.Mueller, Robert, "Air Force Bases Volume 1: Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982", United States Air Force Historical Research Center, Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C., 1989, ISBN 0-912799-53-6, page 123.]
*21 July - B-29 Lake Mead crash - A United States Air Force B-29-100-BW Superfortress, "45-21847", modified into an F-13 reconnaissance platform, crashes into Lake Mead, Nevada, during a classified cosmic ray research mission out of Armitage Field, Naval Air Facility, NOTS, Inyokern, California. Five crew escape unharmed before bomber sinks. [http://www.chinalakealumni.org/1947.htm]
*3 September - The only Silverplate B-29 to be part of the strike package on both atomic missions over Japan, B-29-40-MO, "44-27353", "The Great Artiste", of the 509th Composite Group, deployed to Goose Bay Air Base, Labrador for polar navigation training, aborts routine training flight due to an engine problem, makes downwind landing, touches down half way down runway, overruns onto unfinished extension, groundloops to avoid tractor. Structural damage at wing joint so severe that Superfortress never flies again. Despite historicity, airframe is scrapped at Goose Bay in September 1949.
*20 September - First prototype USAF XB-45 Tornado, "45-59479", in a dive test at Muroc Air Force Base, California, to test design load factor, suffers engine explosion, tearing off cowling panels that shear several feet from the horizontal stabilizer, aircraft pitches up, and both wings tear off under negative g load. Crew has no ejection seats, and George Krebs and Nick Piccard are killed.Mizrahi, Joe, Wings, "The Last Great Bomber Fly Off", Sentry Books, Granada Hills, California, June 1999, Volume 29, Number 3, page 35.]

1949

*25 May - Silverplate B-29-36-MO Superfortress, "44-27299", of the 97th Bomb Group, Biggs AFB, Texas, suffers fire in number 4 (starboard outer) engine shortly after take-off for routine navigation and radar training mission. Unable to extinguish blaze, crew bails out but navigator's parachute does not open and he is killed - believed that he had struck his head on nosegear operating assembly while departing bomber. B-29 makes two-mile circle, then comes down 35 miles NE of El Paso, Texas, exploding on impact.
*30 May - Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft test pilot Jo O. Lancaster becomes first British pilot to save his life with an ejection seat when he bails out of experimental twin-jet flying wing Armstrong Whitworth A.W.52, "TS363", out of Bitteswell, using "primitive" Martin-Baker Mk. 1 seat, when an oscillation in pitch set in during a shallow dive from ~5,000 feet. [London, U.K.: Aeroplane, Lancaster, Jo O., "Setting the Record Straight", October 2006, Volume 34, Number 10, No. 402, pages 42-46.]
*9 August - US Navy Lt. J. L. Fruin loses control of his F2H-1 Banshee and ejects, becoming the first American pilot to use an ejector seat during an actual in-flight emergency.
*1 November – A P-38 Lightning, 42-26927, c/n 422-7931, "NX-26927", flown by a Bolivian Air Force pilot, collides in midair with Eastern Airlines Flight 537, a Douglas DC-4 (C-54B-10-DO) airliner, "N88727", (ex-USAAF 43-17165), c/n 18365, on its final approach to National Airport. All 55 people on board the DC-4 die; the P-38 pilot, Eric Rios Bridaux, survived with injuries. Bridaux was considered one of Bolivia's most experienced pilots. Among the dead were Congressman George J. Bates and former Congressman Michael J. Kennedy. DC-4 wreckage comes down on Virginia shoreline of the Potomac River, north of Mount Vernon. It was (at the time) the worst plane crash in the history of civil aviation. The P-38 pilot was accused of causing the accident, later tried and cleared of the charges, which now is believed to have been an ATC error.

ee also

*List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft, 1950-1974
*List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft, 1975-1999
*List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft, 2000 -

External links

* [http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/defense/?channel=defense] AVIATION WEEK
* [http://www.planecrashinfo.com/ PlaneCrashInfo.com]

References