1943 – Aug 1, USAAF CG-4 glider wing failure, demonstration flight, St. Louis, MO–all 10

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 4-28-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

 –10  Altoona Mirror, PA. “Suspicion is Focused.” 8-5-1943, 5.

–10  Cumberland Evening Times, MD. “Ten Killed in Glider Crash near St. Louis.” 8-2-1943, 2

–10  Diehl. Silent Knights: Blowing the Whistle on Military Accidents…Cover-Ups. 2002, 81-82

–10  Gero.  Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908.  1999, 24.

–10  Joplin Globe, MO. “Five Groups Probe Glider Crash Fatal to St. Louis Mayor…” 8-3-43, 2

–10  Joplin Globe, MO. “Says Structural Defect Caused Crash of Glider.” 8-4-1943, 2.

–10  Mireles 2006. Fatal Army AF Aviation Accidents…US…, V2, July 1943-July 1944, p. 458.

 

Narrative Information

 

Diehl: “In March 1942, the Army signed contracts with eleven different companies for a total of 640…[gliders]….Unfortunately, only a few of these companies had any experience at building aircraft.  The names of some firms, such as the Ward Furniture Manufacturing Company, might have been a hint.  The average price per glider varied widely, presumably due to some very steep learning curves.  One company delivered dozens of gliders for only $14,891 a piece, while another firm produced a single glider for an astounding $1,741,809![1]

 

“Several companies found building even these basic aircraft a challenge….Government inspectors finally began to worry. One firm, the Robertson Aircraft Company, was officially accused of gross mismanagement in May 1943. The government director of production, Lieutenant General William Knudsen, recommended canceling the contracts with four of the eleven firms, but Under Secretary of War Robert Patterson overruled the general. He demanded that all of the contracts, even those with poor performance, be continued.[2]

 

“To keep the under-secretary happy, the army arranged a publicity stunt. It invited the mayor of St. Louis and several officials to take a ride in a hometown product – a Robertson-built CG-4. The flight was to take place at Lambert Field, Missouri, on August 1, 1943. During the demonstration flight, the glider suffered a catastrophic wing failure.[3]  It plunged to earth killing all ten passengers, including the mayor and several Robertson employees.

 

“The subsequent investigation revealed that a faulty wing attachment fitting had failed. This component was manufactured by one of the subcontractors selected by the Robertson firm, the Gardner Metal Products Company of St. Louis. Ironically, this outfit was a former casket manufacturer![4]

 

“This wartime subcontractor obviously did not understand aviation metallurgy. What was worse, the government neither checked this company’s credentials, nor tested its products before putting people at risk….”  (Diehl. Silent Knights: Blowing the Whistle on Military Accidents…Cover-Ups. 2002, pp. 81-82.)

 

Gero: “This Sunday afternoon demonstration to city officials of a locally-produced contribution to the American war effort ended in one of the worst peacetime glider accidents in the history of US military aviation. The glider involved was produced by the St Louis-based Robertson Aircraft Company… Towed aloft by a C-47 transport, the CG-4A was to have landed on its own at Lambert Field. The two aircraft arrived over the airport from the south-east at an approximate height of 2,000 ft (600m), but just after being released, the glider suffered catastrophic structural failure, its starboard wing folding up and separating from the fuselage completely, then plummeted to the ground, crash­ing in a grassy area adjacent to the runway.[5] Ten persons aboard lost their lives, including St Louis Mayor William Dee Becker and three US service­men, two of whom comprised the crew of 42-78839. There were no survivors….”[6]  (Gero 1999, pp. 24-25.)

 

Mireles: “The CG-4A struck the ground in the middle of the airfield at a 90-degree angle and all on board were killed instantly. The glider was com­pletely demolished and the occupants horribly muti­lated. Parts of wreckage and occupants were scattered for approximately 100 feet around the main wreckage and the severed starboard wing floated to earth and came to rest intact nearby. The Army seized cameras and film belonging to the media after the accident.”  (Mireles 2006, Vol. 2, p. 459.)

 

Gero: “Examination of the wreckage indicated that the strut of the wing that failed was fractured at the point where it joined the fuselage. The military board investigating the crash expressed the opinion that the fitting that was welded on the lower end of the strut had too thin a wall thickness due either to erroneous specifications or faulty workmanship.  Specifically, the machined dimen­sional limits of the fitting did not conform to the manufacturer’s drawing with regard to the thickness of the wall between the inside diameter of the countersink in the fitting barrel and the outside diameter flat in the fitting shank taper. The wall thickness at the failed section was 1/16in (2mm), or only about 20 per cent of that specified, when considering a tolerance of 1/32in (1mm) It was obvious that the countersink had been drilled too deep. The failed section further showed evidence of deep tool marks, with both chattering, a surface flaw caused by vibration of the cutting tool, and gouging. Visual inspection would have easily detected these machining errors, while the thick­ness defect could have been found through the use of a micrometer or a caliper. According to the investigative report, these flaws indicated that there had been no inspection of the part by either the prime or sub-contractor, or by Army Air Force personnel. When the fitting broke, the wing was allowed to hinge upward as far as the wing root attachment fitting would permit, after which the unsupported spar snapped at a point approximately 1ft (300mm) from the fuselage.[7]

