This Day in US Military History

[mhansen2]

29 December

1861 – An unidentified Confederate gunboat, a former lightvessel, was destroyed in the Atlantic Ocean off Wilmington, North Carolina, by boat crews from the armed screw steamer USS Mount Vernon.

1862 - Captured by Union Army raiders the previous day while carrying a cargo of corn, molasses, and sugar, the Confederate 123-ton sternwheel paddle steamer Rose Douglas was shelled by Confederate artillery and then burned by Union forces on the Arkansas River at Van Buren, Arkansas, to prevent her recapture by the Confederates.

1863 - The Confederate schooner Caroline Gertrude, a blockade runner carrying a cargo of cotton to Havana, Cuba, ran aground on a bar just inside the mouth of the Ocklockonee River on the Gulf Coast of Florida. She was boarded and burned by boat crews from the screw steamer USS Stars and Stripes.

1864 - The 750-ton Union bark Delphine, proceeding in ballast from London, England, to Akyab in British Burma, was captured and burned in the South Pacific Ocean by the merchant raider CSS Shenandoah.

1930 - "On Dec. 29th, the word was received that Lieut. W.H. Sherwood of this squadron, (16th Reconnaissance Squadron) who was on an extended cross-country to his home in Pennsylvania, crashed and was killed near Waterford, PA., about a quarter of a mile from his parents' home. Lieut. Sherwood was a graduate of Kelly Field, Texas, with the July 1929 class." Lt. William H. Sherwood, assigned at Marshall Field, Fort Riley, Kansas, had departed Rodgers Field, Pittsburgh's first municipal airport, in Douglas O-25A, 30-186.

1942 - "Pensacola, Fla., December 30, (AP) - Two Pensacola pilots are presumed to have been killed Tuesday night, it was announced by naval officials here tonight. They were Ensign Sylvain Bouche of New Orleans, La., and Cadet John T. Greer of Tamaqua, Pa."

1943 - 1st Lt Robert L. Duke is killed in the crash of Curtiss A-25A-20-CS Shrike, 42-79823, near Spencer, Tennessee, this date. He was assigned as Assistant A-3 of Eglin Field, Florida. Eglin Auxiliary Field 3 is later named Duke Field in his honor.

1943 - Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress, 42-97493 of the 2nd Ferrying Group out of Dover Army Airfield, crashes 2 miles SW of Gander, Newfoundland shortly after takeoff. KWF was pilot, 1LT Bruce E. Ryan of Short Hills, NJ, and all crew and passengers. Aircraft was completely consumed by fire pursuant to the crash and no cause was ever determined.

1945 - USS Minivet (AM-371) was an Auk Class Minesweeper. During her first month in the area, escort trips to Pusan, Korea, and from Okinawa left little time to stream her minesweeping gear. After a brief availability period AM-371 departed Sasebo on 23 December in company with eight Japanese vessels to complete the sweeping of the Tsushima Straits. Following in the wake of the second pass of the day on 29 December she struck a mine and in a matter of minutes rolled over and sank.
Despite the discipline and courageous action of her crew and the bravery of American and Japanese rescuers, Minivet suffered 31 men killed or missing. She became the first American minesweeper lost during these hazardous operations that had destroyed 20,000 mines since the end of the war.

1947 - "NAPLES, Italy, Dec. 29. (AP) - Three United States Navy men were killed when a helicopter from USS Midway (CVB-41) lost its rotor and fell into a scrap iron pile in the port of Naples today. Two were listed as Naval Officers Lamm and Jack Peter. Their addresses and the name of the third victim were not available. Witnesses said the helicopter took off from the carrier, anchored in Naples harbor, a few minutes before the crash. The accident occurred a few hundred yards from the Friendship Train food ship Exiria." USS Midway operated Sikorsky HO3S helicopters in 1947.

1947 - A US Marine Corps plane crashed in China and the four-man crew was captured by Communist forces. They were released in July 1948.

1980 - A U.S. Navy pilot ejects from stricken Douglas TA-4J Skyhawk, BuNo. 154626, 'JH', of VC-10, on a flight from NAS Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after engine failure and fire, spends 30 hours in the water before rescue shortly after midnight on Wednesday, 31 December, from the Atlantic ~45 miles S of Bahamian island of Mayaguana by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter. Two Skyhawks departed Gitmo on routine training mission at 1500 hrs. on Monday, second pilot sees pilot Cmdr. Frank Riordan successfully eject from his burning aircraft with a good canopy ~240 miles NE of Guantanamo. Observer aboard U.S. Navy P-3 Orion out of NAS Jacksonville, Florida, spots strobelight on pilot's life jacket on Tuesday night, 28 December. Riordan recovered in good condition "except for a slight case of exposure", said a Coast Guard spokesman in Miami, Florida.

 

[mhansen2]

30 December

1862 - Carrying a cargo of coffee, salt, and other goods, the 3½-ton sloop Ann was destroyed at Jupiter Inlet on the coast of Florida by the bark USS Gem of the Sea.

1863 - During a blockade-running voyage from Glasgow, Scotland, with a cargo of dry goods, the 607-gross ton British sidewheel paddle steamer Nola was driven onto a reef and wrecked in the Western Blue Cut area off Ireland Island, 7 nautical miles (13 km) northwest of Bermuda.

1864 - Schooner USS Annie departed Key West, Florida, to resume blockade duties in the Gulf of Mexico along Florida's west coast off Charlotte Harbor but was not heard from again. On 5 February 1865, the screw steamer USS Hendrick Hudson found her wreck submerged in 36 feet (11 meters) of water south of Cape Romano, Florida, apparently the victim of an explosion. No sign of her crew was found.

