1943 – Oct 6, USAAF B-24D, Pocatello ID to Klamath Falls OR then over Pacific, lost–   10

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 4-24-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–10  Aviation Safety Network. USAAF B-24D missing, estimated overwater, 10-6-1943.

–10  Mireles 2006. Fatal Army AF Aviation Accidents…US…, V2, July 1943-July 1944, p. 540.

Narrative Information

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Database, 1943:

“Date and Time:          Wednesday 6 October 1943    Time: 20:20

“Type:                         Consolidated B-24D Liberator

“Owner/operator:        United States Army Air Force (USAAF)

“Registration:              41-24041

….

“Fatalities:                   10 / Occupants: 10

Aircraft damage:         Aircraft missing

“Location:                   Estimated Overwater – USA

“Phase:                        En route

“Nature:                      Military

….

“Narrative:

 

“Airplane No. 41-24041 took off at0551 MWT on 6 October, 1943 for an overwater training mission from PQ (Pocatello, Idaho) to Klamath Falls, Oregon, Ft Dick, Calif. thence to point overwater 41 Deg 50 Min N – 127 Deg W, to 35 Deg 23 Min N – 127 Deg W, then to Hamilton Field, California. The airplane made its first and only radio position report at 820 PWT 6 October, 1943. In this report the airplane commander reported that he was over Klamath Falls, Oregon at 0730 PWT. No other radio reports were received from the airplane. The airplane did not complete the mission. No further reports were received from any source concerning this aircraft….”

 

Mireles: “At a time after 0821 PWT, a Consolidated B-24D disappeared with its crew of ten and is presumed to have crashed into the Pacific Ocean.

 

“The B-24 had taken off at 0551 PWT from its base at Pocatello, Idaho, on an over-water navigation training mission to Klamath Falls, Oregon, to Fort Dick, California, then to a point in the Pacific Ocean at 41 degrees 50 minutes North/127 degrees West, then to a point in the Pacific Ocean at 35 degrees 23 minutes North/127 degrees West, and then making a landing at Hamilton Field, California. The airplane called in its position report for Klamath Falls at 0820 PWT, reporting that it had been over Kla­math Falls at 0730. The airplane commander had been instructed to send position reports every 30 minutes after reaching Klamath Falls. No further position re­ports were received from this airplane after 0820 and it failed to arrive at Hamilton Field. After 2151, the estimated endurance of the fuel supply on board, the airplane was declared missing. No trace of the airplane or crew was ever found. It was speculated that the pos­sibility exists that the airplane could have crashed in the rugged, wooded mountainous terrain west of Kla­math Falls or in Northern California. Missing and pre­sumed lost at sea were….” (Mireles 2006. Fatal Army AF Aviation Accidents…US…, V2, July 1943-July 1944, p. 540.)

 

Sources

 

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Database, 1943. USAAF Consolidated B-24D missing, estimated overwater, 10-6-1943. Accessed 4-25-2024 at:

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/100245

 

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.