 

“It was concluded that Robertson did not have a sufficient force of experienced personnel and did not exercise proper control over work produced by its sub-contractors, and that it could neither guarantee quality material nor workmanship or the quality of highly-stressed parts produced at some of its sub-contractors’ plants. Also, the military inspector in charge was found to have insufficient help to properly exercise his duties with regard to the activities of the contractors. Subsequent to the accident, all gliders produced by Robertson were grounded until a complete inspection of highly-stressed parts used in them could be accomplished. A new inspection procedure was later introduced by the firm, and four civilian inspectors and the aforementioned military official were relieved of their duties.”  (Gero 1999, 24-25)

 

Mireles: “All Waco CG-4A gliders manufactured by Robertson Aircraft Company and also by Laister­Kaufmann Aircraft Company were grounded until the bad fittings could be eliminated from all in-service glid­ers (and from spare-parts stores).”  (Mireles 2006, Vol. 2, p. 459.)

 

Newspaper

 

Aug 2, Associated Press: “St. Louis, Aug. 2 (AP) – Before a large crowd of horror-stricken Sunday spectators, a troop-carrying Army glider, its right wing gone, plummeted nose down for 1,500 feet and smashed like a strawberry box near a runway at Lambert-St. Louis Field, carrying to their deaths 10  persons including Major William B. Robertson, pioneer airplane manufacturer whose company built the glider.

 

“Mayor William Dee Becker, three other city officials, and Thomas K. Dysart, president of the Chamber of Commerce, were killed in the crash which occurred during the Army’s first public glider demonstration here.

 

“Lt. Col. J. R. Johnston, Army air-forces public relations officer described the crash as the nation’s first fatal glider accident since the Army began use of the motorless planes two years ago.

 

“Besides Robertson, Becker and Dysart, the dead are:

 

Max H. Doyne, director of St. Louis public utilities;

Charles L. Cunningham, deputy city comptroller;

Henry L. Mueller, presiding judge of the St. Louts county court;

Harold A. Kreuger, 26-year-old vice president and general manager of the Robertson Aircraft Corporation, headed by Robertson;

Lt. Col. Paul H. Hazelton of the Army Air-forces Materiel Command, St. Louis;

Capt. Milton C. Klugh of the First Troop Carrier Command, Stout Field, Indianapolis, pilot of the glider;

Pfc. J. M. Davis, attached to the First Troop Carrier Command.

 

“The tow plane, a converted Douglas transport, was crossing the airport with the glider behind for the second time after completing a flight over the city.[8]

 

“Joseph C. Payne, business agent for a St. Louis labor union, said there was ‘a splintering noise and the wing seemed to fall away.  The tow cable snapped and the fuselage dropped like a rock.  Women became hysterical and the men were not much better.’  ‘They stared straight ahead as if they were hypnotized,’ said another witness.

 

“The FBI and a board of officers from Scott Field…[unclear] today will begin an investigation….

 

“Major Ralph Page, head of the Army Service Command at Lambert Field, reported all gliders there have been grounded until the formal investigation is complete.

 

“Johnson said the glider was accepted for the Army Friday by Hazelton, after customary tests, and that it made a flight with six persons aboard about two hours before taking off on the fatal trip.” (Cumberland Evening Times, MD. “Ten Killed in Glider Crash…St. Louis.” 8-2-1943, p. 2.)

 

Aug 2: “St. Louis, Aug 2. – The crash of an army glider, which lost its right wing and plummeted its 10 passengers to death in a nosedown dive Sunday afternoon, was under investigation today by at least five groups of official probers….

 

“The official army investigation of the crash, reported to be the first since the army undertook glider operations two years ago, is in the hands of a seven-man board of officers from Scott Field, Ill.  The FBI aided them.  The board met this afternoon to complete its report, to be submitted to the war department in Washington, which will announce later the results of the inquiry.

 

“Another probe is being conducted by four representatives of the army’s glider experimental branch at Wright Field, O. The group includes three officers and Francis Aicre, vice president of Waco Aircraft Corporation, who designed the glider.

 

“H. Ralph Burton, counsel for the house military affairs committee, said in Washington that committee investigators would look into the crash and in St. Louis Senator Bennett Champ Clark, democrat, Missouri, chairman of a special senate aircrash investigating committee, said the committee’s expert.  Naval Lieutenant Carl Harper, retired, would report his findings to the senate body.

 

“Three officers from Stout Field, Indianapolis, which sent the transport tow plane, its crew and the glider crew here for the public demonstration, are gathering information for use of the first troop carrier command.

 

“The gilder, an established army carrier, is the same type as those used in last month’s invasion of Sicily.  Others have been towed, cargo laden, across the Atlantic.

 

“The framework is of steel and plywood, covered mostly with fabric, except for some wing sections surfaced with plywood.

 

“Lieutenant Colonel G. R. Johnston, army air forces public relations officer, said  in a statement that the nylon line connecting the glider to the Douglas tow-plane did not break. He said witnesses testified at an inquiry that the right wing crumbled off after the glider was released….” 