1864 - During a heavy gale, paddle steamer USS Rattler parted her mooring cables on the Mississippi River near Grand Gulf, Mississippi, ran ashore, struck a snag and sank. She was stripped and abandoned, and Confederate forces later burned her wreck.

1941 - Nine Martin B-26 Marauder bombers of the 33d Bombardment Squadron, 22d Bombardment Group, depart Muroc Army Air Field for March Field, California, but only eight arrive. In bad weather, B-26, 40–1475, snags a pine tree and crashes on Keller Peak in the San Bernardino Mountains, killing nine. Wreckage not found until 14 January 1942. Late the next day, a recovery team of sheriff officers and members of the 33rd Squadron reaches the site after a four-mile trek with toboggans from Snow Valley. All of the crew had been thrown from the plane except for one, whose body was trapped beneath the fuselage. A plaque was installed on a rock near the crash site in August 1995 commemorating the lost crew. Two of the other Marauders in this flight were deployed onto Midway Island and saw action in the Battle of Midway on 4 June 1942 in a torpedo attack on the IJN Akagi. One was shot down.

1942 - North American B-25D-1 Mitchell, 41-29855, of the 498th Bomb Squadron, 345th Bomb Group, flown by Frank E. Mason, crashes 1½ miles from Columbia Army Air Base, South Carolina. Three officers and two enlisted men are killed in the late Wednesday takeoff accident.

1942 - A flying instructor and two cadets are killed in the collision of two Vultee BT-13A Valiants shortly after their takeoffs from Waco Army Air Field, Texas. BT-13A, 41-21734, of the 470th Basic Flight Training Squadron, flown by cadet Paul G. Shudick, and BT-13A, 41-22734, of the 468th Basic Flight Training Squadron, piloted by Lt. James A. Abney, crash killing Abney of Shreveport, Louisiana, cadet Shudick of Gary, Indiana, and cadet William H. Turner of Burton, Texas.

1942 - A U.S. Navy patrol bomber on a routine training flight crashes Sunday afternoon in the north end of the Salton Sea in the Imperial Valley, California, killing seven crew and injuring two. The Eleventh Naval District at San Diego identifies the dead as: Lt. William O. Carlson, plane commander, Seattle, Washington; Lt. Jack E. Brenner, pilot, Coronado, California; Ens. J. Douglas Simmons III, pilot, Cleveland, Mississippi; W. A. Morgan, aviation machinist's mate, San Diego; Louis J. Hanlon, aviation machinist's mate first class, Coronado; J. W. Jones, aviation ordnanceman second class, Utica, New York; J. J. O'Connor, aviation radioman third class, Denver, Colorado. "All bodies were recovered. No other details were made public."

1942 - Boeing B-17F-35-BO Flying Fortress, 42-5123, of the 20th Bomb Squadron, 2d Bomb Group, Great Falls Army Air Base, Montana, piloted by Edward T. Layfield, crashes near Musselshell, Montana. Capt. John Lloyd, public relations officer at the Great Falls base, said that eleven aboard were killed.

1942 - "San Francisco, December 30 - Four army fighter planes crashed within a 12-hour span in the San Francisco bay area today. Three of the pilots were believed killed. Two of the ships plunged to earth near Hamilton field, one ten miles north of Napa and the other just south of the field. Another crashed and exploded in a salt pond near Newark in southern Alameda county and the fourth crashed in Lake Chabot in the east Oakland foothills. Hamilton field, which announced all four mishaps, said the victim of the crash nearest the field was Second Lieut. Lloyd E. Blythe, 24, of Oakland. Second Lieut. Howard B. Stivers (home address not given) rode his plane to earth as it fell in Lake Chabot and was rescued uninjured. The pilots of the other two single-seaters were not identified immediately."
Blythe (also reported with middle initial G) was killed flying Bell P-39D-1-BE Airacobra, 41-28302, of the 326th Fighter Squadron, 328th Fighter Group, Hamilton Field.

1946 - A U.S. Navy Martin PBM-5 Mariner flying boat, BuNo 59098, supporting Operation Highjump, departs from seaplane tender USS Pine Island (AV-12) on a prolonged reconnaissance flight, crashes during a blizzard in Antarctica. Three crew members are killed and six others were stranded 13 days before being rescued. The three who died, Ensign Maxwell A. Lopez, ARM1 Wendell K. Henderson, and ARM1 Frederick W. Williams, were buried at the crash site and their remains have not been recovered.

1956 - A United States Air Force Lockheed C-121C, 54–165, of the 1608th Transport Wing, based at Charleston AFB, South Carolina, crashes on approach to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, while flying UN troops into the Suez Canal zone. It was also slated to carry Hungarian refugees back to Charleston AFB, South Carolina. 12 of 38 onboard killed. Air Force headquarters at Wiesbaden, Germany, said that a manifest showed 38 persons – 27 passengers and only 11 crewmen – were aboard the aircraft. Amongst the fatalities were Major Clyde W. Ellis, aircraft commander; Master Sergeant Frank A. Lorch, flight engineer; 1st Lieutenant La Verne W. Alitz, first pilot; and Sergeant Frank A. Rodgers, flight engineer. All three were residents of North Charleston, South Carolina. As of 1 January, the names of three others reported dead on arrival at the Dharan hospital had not been released. "Seven crew members are listed among the survivors. Their conditions and that of a foreign observer are:" 1st Lieutenant Robert F. Wearley, of Charleston Heights, South Carolina, co-pilot, critical; 1st Lieutenant Peter Goch, of Jersey City, New Jersey, navigator, critical; 1st Lieutenant Thomas W. Heenan, of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, navigator, critical. "The condition of the following was listed as fair to good:" 2d Lieutenant Robert L. Saylors, of Ninety Six, South Carolina, navigator; Airman 2d Class (WAF) Florence A. Hogan, of Stanford, Connecticut, flight attendant; Staff Sergeant Robert D. Proctor, of Charleston, flight attendant; Staff Sergeant Robert J. Sanders, of Charleston, flight attendant; and Lieutenant Colonel Ali A. Raft, a transportation observer of MATS operations, from Iran. "The Charleston Air Base public information officer said the aircraft was on a regular transport mission to the U.S. Air Force Base at Dhahran, which is leased from Saudi Arabia and is one of the global chain of strategic bases." It was one of three flying into Dhahran from Tripoli, Libya, an eleven-hour flight. The other two aircraft landed at Muharraq Airport on Bahrain Island, in the Persian Gulf, a short distance from the crash site. The C-121 "is reported to have crashed into sand and burned about 1,000 yards from the runway while attempting to land during heavy fog." Captain Irving H. Breslauer, the public information officer at Charleston AFB, said that the aircraft left Charleston on Thursday 27 December with 12 crew members for Dhahran, by way of McGuire AFB, New Jersey, Lajes Field in the Azores, and Tripoli. Colonel Clinton C. Wasem, commander of the 1608th Transport Wing, left Charleston for Dhahran on 31 December to conduct an investigation into the cause of the crash.

