1942 – Feb 3, three USAAF planes crash–Lake Tahoe NV, Brooks Field TX, Trinity Center CA–10

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 7-4-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–10  Mireles. Fatal [AAF] Aviation Accidents...[US]…Vol. 1: 1941–June 1943. 2006, p. 49.

—  2  11:00 North American AT-6A crash, snowstorm, Maria Bay, Lake Tahoe, NV.

—  2  13:35 Curtiss O-52 crash, near Brooks Field, TX.

—  6  Unknown time. Martin B-26A crash, Trinity Alps, northwest of Trinity Center, CA.

Brooks Field, Texas Crash

Mireles: The Curtis O-52 “stalled and spun to the ground” after taking off and reaching “an altitude of 700 feet in its initial climb.”  (Mireles. Fatal [AAF] Aviation Accidents...[US]…V1: 1941–June 1943. 2006, p. 49.)

Feb 5, AP: “San Antonio, Feb 5 (AP) – Two Brooks field officers were killed instantly when their training plane crashed yesterday on a farm south of the field.  They were First Lt. W. H. Sills 31, of Batesburg, S. C., and Second Lt, Charles Steen, 27, of Richmond Hill, Long Island, N. Y….”  (Pampa News, TX. “Two Brooks Field Officers Killed.” 2-5-1942, 12.)

Lake Tahoe, Nevada, AT-6A Crash

Mireles: The plane “struck a tree with its port wing and then crashed into Lake Tahoe… Civilians had observed the airplane maneuvering at low altitude for several minutes in the Lake Tahoe area….Investigators noted that the airplane, based out of Mather Field, Sacramento, California, was more than 50 miles from the area where it was authorized to fly an instrument-training mission.” (Mireles. Fatal [AAF] Aviation Accidents...[US]…V1: 1941–June 1943. 2006, p. 49.)

Feb 5: “Sacramento, Cal., Feb. 4. AP.  Salvage crews recovered the wreckage of a single-motored army training plane and the bodies of two air corps cadets from Lake Tahoe today.  The cadets, John E. Martin, 25, of Minneapolis, Minn., and Albert  Mason, 23, of New Orleans, were killed instantly, the army announced.  Their bodies were found in the cockpit of the submerged plane.

“The ship crashed into Maria Bay on the Nevada side of the lake during a snowstorm yesterday morning while on a routine training flight from Mather Field near Sacramento….”  (Galveston Daily News. “Bodies of Two Airmen Killed in Crash Found by Salvage Crew.” 2-5-1942, p. 12.)

Trinity Center, California, B-26 Crash

Mireles: “At a time unknown, a Martin B-26A flying in poor weather crashed in the Trinity Alps northwest of Trinity Center, California, killing the crew of six.  No other information is available.”  (Mireles. Fatal [AAF] Aviation Accidents...[US]…V1: 1941–June 1943. 2006, p. 49.)

Sources

Galveston Daily News, TX. “Bodies of Two Airmen Killed in Crash Found by Salvage Crew.” 2-5-1942, 12. At:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=42645725

Mireles, Anthony J.  Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945 (Volume 1:  Introduction, January 1941 – June 1943).  Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2006.

Pampa News, TX. “Two Brooks Field Officers Killed.” 2-5-1942, 12. Accessed at:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=123566644