1942 — May 24, USAAF C-40D transport crash in swamp 5M east of Howe Brook, ME–   6

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 6-11-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–6  Daily Kennebec Journal, Augusta ME. “Forest Fire Watcher Reports…Crash.” 5-25-1942, 1

–6  Mireles. Fatal [AAF] Aviation Accidents...[US]…V1: 1941–June 1943. 2006, p. 90.

Narrative Information

Mireles:  “5-24-42.  Howe Brook, Maine. At 1120, a Lockheed C-40D collided with terrain five miles east of Howe Brook, Maine, killing six fliers. The aircraft was on a personnel transport flight from Bolling Field, Washington, D.C., to Montreal, Canada, and return to Bolling Field via Houlton and Presque Isle, Maine. 

 

“The transport took off from Montreal at 0934 for the return let to Bolling Field. Weather in the Howe Brook vicinity at the time of the crash was reported as ceiling 600 feet with visibility about two miles. The aircraft crashed into the lowest area of the immediate terrain with no obstructions in its flight path.  Broken trees near the crash site indicated that the air-plane struck the ground at an angle of about 75 degrees in a northwesterly direction. The airplane exploded into bits upon impact with the ground, scattering wreckage and bodies for over 400 yards. 

 

“Investigators could not determine why the airplane flew into ground, speculating that the deteriorating weather conditions could have been a factor.  The airplane was so completely demolished that evidence of mechanical failure could not be determined with any certainty….” 

(Mireles, Anthony J.  Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945 (Vol. 1:  Introduction, January 1941 – June 1943). Jefferson, NC: 2006, p. 90.)

 

Newspaper

 

Daily Kennebec Journal:  “Houlton, Me., May 24. – (AP) – An army transport plane crashed nose-first into a fog-shrouded wilderness bog today and army searchers found six bodies in wreckage strewn over a 200-square yard.  George W. Shean, Bangor Daily News correspondent who accompanied 35 soldiers from the Houlton air base to the scene, said that the twin-motored plane had ‘disintegrated’ but had not burned.  All the bodies were mangled, Shean said.  The ship hit the woodland swamp so hard, the newsman reported, that ‘it dug a hole 20 feet deep.’

 

“The scene was two miles from the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad line near Howe’s Siding, about 20 miles northwest of Houlton.

 

“The dead, as identified by the war department at Washington, Lt. Col. Louis Gimbel, Lt. Col. C. A. Wright,[1] 1st Lt. J. J. Franciscus,[2] 1st Lt. Herback, 2nd Lt. E. R. Wilkinson, an unidentified non-commissioned officer.[3]

 

“The war department said the transport was on a ‘routine’ flight.

 

“First word of the tragedy came to the Houlton air base from a forest-fire watcher, Alec Beaulier, at Howe Brook, a few miles from the scene.  Beaulier said the plane’s engines were ‘sputtering’ when it flew over his lonely station about 11 A.M.  A few minutes later he heard a ‘terrific crash’ and telephoned the air base.

 

“To reach the scene Major Lodge and his force motored 15 miles to Smyrna’s Mills, then had to ride railroad hand-cars to Howe’s Siding, another 15 miles.  Beaulier said the fog was ‘right down to the ground.’…”  (Daily Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME. “Forest Fire Watcher Reports Plane Crash.” 5-25-1942, p. 1.)

Sources

 

 

Daily Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME. “Forest Fire Watcher Reports Plane Crash.” 5-25-1942, p. 1. http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=30644599&sterm=plane+crash

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Mireles has the rank as that of 1st Lt. Clarence A. Wright, and writes that he was the pilot.

[2] Mireless has the rank as that of Captain John D. Franciscus, a passenger.

[3] Mireless writes that the noncom passenger was Staff Sergeant Frederick J. Taylor, engineer.