1970 - Prototype Tomcat, Grumman F-14-01-GR Tomcat, 157980, suffers hydraulic fluid leak on second flight, crew attempts return to Grumman plant at Calverton, New York, but loses flight controls just before crossing airfield threshold, both crew members eject as airframe plunges into woods short of runway.

 

[mhansen2]

31 December

1861 – An unidentified Confederate gunboat, a former lightvessel, was destroyed in the Atlantic Ocean off Wilmington, North Carolina, by boat crews from the armed screw steamer USS Mount Vernon.

Unknown Dates December 1861

The full-rigged ship USS Lewis, a former whaler slated for use as a blockship in the "Stone Fleet," ran aground and broke open her bilge near Tybee Island, Georgia.

Ship USS Maria Theresa was scuttled as a blockship in Charleston Harbor off Charleston, South Carolina, about four miles south southeast of Fort Sumter and three miles east-southeast of the lighthouse on Morris Island as part of the "Stone Fleet."

Ship USS Robin Hood, the former East Indiaman, was scuttled as a blockship in the main channel of Charleston Harbor off Charleston, South Carolina, as part of the "Stone Fleet."

1862 - The Confederate ship Frying Pan Shoals was destroyed in the Cape Fear River in North Carolina near Fort Caswell by men aboard a cutter and a gig from the armed screw steamer USS Mount Vernon.

1862 – USS Monitor foundered in a heavy storm in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, with the loss of 16 crew while under tow by the sidewheel paddle steamer USS Rhode Island.
The USS Monitor Center - At The Mariners' Museum & Park

Unknown Date December 1862

The British steamer Kelpie, a blockade runner, sank while entering the harbor at Nassau in the Bahamas.

Unknown Dates December 1863

The 200-ton sidewheel cottonclad gunboat CSS John F. Carr was driven ashore on the Matagorda Peninsula on the coast of Texas by a severe gale and was burned to prevent her capture by Union forces on 30 or 31 December. Sources differ on her fate, claiming that the fire destroyed her or that Union forces pulled her onto a bank at Lynchburg, Texas, to prevent her from sinking in deep water and that she apparently was recaptured by the Confederates and returned to Confederate States Navy service.

Confederate schooner Rosalie (or Rosa Lee) burned (or was burned?) in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Texas.

1864 - The Union 120-ton sternwheel paddle steamer Venango was burned at Pilcher's Point in East Carroll Parish, Louisiana.

Unknown Dates December 1864

The armed steamer Kate L. Bruce was sunk as a blockship in the Chattahoochee River.

1975 - USCG Zinnia (WAGL-255) was an American Coast Guard buoy tender vessel that was sunk as an artificial reef on the Gulf Coast of Florida, some 30 miles SW of Cape San Blas.

 

[mhansen2]

1 January

1862 - The Confederate fishing schooner Advocate was scuttled as a blockship by Union forces in the Petit Bois Channel on the coast of Mississippi. She had been captured by the screw steamer USS New London on 1 December 1861.

1863 – During the Battle of Galveston, Confederate Army armed cottonclad tug CS Neptune (or CSS Neptune Camp) was sunk by United States Navy warships in Galveston Harbor when a shell passed through her hull. She suffered eight killed and 20 wounded, and three of the wounded later died of their injuries.

1863 – During the Battle of Galveston, armed sidewheel paddle teamer USS Westfield, serving as flagship of the naval squadron blockading Galveston, Texas, ran aground on a sandbar in Galveston Harbor while in action with Confederate Army gunboat CS Bayou City and the armed tugboat CS Neptune. She was blown up to prevent her capture by Confederate forces, killing the fleet commander, Commander William B. Renshaw, and several members of her crew when the explosives detonated sooner than they expected.

1864 – US Army tug John B. White was sunk by a Confederate mine in the waters off Virginia.

1864 – British schooner Sylvanus, a blockade runner with a cargo of salt, liquor, and cordage, was hit at the waterline with an 11-inch (279-mm) shell and driven ashore in Doboy Sound, Georgia, by gunboat USS Huron. The tide then covered her.

1865 – An early steamship, USS San Jacinto, veteran of China’s second opium war, sank in the Abacos Islands, Bahamas while she was on blockade duty during the Civil War. Once 234-feet long, the wreck is now completely scattered across the bottom in 40 feet of water.

1915 – Pre-Dreadnought battleship HMS Formidable was sunk about 25 miles off Portland by the German submarine U-24 whose captain was Kapitanleutnant Rudolph Schneider. He fired two torpedoes, the first hit the starboard side and the second, fired about 50 minutes later, hit the port side.
Formidable was part of the 5th Battle Squadron, which consisted of eight battleships and two cruisers, which had been steaming along the south coast of England in the English Channel from the east. 547 men lost their lives, 233 survived.

