1944 — Aug 3, USAAF C-47A engine failure in thunderstorm/crash, SE of Naper, NE–all 28
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-29-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
— 29 Baugher, Joe F. 1942 USAAF Serial Numbers (42-001 to 42-30031). 10-28-2011 rev.[1]
— 28 Aviation Safety Network. Accident Description, USAAF Douglas C-47, August 3, 1944
— 28 Council Bluffs Nonpareil, IA. “Crash Victims All Identified.” 8-5-1944, p. 1.
— 28 Gero. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. 1999, 29.
Narrative Information
Aviation Safety Network: “On flight from Bruning Army Air Base, Nebraska to Pierre Army Air Base, South Dakota, on August 3, 1944 with a complement of 24 pilot passengers and 4 crew, a Douglas D-47 encounters a severe thunderstorm and crashes southeast of Naper, Nebraska. No survivors. (ASN, USAAF Douglas C-47, August 3, 1944; and Council Bluffs Nonpareil (IOWA), “Crash Victims All Identified,” August 5, 1944, p. 1)
Baugher: “Douglas C-47A-30-DL….23652 (c/n 9514) broke up in thunderstorm near Naper, Nebraska Aug 3, 1944. 29 killed.” (Baugher. 1942 USAAF Serial Numbers (42-001 to 42-30031). 10-28-2011 rev.)
Gero: “The twin-engine transport [42-23652], which was carrying as passengers Army Air Force pilots, was on an interstate flight from the air base located near Bruning, Nebraska, to one near Pierre, South Dakota, crashed and burned in a ravine 200 miles (320km) north-west of Omaha. All 28 American servicemen aboard, including a crew of four, were killed in the accident which occurred in darkness and during a thunderstorm. Both its power plants having failed after a severe lightning flash occurred nearby, the aircraft went into a steep dive, emerging from the cloud base before it disintegrated in the air, then apparently slammed to earth in an inverted attitude.” (Gero 1999, 29.)
Newspaper
Aug 5: “Bruning, Neb., (AP) – Three Nebraskans and one South Dakotan were among the 28 victims of the state’s costliest airplane accident — the crash of a C-47 army transport plane which Thursday night killed 24 pilots and four crewmen.
“The last of the bodies of the victims was removed from the wreckage and identified Friday night, but an official army board of inquiry from the Bruning army air field continued the grim task of probing the wreckage southeast of Naper, Neb., near the Nebraska-South Dakota border.
“The victims, whose names were released early Saturday by the Bruning base, included:
Capt. Stanley J. Meadows, a pilot, husband of Mrs. Stanley J. Meadows, Grimes, La.;
Capt. Robert K. Bohle, husband of Mrs. Delores E. Bohle, Claremont, S. D.;
2nd Lt. Herbert A. Balkeslee, son of Walter B. Blakeslee, Eddyville, Neb.,
2nd Lt. William F. Acree, son of Mrs. Leslie A. Acree, Fairbury, Neb…
1st Lt. Clayton R. Jolley and
1st Lt. Leonard C. Jolley of Del .Rey, Calif.
“The plane was ferrying the pilots to Pierre S. D., from Bruning. Army officials said all the bodies were found within 75 feet of the main part of the wreckage. Eyewitness accounts said the plane was caught in a severe electrical storm.” (Council Bluffs Nonpareil, IA. “Crash Victims All Identified.” 8-5-1944, p. 1.)
Sources
Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Database, 1944. Accident Description. United States Army Air Force, Douglas C-47A-30-DL, August 3, 1944. Accessed 12-24-2008 at:
http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19440803-1
Baugher, Joseph F. 1942 USAAF Serial Numbers (42-001 to 42-30031). Oct 28 2011 revision. Accessed 12-9-2011 at: http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1942_1.html
Council Bluffs Nonpareil, IA. “Crash Victims All Identified,” August 5, 1944. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/freepdfviewer.aspx?img=6344635
Gero, David. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. UK and Newbury Park, CA: Patrick Stephens Limited, an imprint of Hayes Publishing, 1999.
[1] All other sources accessed note 28 fatalities.