(Joplin Globe, MO. “Five Groups Probe Glider Crash Fatal to St. Louis Mayor and Nine Others.” 8-3-1943, p. 2.)

 

Aug 3, Associated Press: “Kansas City, Aug. 3. – (AP) – Senator Bennett C. Clark, democrat, Missouri, said today he had been informed the gilder crash which took the lives of 10 prominent men at St. Louis Sunday was caused by a structural defect in the glider’s fuselage at the point where the right wing strut fastened.

 

“Clark, chairman of the special senate committee for investigation of civilian aviation crashes, said that report came from Lieutenant Carl Harper, USN, retired, investigator for the committee.  “I asked the lieutenant to sit in with the official army investigators,” Clark said, emphasizing that

Harper’s report was based on his own conclusions.  The army board has not announced its conclusion.  “My committee has no jurisdiction over the accident,” the senator added. “But we are all vitally interested in the case”.”  (Joplin Globe, MO. “Says Structural Defect Caused Crash of Glider.” 8-4-1943, p. 2.)

 

Aug 5: “Washington, D.C., Aug. 5. – Investigation of the glider crash at St. Louis last Sunday has focused suspicion on a particular metal part used in the assembly of the glider, the war department disclosed today….”  (Altoona Mirror, PA. “Suspicion is Focused.” 8-5-1943, 5.)

 

Sources

 

Altoona Mirror, PA. “Suspicion is Focused.” 8-5-1943, 5. Accessed at:  http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=73711881

 

Cumberland Evening Times, MD. “Ten Killed in Glider Crash near St. Louis.” 8-2-1943, p. 2.  Accessed at:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=96008403

 

Diehl, Alan E. Silent Knights: Blowing the Whistle on Military Accidents and Their Cover-Ups. NY: Bristol Park Books, 2002.

 

Gero, David. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. UK and Newbury Park, CA: Patrick Stephens Limited, an imprint of Hayes Publishing, 1999. 

 

Joplin Globe, MO. “Five Groups Probe Glider Crash Fatal to St. Louis Mayor and Nine Others.” 8-3-1943, 2. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=147087820

 

Joplin Globe, MO. “Says Structural Defect Caused Crash of Glider.” 8-4-1943, 2. Accessed at:  http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=147087824

 

Mireles, Anthony J.  Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945 (Volume 2:  July 1943 – July 1944).  Jefferson, NC:  McFarland and Co., 2006.

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Cites: Janet R. Daly Bednarek.  “`Damned Fool Idea.’ The American Combat Glider Program, 1941-1947.” Air Power History, Vol. 46, No. 4, Winter 1996, pp. 40, 44-45 of pp. 38-49.  Bednarek writes, for example, that “The glider program was plagued by fraud, waste, and abuse.  Due to the fact that almost all of the experienced aviation companies were involved in the priority production of military powered aircraft, the glider program had to turn to many small, untested companies, some of which existed solely to gain military contracts.  Since a combat glider industry did not exist in the U.S. at that time [1941], companies could not be rejected from the contract competition based on a lack of experience.” (p. 40.)

[2] Bednarek 1996, 45.

[3] At 1,500 feet altitude.  (Wikipedia. “William D. Becker.” 1-24-2012 modification.)

[4] Though Diehl does not provide the citation, this is from Bednarek, who writes:  “A subsequent Air Inspector’s Office investigation placed blame on a faulty inner wing fitting produced by one of Robertson’s sub-contractors, the Gardner Metal Products Company of St. Louis, a former manufacturer of caskets.  The investigating board further determined that the ‘inspection personnel in general at Robertson were inexperienced and had inadequate inspection equipment.”  Bednarek cites:  S/Sgt. Paul M. Davis and Amy Fenwick, “Development of Gliders in the Army Air Forces (prepared for Bennett E. Meyers, Maj. Gen., USA, Acting Director, Air Technical Services Command, May 22, 1945), pp. 115-118.

[5] “The glider was released near the edge of the airfield at an indicated airspeed of 110 mph and heading in a northwest direction. The release appeared normal and the glider approached the field for a land­ing. As the glider pilot maneuvered the glider directly after release, the starboard wing lower strut fitting failed, causing the starboard wing to fold up until the main spar snapped about one foot from the fuselage joint.” (Mireles 2006, Vol. 2, pp. 458-459.)

[6] “The glider had been test flown at 1425 carrying six passengers and crew, making a successful landing at Lambert Field.”  (Mireles 2006, Vol. 2, p. 458.)

[7] This fitting was not manufactured by Robertson Aircraft Company but was-sub-contracted-to-Gardner-Metal-Products Com­pany, a firm run by executives of the St. Louis Casket Company, St. Louis, Missouri. Additional fittings man­ufactured by Gardner were examined and were found to have similar flaws as well as machine tool chatter marks and gouges.”  ((Mireles 2006, Vol. 2, p. 459.)

 

[8] Major Robertson’s 17-year old son, James, had been a passenger on this first test flight over the city.  (Wikipedia. “Robertson Aircraft Corporation.” 1-19-2012.)