1937 - Lt. Col. Fredrick Irving Eglin (1891–1937), first rated as a military aviator in 1917 and helped train other flyers during World War I, is killed while assigned to General Headquarters, Air Force, Langley Field, Virginia, in the crash of his Northrop A-17 pursuit aircraft, 35–97, at Chesa Mountain, Alabama in bad weather during flight from Langley to Maxwell Field, Alabama. The Valparaiso Bombing and Gunnery Base was renamed Eglin Field 4 August 1937, later Eglin Air Force Base on 24 June 1948.

1943 - The sole Lockheed XP-49, 40-3055, a development of the P-38 Lightning, first flown 11 November 1942, suffers a crash landing at Burbank, California when the port landing gear fails to lock down due to a combined hydraulic and electrical problem. Pilot was Joe C. Towle. Repaired, it returns to flight on 16 February 1943, and is sent to Wright Field, Ohio, for further testing. Despite slight improved performance over the P-38, difficulties with the new engines, as well as the success of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and the P-51 Mustang, leads to no additional orders or production.

1945 - Lockheed P-38G-10-LO Lightning, 42-13400, c/n 222-7834, suffers crash landing on Attu Island in the Aleutians, 2,000 miles W of Anchorage, Alaska, whilst on a training mission, pilot 2nd Lt. Robert Nesmith unhurt. Airframe suffers propellers torn off, broken horizontal stabilizer, buckled left nacelle. After simple parts salvage, it is abandoned in place. Recovered June 1999, it is transported by helicopter to the U.S. Coast Guard station at Attu, then flown to Anchorage in an Alaska Air National Guard Lockheed C-130 Hercules. Registered as N55929 but not taken up. Restored at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, it is placed on display at McCloud Memorial Park, Elmendorf AFB, in April 2000.

1946 - Budd RB-1 Conestoga, NC45347, c/n 003, ex-BuNo 39294, one of twelve purchased from the War Assets Administration by National Skyway Freight Corp., former AVG members, for $28,642 each at a time when new C-47s go for ~$100,000, belly-lands this date on a golf course at Bluefield, Virginia during an attempted forced landing after running low on fuel. The new company immediately sold four RB-1 aircraft to other buyers, which paid for the entire WAA contract.

 

[mhansen2]

2 January

1864 - The 178-register ton Confederate sidewheel paddle steamer Benigo, a blockade runner, ran aground on the coast of North Carolina west of Lockwood Folly Inlet. Her crew set fire to her and abandoned her. Screw steamer USS Fahkee discovered her aground, partially burned, and with 7 feet (2.1 meters) of water in her hold the next day. She was destroyed by gunfire by Fahkee, sidewheel paddle steamer USS Fort Jackson, and screw steamers USS Daylight, USS Iron Age, and USS Montgomery.

1865 – The British schooner Celia, a blockade runner carrying a cargo of turpentine, was shelled, then boarded by a landing party from gunboat USS Nipsic and burned at Murrell's Inlet on the coast of South Carolina.

1944 - "Hornick, Iowa, Jan. 2 (AP) - Nine crew members of a Flying Fortress based at Sioux City, were killed when the plane crashed and burned on a farm near here late today. Persons within a radius of several miles said they saw the plane explode and crash." B-17F-40-VE, 42-6013, of the 393d CCTS, piloted by Frank R. Hilford, appears to be the airframe involved.

1944 - "Sacramento, Calif., Jan. 2 (AP) - Thirteen army flyers were killed today when a B-17 Flying Fortress, headed for Los Angeles from McChord Field, Tacoma, Wash., exploded in flight over McClellan field and plunged 3000 feet to the ground in flames. Thousands of Sacramentans, startled by a terrific explosion, looked skyward and saw the crippled and burning four-motored bomber emerge from the overcast sky and fall. Only one member of the plane's crew of 14 escaped the flaming wreckage, parachuting to safety before the crash. He was Maj. James H. Wergen of Kingman Field, Ariz., the bomber's home base. The plane went to pieces in the air as it fell, scattering a wingtip, one of its motors and other parts over a vast area. McClellan Field authorities said medical officers were attempting to identify the dead, but that names would be withheld pending notification of next of kin." The B-17G was piloted by Frederick M. Klopfenstein.

1948 - A North American P-51D-25-NT Mustang, 45-11535 crashes 40 miles N of Roswell, New Mexico, shortly after noon this date, killing the pilot. Maj. Charles Beck, public information officer at Roswell Army Airfield, said that the plane's home base had not been determined.

1964 - A U.S. Air Force Douglas C-124C Globemaster II, 52-968, of the 28th Air Transport Squadron, en route from Tachikawa Air Force Base near Tokyo, Japan, to Hickam Air Force Base, Honolulu, Hawaii with nine on board and 11 tons of cargo, disappears over the Pacific Ocean after making a fuel stop at Wake Island. Due at Hickam at 0539 hrs. EST, the Globemaster II is last heard from at 0159 hrs. EST. Fuel exhaustion would have been at 1000 hrs. EST and the aircraft is presumed down at sea. An automatic SOS signal is detected emanating from an aircraft-type radio with a constant carrier frequency of 4728 kHz, issuing an automatically keyed distress message, and a dozen aircraft of the Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard are sent to search from Hickam and from Guam, Midway, and Johnston Island.
Poor weather and limited visibility hampers search efforts. The U.S. Navy's USS Lansing (DE-388) also participates in the search. The eight missing Air Force crew and one U.S. Navy man escorting a body back to the U. S. are officially declared dead on 21 January. This was the first C-124 accident since May 1962.

