1945 — Dec 8, Northwest Air C-47 USAAF charter approach crash, Billings AP, MT–    19

Compiled Nov 22, 2023 by Wayne Blanchard for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–19  Aviation Safety Network. Northwest Air C-47 (USAAF lease), crash Billings, MT, Dec 8.

–19  Billings Gazette, MT. “Death Toll in Transport Plane Crash Here Reaches 19.” 12-9-1945, p. 1.

–19  Mireles 2006. Fatal Army AF Aviation Accidents…US…, V3, Aug 1944-Dec 1945, 1183.

Narrative Information

 

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Database, 1945, p. 129. Northwest Air:

“Date:                          Saturday 8 December 1945

“Time:                         02:13

“Type:                         Douglas C-47B-45-DK (DC-3)

“Operating for:            Northwest Airlines

“Leased from:            United States Army Air Force – USAF

“Registration:              45-922

“MSN:                         34183/16925

“First flight:                1945

….

“Crew:                         Fatalities:   2 / Occupants:   2

“Passengers:                Fatalities: 17 / Occupants: 21

“Total:                         Fatalities: 19 / Occupants: 23

….

“Location:                   0.4 km (0.3 mls) S of Billings Municipal Airport, MT…USA

“Phase:                        Approach (APR0

“Nature:                      Domestic Non Scheduled Passenger

“Departure airport:      Fargo-Hector Field, ND…USA

“Destination airport:   Billings Municipal Airport…USA

“Narrative:

 

“A Douglas C-47B was destroyed when it crashed in poor weather while on approach to Billings Municipal Airport, MT (BIL). The airplane was being operated by Northwest Airlines on an Army charter flight from Fargo, ND carrying war veterans. Weather at Billings was poor with snowfall and it was night. The airplane maneuvered around the field for an approach and landing when it lost altitude. The C-47 struck trees, crashed and burned.”

 

Mireles: “At 0213 MST, a Douglas C-47B crashed one-quarter mile south of the Billings Municipal Airport, Billings, Montana, killing Northwest Airlines pilot Capt. George Miller and First Officer Vernon W. Pfannkuck. Seventeen passengers were killed. Four passengers survived with very serious injuries. Investigators stated,

 

“Aircraft was being used by Northwest Airlines for Army charter work of trans­porting veterans and was cleared [on an IFR flight plan and assigned an altitude of 6,000 feet] from Fargo, North Dakota, to Billings, Montana. Pilot left Fargo at 2311 CST [12-7-45] and checked in over Nibbe [Montana] at 0159 MST and was cleared for a straight-in letdown. Pilot reported approaching the range sta­tion at 0206 MST. He next advised that he was CFR over town at 0210 MST. The aircraft was seen south of the field, and at the same time the pilot reported in. The time was 0211. Pilot had his lights on and air­craft was seen starting a 270-degree turn to the left so as to line up with the runway. Aircraft then disappeared in the snow and two minutes later the tower operator, watching for the airplane, saw lights for an instant, which were below the level of the field…. The aircraft disappeared below the rim rock and struck the trees at the same time.

 

All evidence seems to point to the following: The pilot crossed the field, east to west, at approximately 800 feet above the terrain. He started a 270-degree turn so as to land into the north, from which a 17 mph wind was blowing. Apparently, in at­tempting to line up with the runway he wished to use, pilot descended too rapidly in the turn to the left and failed to allow for the possibility of a downdraft. At any rate, the pilot wound up below the level of the field, and while still in a turning attitude, the aircraft struck trees, crashed and burned. The aircraft was in a 35-de­gree bank when it struck the trees left wing low. Wit­nesses have reported that both engines were function­ing properly at the time of the crash and if there were any mechanical failure, the crew did not mention it to the tower…. The flaps were found to be slightly over halfway down and the landing gear was in the down position at the time of the crash.”  (Quoted in Mireles 2006, 1183.)

 

Newspaper

 

Dec 9, Billings Gazette: “Of 21 overseas veterans bound for discharge or reassignment at a west-coast base, only four were alive Saturday night after their plane, an army C-47 transport, crashed and burned one mile west of Billings.

 

“Two Norwest Airlines pilots, George D. Miller, captain, and Vernon W. Pfannkuck, first officer, died at a local hospital, where they had been taken shortly after the crash at 2:10 a.m. Saturday. The bodies will be taken Sunday to Minneapolis, where the two resided.

 

“Six army men were taken from the wreckage in a field near the Billings Polytechnic Institute to a hospital. One died late Saturday afternoon of third-degree burns, while another succumbed earlier in the day to severe burns, fractures and possible internal injuries, bringing to 19 the death toll in the accident….

 

“The army personnel aboard the transport were being taken from Newark, N.J., to Seattle when the plane, attempting to land here during a heavy snowstorm, caught a wing in trees bordering the Poly drive and nose-dived into the field….” (Billings Gazette, MT. “Death Toll in Transport Plane Crash Here Reaches 19.” 12-9-1945, p.1.)

 

Sources

 

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Database, 1945, p. 129. Northwest Air C-47 (USAAF lease), airport approach crash Billings, MT, Dec 8m 1945. Accessed 11-22-2023 at: https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19451208-1

 

Billings Gazette, MT. “Death Toll in Transport Plane Crash Here Reaches 19.” 12-9-1945, p.1. Accessed 11-22-2023 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/billings-gazette-dec-09-1945-p-1/

 

Mireles, Anthony J.  Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945 (Volume 3:  August 1944 – December 1945). Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2006.