1945 – Feb 12, USAAF B-24D stalls, pilot loses control, crash, 15M SW of Troy, OR — 10
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard for: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/ Last edit 12-13-2023.
–10 ifish.net. “70 Years Ago. Feb. 22, 1945”. Accessed 12-13-2023.
–10 Mireles 2006. Fatal Army AF Aviation Accidents…US…, V3, Aug 1944-Dec 1945, 1038.
Narrative Information
ifish.net. “70 Years Ago. Feb. 22, 1945”. The B-24 bomber from the Walla Walla base which was reported down somewhere in the Troy area on Monday of last week, Feb. 12, was found Saturday about noon by Lundy Wood of Eden. Ten bodies were recovered from the wreckage. Two other members of the crew, Cpl. Walter R. Burnside, Bordon. NSW, Australia, and First Lt. Richard D. Fies, parachuted to safety and were unhurt. The wrecked plane was found near the head of Elbow creek canyon about three or three and a half miles southwest of the Long Meadow guard station, approximately 15 miles west of Troy. … It has not been established here just what happened to the plane to cause the crash.”
Mireles: “At 1300, a Consolidated B-24D crashed 15 miles southwest of Troy, Oregon, killing ten fliers. Radio operator Cpl. Walter R. Burnside received minor injuries parachuting to safety; bombardier instructor lLt. Richard C. Fies escaped injury parachuting to safety…. The airplane took off at 1138 PWT from Walla Walla Army Air Field, Walla Walla, Washington, on a training mission to Blythe, California, and return. The airplane climbed on instruments to 25,000 feet where it broke out on top of the clouds, leveling off just above the tops. The airplane had picked up some ice during the climb but it was minimal. The airplane was flying in and out of the cloud tops when the port wing dropped. The pilot righted the airplane, but moments later the starboard wing dropped and the airplane fell out of control into the overcast. The pilot was able to right the airplane momentarily but it stalled violently and fell out of control again. The instructor and radio operator bailed out immediately and both stated to investigators that after they bailed out they observed the airplane falling in a steep spiral to the right. The airplane continued in the steep spiral until it smashed into the ground and exploded. No other crewmembers were able to bail out.” (Mireles 2006, p. 1038.)
Sources
ifish.net. “70 Years Ago. Feb. 22, 1945”. Accessed 12-13-2023 at: https://www.ifish.net/threads/weird-findings-in-the-woods.148441/page-116#post-16201271
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.