1968 - Col. Henry Brown and Lt. Col. Joe B. Jordan became the first U.S. Air Force pilots to use a General Dynamics F-111A's emergency escape module when their aircraft, 65-5701, c/n A1-19, of the Air Force Test Center, crashed near Edwards Air Force Base, California, due to a weapons bay fire.

1975 - U.S. Navy Grumman F-14A-70-GR Tomcat, BuNo 158982, 'NK107', of VF-1, the first of the Pacific Fleet F-14 squadrons to form, deployed aboard USS Enterprise (CVN-65), crashes into the sea off Cubi Point, Philippines, after an inflight engine explosion. Both crew members successfully eject. This is one of two squadron losses during the 1974–75 deployment that signaled the fan-blade containment problems which plagued early versions of the TF30 turbofan engine.

1976 - USMC McDonnell-Douglas F-4J Phantom II, BuNo 155506, of VMFA-333, crashes on approach to NAS Oceana, Virginia. Both crew eject safely.

1986 - A McDonnell Douglas F-15C-28-MC Eagle (s/n 80-0037; c/n 0692/C186) from the 57th FIS based at NAS Keflavik, Iceland, crashed into the northern Atlantic Ocean off the southeastern coast of Iceland. The pilot, Capt Steve Nelson, was killed when his aircraft struck the water at high speed after failing to safely complete a "split-S" maneuver during a low-altitude step-down training (LASDT) sortie. The instructor had planned the maneuver based on his own previous experience in training weapons school students at Nellis AFB in comparatively lightweight F-15As; however, the F-15C, with nearly full Conformal Fuel Tanks, was much heavier and could not physically complete the split-S despite starting the maneuver at 10,000'. The aircraft was never recovered.

2004 - OH-58D Kiowa 90-0370 from 1–82 Aviation Brigade, 1–17 Cavalry Regiment shot down near Fallujah, killing a pilot.

 

[mhansen2]

3 January

1943 - Boeing B-17F-27-BO Flying Fortress, 41-24620, c/n 3305, "snap! crackle! pop!", 'PU-O', of the 360th Bomb Squadron, 303rd Bomb Group, on daylight raid over Saint-Nazaire, France, loses wing due to flak, goes into spiral. Ball turret gunner Alan Eugene Magee (13 January 1919 – 20 December 2003), though suffering 27 shrapnel wounds, bails out (or is thrown from wreckage) without his chute at ~20,000 feet (6,100 m), loses consciousness due to altitude, freefall plunges through glass roof of the Gare de Saint-Nazaire and is found alive but with serious injuries on floor of depo. He’s saved by German medical care, spends rest of war in prison camp. On 3 January 1993, the people of St. Nazaire honored Magee and the crew of his bomber by erecting a 6-foot-tall (1.8 m) memorial to them.
Alan Magee Story

1944 - CDR. Frank A. Erickson, U.S. Coast Guard, receives an official commendation after he pilots a Sikorsky HNS-1 helicopter with two cases of blood plasma lashed to its floats from New York City to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, for treatment of U.S. Navy crewmen from USS Turner (DD-648), which had exploded, burned, and sunk off New York harbor, this date. In this heroic deed, in violent winds and snow that grounded all other aircraft, Erickson became the first pilot in the world to fly a helicopter under such conditions as well as making the first "lifesaving flight" ever performed by a "chopper". Without the plasma, many of the severely injured survivors of the Turner would have died.
Destroyer Photo Index DD-648 USS TURNER

1944 - The crash of Cessna AT-17B Bobcat, 42-38897, c/n 3106, of the 986th SEFTS, Douglas Army Airfield, Arizona, kills Aviation Cadets Loris Gale, 20, of Walla Walla, Washington, and James C. Gallagher, 20, of Lima, Ohio. The twin-engined trainer came down three miles S of the Cochise Ranger Station, Arizona, said the Douglas Field public relations officer.

1954 - A U.S. Air Force Curtiss C-46 Commando attempting a forced landing in Southern Japan hits trees, killing all four crew.

1954 - A Douglas B-26C Invader crashes and explodes in heavily wooded mountains 9 miles NE of Carrizozo, New Mexico, after two crew bail out Sunday night. Col. Frank E. Sharp, commander of Holloman AFB, New Mexico, states that the men were found Monday "in good physical condition." They received only minor bruises and scratches despite jumping into pitch darkness over the rugged Sacramento Mountain range. They were identified as Capt. Frederick M. Werth, Bristol, Virginia, and S/Sgt. Willie E. Woods, of Sunflower, Mississippi. B-26C-35-DT Invader, 44-35429, is written off.

1966 - Third (of five) Ling-Temco-Vought XC-142As, 62-5923, suffers major landing gear and fuselage damage during landing on 14th Cat II flight at Edwards Air Force Base, California, having logged only 14:12 hrs. Cat II flight time. Air Force decides to use wing from this airframe to repair XC-142A No. 2, 62–5922, which suffers major damage on 19 October 1965, other useful items are salvaged from airframe no. 3, and the cannibalized fuselage is scrapped in the summer of 1966.

1989 - Oregon Air National Guard McDonnell-Douglas F-4C Phantom II, 63-7626 (?), of 123rd FIS/Oregon ANG from Portland, Oregon, crashes on a training mission ~30 miles off Tillamook Bay, injuring both crew, who were plucked from the Pacific Ocean, authorities said.

2006 - A United States Army Sikorsky Aircraft UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashes near Tal Afar, Ninawa Governorate, Iraq. The aircraft, part of a two-Black Hawk helicopter team, was travelling between military bases when the accident occurred, resulting in 12 fatalities.

 

[mhansen2]

4 January

1865 - Knickerbocker was a Union side-wheel steamer of 858 tons, built in 1843 at New York City. She was wrecked in a storm off the Southern coast of Long Island, NY., near Mastic Beach in about 9 feet of water. Several Confederate attacks resulted in the burning of the ship on February 15th, 1865.

