1943 – Apr 21, USAAF C-60A landing attempt crash, Evansville Municipal Airport, IN–10
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 5-11-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
— 10 Mireles 2006. Fatal Army AF Aviation Accidents…US…, V. 1 Jan 1941-Jun 1943, p. 345.
— 10 Oakland Tribune, CA. “10 Die in Army Plane Crash.” 4-22-1943, p. 1.
Narrative Information
Mireles: “At 2326 CWT, a Lockheed C-60A crashed while attempting a landing at the Evansville Municipal Airport, Evansville, Indiana, killing the ten crewmen and passengers on board. The Aircraft Accident Classification Committee stated,
“Pilot was [on a personnel transport flight] from Cleveland, Ohio, to Selman Field [Monroe, Louisiana]. It is the opinion of the board that half way en route the pilot encountered weather, which caused him to decide to return to Cleveland or to some alternate station. After opinion of the board that the weather at Memphis, Tennessee, was such that due to the limited amount of time acquired in this model airplane, it caused the pilot to hesitate to proceed to his destination. The board believes the radio was out, based on the fact that Evansville Tower could hear the airplane, and gave him several long calls, but he apparently never received the tower. Upon failing to contact Evansville Tower, the pilot circled the landing field twice, received a green light from the control tower and in turn acknowledged the green light by blinking his navigation lights. He then proceeded to land from the south into the north, which was into the wind. Evidently the pilot realized that he was high on his approach and dropped full flaps and complete power off. This condition would require extreme tail-heavy setting of the elevator trim tab. While approximately 50 feet in the air, the pilot apparently decided to go around. He then pushed both throttles forward to go around and evidently failed to re-trim the elevator control tabs. Due to the sensitivity of the control tab on this type of airplane, it is believed by the Board that the pilot could not push forward hard enough on the control column to prevent the airplane from zooming [up] violently, therefore causing the airplane to assume an unusual angle of climb, consequently stalling. The left wing dropped viciously and the airplane went into the ground, practically nose first and immediately exploded and burned. The trim tabs [that remained intact] on the elevator were both in the frill tail heavy position.” (Mireles 2006. Fatal Army AF Aviation Accidents, Vol. 1 1941-Jun 1943, 346.)
Newspaper
Associated Press: “Evansville, Ind., April 22. – (AP) – The death list in the crash of an Army airplane at the Evansville Airport late last night was reduced to ten this afternoon, in an announcement from Major F. C. Dickson. Earlier Major Dickson had placed the toll at 12. The Army officer said ten bodies had been recovered and that investigators were convinced the ten men accounted for were all that were aboard the plane, which crashed in attempting a landing….
“State police and local officers sent to the field said the plane burned after the crash. Employees at the field said the pilot approached from the south and lights were turned on to facilitate its landing. They said that as it neared the control tower at low altitude the pilot apparently decided to make another circle of the field before landing, but the ship stalled and fell, rolling over and over as it hit the ground. Flames flared up immediately. Two men were thrown clear of the ship but both were killed. Papers on one identified him as the pilot.” (Oakland Tribune, CA. “10 Die in Army Plane Crash.” 4-22-1943, p. 1.)
Sources
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.
Oakland Tribune, CA. “10 Die in Army Plane Crash.” 4-22-1943, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=33961023