1865 - While trying to run the Union blockade and enter Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, the 529-gross ton British screw steamer Rattlesnake was forced aground on the coast of South Carolina just east of Breach Inlet by armed schooner USS Potomska and gunboat USS Wamsutta. She was burned and abandoned.

1866 – Tug USS Narcissus ran aground 1-1/2 miles west of Egmont Key off Tampa Bay, FL., during one of the severe winter storms during a cold front moving through the area. When the cold seawater came in contact with the hot steam boiler, she exploded, killing the entire crew of 29. Federal troops from nearby Egmont Key salvaged the ship's guns, but no signs of survivors were ever found.

1944 - Boeing B-17G-10-BO Flying Fortress, 42-31257, flying in formation with other B-17s, catches fire near Alamo, Nevada, while en route between Indian Springs Army Airfield and Las Vegas Army Airfield, Nevada, and twelve of thirteen aboard bail out. One is killed when his chute fails to open in time, and one aboard the bomber dies in the crash 67 miles NNE of Las Vegas AAF. Other planes circled the spot where the plane went down and radioed the base news of the crash. "Eleven of their number were brought to the airfield hospital last night (5 January), suffering from minor injuries and exposure after having spent the intervening time in heavy snow on a high mountain plateau."

1949 - Douglas VC-47D Skytrain. 43-48405, c/n 25666/14221, crashes and burns in a night accident, coming down in mountainous terrain about eight miles NE of Colfax, California. The Placer County coroner said there are seven fatalities. The flight was believed to be between Reno and McClellan Air Force Base, California. The crash site is near the American River and highway U.S. 40.

1954 - A US Navy P2V-5 Neptune (BuNo 127752) of VP-2 departed NAS Iwakuni in Japan and headed toward the west coast of Korea. The flight continued north across the Korean DMZ, then along the North Korean coast to the coast of China before turning south. After reporting engine difficulties, the aircraft head towards the K-13 base at Suwan. The engine difficulties might have been a result of a hostile attack on the Neptune. The aircraft reached the vicinity of K-13 before crashing, possibly the result of an additional attack by a US Navy AD-4B Skyraider on night patrol. The crew of Jesse Beasley, Fredric Prael, Rex Claussen, Gordon Spicklemier, Lloyd Rensink, Bruce Berger, James Hand, Robert Archbold, Stanley Mulford and Paul Morelli were all killed.

1959 - Single-engine de Havilland Canada UC-1A Otter cargo aircraft, BuNo 144673, c/n 163, from VX-6, participating in Operation Deep Freeze IV, crashed during takeoff at Marble Point, Antarctica, about 50 miles from McMurdo Station. "As the aircraft departed the Marble Point runway it made a very steep left turn and the left wing hit a small knoll. The aircraft cart-wheeled and crashed." Lieutenant Harvey E. Gardner and Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Lawrence J. Farrell died. Joe Baugher lists crash date as 1 April 1959.

1960 - Three United States Army de Havilland Canada U-1A Otters, of the 329th Engineer Detachment, fly from Wheelus Air Base to Bengazi, Libya, but 55-2974 disappears over the Gulf of Sirte in the Mediterranean in a storm. Aircraft never found. Search suspended 8 January at 2030 hrs. One crew and nine passengers presumed dead. Lost are:
1st Lt. Walter Jefferson, Jr., pilot of the aircraft, Tulsa, OK.
2d Lt. Graydon W. Goss, Franklinville, NY.
Pfc Albert L. Callais, Plaquemine, LA.
Sp5 Donnald R. Fletcher, Salinas, CA.
Sp4 Henry Harvey, Bradenton, FL.
Sp4 George W. Hightower, Waskum, TX.
Pfc Stephen T. Novak, Massena, NY.
Sp4 William C. Riley, North Adams, MA.
Sfc Kenneth E. Spaulding, The Bronx, NY.
Pfc Henry J. Weyer, Jr., Chicago., IL.

1961 - During Minimum Interval Takeoff (MITO) from Pease AFB, New Hampshire, Boeing B-47E Stratojet, 53-4244, of the 100th Bomb Wing, number 2 in a three-ship cell, loses control, crashes into trees, burns. Killed are aircraft commander, Capt. Thomas C. Weller, co-pilot 1st Lt. Ronald Chapo, navigator 1st Lt. J. A. Wether, and crew chief S/Sgt. Stephen J. Merva.

1964 - USAF Martin NRB-57D Canberra, 53-3973, of the Wright Air Development Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, suffers structural failure of both wings at 50,000 feet (15240 m), comes down in schoolyard at Dayton, Ohio, crew bails out. The U.S. Air Force subsequently grounds all W/RB-57D aircraft.

1989 - US Navy F-14A Tomcats, of VF-32, flown by Joseph Connelly (RIO Leo Enwright) and Hermon Cook (RIO Steven Collins), flying from the USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67), each shot down a Libyan MiG-23 Flogger over the Gulf of Sidra.

1989 - A female U.S. Navy airman of VA-42, was struck and killed by a Grumman A-6 Intruder being towed from a hangar at NAS Oceana, Virginia Beach, Virginia. The airman, whose name was withheld pending notification of family, was walking beside a wing of the attack bomber as it was being towed by a small tractor from the hangar to the flight-line, a Navy spokesman said.

 

[mhansen2]

5 January

1949 - As five U.S. Navy Grumman F8F Bearcats make firing runs on a gunnery target sleeve towed by another aircraft, two fighters collide at 7,000 feet and plunge into the Pacific Ocean off San Francisco. Both pilots, Ens. Peter J. McHugh, of Alameda, and Lt. William R. Cecil, of Oakland, are feared lost.

1949 - A Douglas AD Skyraider, expected to return to NAS Alameda at 1150 hrs. after a routine two-hour flight, is declared missing shortly before 1400 hrs. when its fuel would be exhausted.

1949 – Test pilot Chuck Yeager performed the only ground take-off in a Bell X-1. With 50% fuel, he reached 23,000 feet (7,010 meters) and Mach 1.03.

1950 - A Boeing B-50A Superfortress, 46-021, c/n 15741 of the 3200th Proof Test Group out of Eglin AFB, crash lands in the Choctawhatchee Bay, northwest Florida, killing two of the 11 crew. Nine escape from the downed aircraft following the forced landing. The airframe settles in eight to ten feet of mud at a depth of 38 feet (12 m). Divers recover the body of flight engineer M/Sgt. Claude Dorman, 27, of Kingston, New Hampshire, from the nose of the bomber on Monday, 8 January. The body of S/Sgt. William Thomas Bell, 21, aerial photographer, who lived in Mayo, Florida, is recovered on Tuesday, 9 January, outside the plane from beneath the tail. The Eglin base public information officer identified the surviving crew as 1st Lt. Park R. Bidwell, instructor pilot; 1st Lt. Vere Short, pilot; 1st Lt. James S. Wigg, co-pilot; Maj. William C. McLaughlin, bombardier; and S/Sgt. Clifford J. Gallipo, M/Sgt. Alton Howard, M/Sgt. William J. Almand, T/Sgt. Samuel G. Broke, and Cpl. William F. Fitzpatrick, crewmen.

1955 - Two Boeing B-47E Stratojets of the 44th Bomb Wing from Lake Charles AFB, Louisiana, collide over the Gulf of Mexico during refuelling Wednesday night, causing one to crash and the other to limp home to base with damage, sans its observer who bailed out over the Gulf. Air-sea rescue teams began a search of the Gulf in an area some 30 miles SE of Cameron, Louisiana, on the Gulf coast. B-47E-5-DT, 52-029, is lost with all three crew. Observer who bailed out is never found. The pilot of the recovered bomber stated that the lost plane apparently smashed down on his aircraft from above, "leaving wheel tracks on the cabin before it spun off to crash in Gulf waters. Capt. Morris E. Shiver, 29, of Albany, Ga., said 'we never knew what hit us' as the two six-jet bombers crashed together Wednesday night about 30 miles southeast of Cameron, La. An armada of planes and ships searched Thursday for the four airmen missing after the crash. Three of them were aboard the B47 which plunged into the Gulf, while the fourth, 1st Lt. Matthew Gemery, of Lakewood, Ohio, an observer, could have returned on his limping plane had he waited another minute before ejecting himself. They identified Maj. Sterling T. Carroll, 33, of Port Arthur, Tex., as the commander of the plane that returned, and Shiver as the pilot. The other three missing airmen were Maj. Jean S. Pierson, of Danville, Ind., aircraft commander; Capt. David O. Crump, of Albermarle, N.C. [sic], copilot, and father of six children, and 1st Lt. Rodney P. Egelston of Levelland, Tex., observer-bombardier."

1956 - Sole Piasecki YH-16A Turbo Transporter helicopter prototype, 50-1270, breaks up in flight at ~1555 hrs. and crashes near Swedesboro, New Jersey, near the Delaware River, while returning to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from a test flight over New Jersey. The cause of the crash was later determined to be the aft slip ring, which carried flight data from the instrumented rotor blades to the data recorders in the cabin. The slip ring bearings seized, and the resultant torque load severed the instrumentation standpipe inside the aft rotor shaft. A segment of this steel standpipe tilted over and came into contact with the interior of the aluminum rotor shaft, scribing a deepening groove into it. The rotor shaft eventually failed in flight, which in turn led to the aft blades and forward blades desynchronizing and colliding. The aircraft was a total loss, the two test pilots, Harold Peterson and George Callaghan, were killed. This led to the cancellation not only of the YH-16, but also the planned sixty-nine-passenger YH-16B version.

1962 - Three crew killed in crash of U.S. Air Force Boeing B-47E Stratojet, AF Ser. No. 52-0615, of the 22d Bomb Wing, at March AFB, California. This would be the last fatal crash at that base until 19 October 1978. Pilot was Major Clarence Weldon Garrett.

1967 - Lockheed A-12, 60–6928, Article 125, lost during training/test flight. CIA pilot Walter Ray successfully ejects but is killed upon impact with terrain due to failed seat-separation sequence. The Air Force-issue seatbelt failed to release properly. The aircraft had run out of fuel for a variety of reasons.

1967 - Martin MGM-13 Mace, launched from Site A-15, Santa Rosa Island, Hurlburt Field, Florida, by the 4751st Air Defense Missile Squadron at ~1021 hrs., fails to circle over Gulf of Mexico for test mission with two Eglin AFB McDonnell F-4 Phantom IIs, but heads south for Cuba. Third F-4 overtakes it, fires two test AAMs with limited success, then damages unarmed drone with cannon fire. Mace overflies western tip of Cuba before crashing in Caribbean 100 miles south of the island. International incident narrowly avoided. To forestall the possibility, the United States State Department asks the Swiss Ambassador in Havana to explain the circumstances of the wayward drone to the Cuban government. The Mace had been equipped with an "improved guidance system known as 'ASTRAN' which is considered unjammable." (This was apparently a typo for ATRAN – Automatic Terrain Recognition And Navigation terrain-matching radar navigation.)

1999 - A group of four Iraqi MiG-25s crossed the no-fly zones over Iraq and sparked a dogfight with two patrolling F-15Cs and two patrolling F-14Ds. A total of six missiles were fired at the MiGs, none of which hit. The MiGs then bugged out.

2011 – Former USS Kittiwake (ASR-13) was sunk as a reef off Seven Mile Beach, Grand Cayman, in Marine Park.

 

[mhansen2]

17 January

1865 - Confederate forces scuttled the screw transport Cape Fear and the steamer Pelteway in the Cape Fear River near Smithfield, North Carolina, to prevent their capture by Union forces.

1865 - The Union steamer Chippewa grounded on the south shore of the Arkansas River at Ivey's Ford, 14 miles (22.5 km) above Clarksville, Arkansas. Confederate forces captured her and her crew and passengers, removed her cargo, and burned the ship.

1955 - U.S. Navy Lockheed C-121J Super Constellation, BuNo 131639, c/n 4140, departs Harmon AFB, Newfoundland, at 0422 hrs. for a "routine transport flight" to its home-station, NAS Patuxent River, Maryland. At 0500, while over Prince Edward Island, two engines fail. The flight attempts to return to Harmon and a Boeing B-29 is dispatched to escort the crippled C-121, rendezvousing with it at 0504 over Cabot Strait, between Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Twelve minutes later, the Constellation shut off its lights and other electrical equipment to facilitate the dumping of excess fuel. Within minutes the bomber lost radar contact with the transport and it vanished.
The Constellation went into a stormy sea amidst clouds and fog. The B-29 circled the area and finally spotted five life rafts and life jackets amidst wreckage at 0645 hrs., but no survivors. The six crew and seven passengers, twelve men and one woman, were lost. The plane's pilot was identified as Lt. Cdr. L. R. Fullmer, Jr., of Little Rock, Arkansas. The woman aboard was identified as Seaman Jeanette W. Elmer, 22, of Syracuse, New York.

1957 - During the second bomber stream of training mission, "WEDDING BRAVO", by 30 Convair B-36 Peacemaker bombers of the 7th Bomb Wing, out of Carswell AFB, Texas, a jet engine explosion results in one B-36 landing at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, on fire. There was no further damage to the aircraft and no injuries to the crew, commanded by Capt. Robert L. Lewis.

1957 - A Boeing WB-50D Superfortress, 48-093, c/n 15902, (built as B-50D-95-BO) of the 58th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, fully loaded with fuel for a 3,700-mile weather reconnaissance flight, crashes two minutes after a pre-dawn takeoff from Eielson AFB, Alaska, with the wreckage and fuel burning in an inferno 200 yards long and 50 yards wide on the flat land three miles N of the base. All twelve crew are killed.

1957 - "HONOLULU (UP) – A Navy pilot, Lt. (JG) Kenneth R. West Jr., 24, of Burlingame, Calif., was killed when his FJ-3 Fury crashed in the ocean shortly after takeoff from Kaneohe Air Station."

1957 - The crash of Martin B-57E-MA Canberra, 55-4283, c/n 385, at Biggs AFB, Texas, kills two and injures a third. Killed are 1st Lt. Russell E. Hanson, 24, Cudahy, Wisconsin, and 1st Lt. Thomas H. Higgins, 24, Walled Lake, Michigan.

1966 - A Boeing B-52G Stratofortress, 58-0256, of the 68th Bomb Wing out of Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina, collides with a KC-135A-BN Stratotanker, 61-0273, c/n 18180, flying boom during aerial refueling near Palomares, Almería in the 1966 Palomares B-52 crash, breaking bomber's back. Seven crew members are killed in the crash, two eject safely, and two of the B-52's Mark 28 nuclear bombs rupture, scattering radioactive material over the countryside. One bomb lands intact near the town, and another is lost at sea. It is later recovered intact 5 miles (8 km) offshore in deep trench. Two of the recovered weapons are exhibited at the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

1966 - The two-man crew of a Republic F-105F Thunderchief based at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, escape injury when the engine of the fighter-bomber in which they are engaged in a photo-chase mission catches fire, forcing them to eject. The airframe impacts in East Bay, near Tyndall AFB, Florida at 1008 hrs. Pilot Capt. James D. Clendenen and photographer S/Sgt. J. G. Cain are recovered from the water by a Tyndall base helicopter.

1966 - A Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star on a night mission crashes and burns in a wooded area 11 miles NW of Eglin AFB, killing both crew members. According to the base information officer, the wreckage was in a densely wooded area which made the approach of rescue vehicles difficult. Killed while flying (KWF) were Capt. Robert D. Freeman, 30, of Lindsey, Oklahoma, and 2nd Lt. Roger A. Carr, 26, of Ames, Iowa. Both were residents of Fort Walton Beach, Florida and were assigned to the Air Proving Ground Center.

1993 - A USAF F-16C shoots down a MiG-23 when the MiG locks up the F-16.

1993 – Two IRAF Su-22 "Fitters" open fire on two USAF F-16s in protest of the no-fly zones. No aircraft are damaged in the encounter.

2003 - A US Marine Corps McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18D Hornet crashes into the Pacific Ocean off of MCAS Miramar, California, due to a material failure during a functional check flight with one engine shut down. Both crew eject safely and are recovered.

2013 - USS Guardian (MCM-5) ran hard aground upon the Tubbatabha Reef in the Sulu Sea. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) admitted that the coastal scale Digital Nautical Chart (DNC) supplied to Guardian was flawed due to human error on the part of the NGA. This was an error that mislocated the Tubbataha Reef by 7.8 nautical miles east-southeast of its actual location. NGA was aware of this error in 2011 and updated a smaller scale electronic chart. NGA failed to publish a correction for the larger scale chart the ship was using when she ran aground.

 

[mhansen2]

My thread on ships sunk by the US Navy in WW2 has been closed by the moderator since it is a series of cut and paste articles. Whatever needed to be said about the thread was stated in the first post. Since this thread is of the same type, I am ending it now. I feel I have been shown the door and am leaving the forum. Thank you to all those who found this thread interesting.