1946 — Oct 11, planes crash; ~Alexandria VA, ~NAS Kaneohe HI, ~Tulelake CA, Rio de Janeiro–13

 –5  USAAF B-25 crash in fog 6M W of Alexandria, VA [Franconia, VA]

 –2  USN patrol bomber crashed after takeoff near NAS Kaneohe, Oahu, HI

 –1  private plane, pilot lost control flying low/crashed, near Tulelake, CA

 –5  USAAF C-45 hits mt. peak in simulated bombing run, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Database, 1946, p. 26:

First Plane

“Date:                          Friday 11 October 1946

“Type:                         North American TB-25J Mitchell

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

“Registration:              44-30066                                 ….

“Fatalities:                   Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5     ….

“Location:                   6 mi W of Alexandria, VA – USA [Franconia, VA. Washington Star.]

“Phase:                        En route                                  ….

“Departure airport:      Langley Field, VA

“Destination Airport:  Andrew Field, MD

“Narrative:                  Crashed in fog.

Second Plane

“Date:                          Friday 11 October 1946

“Type:                         airplane

“Owner/operator:        United States Navy (USN)     ….

“Fatalities:                   Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 7     ….

“Location:                   near NAS Kaneohe, Oahu, HI – USA

“Phase:                        Initial climb …. [UP: engine trouble and crash into low peninsula.]

“Departure airport:      Kaneohe NAS                         ….

“Narrative:      Two engined Navy patrol bomber crashed and burned shortly after take-off.

Third Plane

“Date:                          Friday 11 October 1946; Time:  10:30

“Type:                         Private Airplane                      ….

“Fatalities:                   Fatalities: 1 / Occupants 2  [Claude Metz. Upper Klamath Basin Timeline.]

“Location:                   Near Tulelake, CA – USA

“Phase:                        Maneuvering….

“Departure airport:      Klamath Falls, OR                  ….

“Narrative:                  Lost control while flying low and crashed.

Fourth Plane

“Date:                          Friday 11 October 1946          Time: c. 10:00

“Type:                         Beechcraft C-45F Expeditor

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

“Registration:              44-87040                                 MSN….

“Fatalities:                   Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5     ….

“Location:                   7 mi W of Rio de Janeiro…Brazil

“Phase:                        Maneuvering….

“Narrative:                  Crashed into pico da Tijuca at 150 meters altitude during simulated

bombing attack for Brazilian Air Force.”

Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives. “Crash …Beechcraft C-45F…near Rio De Janeiro…”

“Date & Time:                         Oct 11, 1946

“Type of aircraft:        Beechcraft C-45 Expeditor

“Operator:                   USAAF

“Registration:              44-87040 (MSN” 8299)

“Flight Type:               Demonstration

“Survivors:                  No

“Location:                   Reo de Janeiro – Brazil

“Total Fatalities:         5

“Circumstances:          The aircraft was carrying five crew members (US and Brazilian Officers)

who were completing a demonstration flight in a simulation of bombing

attack. In flight, for unknown reason, the aircraft went out of control and

crashed 7 miles west of Rio de Janeiro. All five occupants were killed.”

Newspapers

Oct 11, AP: “Rio de Janeiro, Oct. 11. – (AP) – A United States military transport plane carrying American nurses crashed today in the Tijuca area of this capital. Firs reports said eight were killed.” (Associated Press. “U.S. Plane Crashes.” The Bee, Danville VA, 10-11-1946, p. 1.)

Oct 11 UP: “Honolulu, T. H., Oct. 11 – U.P.) Two Navy airmen were killed and seven others injured, four seriously, when a twin-engined Navy patrol bomber crashed and burned shortly after taking off from Kaneohe naval  air station Friday [Oct 11]. Authorities said the plane apparently developed engine trouble just as it attained a 700-foot altitude. It plummeted into a low peninsula connecting the air station with the northeast shore of Oahu….” (United Press. “Two Airmen Are Killed in Carash.” Montana Standard, Butte. 10-12-1946, p. 9.)

Oct 12, AP: “Alexandria, Va., Oct. 12. – (AP) – Two plane crashes in a pea soup fog eight miles apart last midnight killed all five aboard an army bomber but spared 26 persons who crawled from the blazing wreckage of a big Easter Air Lines DC-4. The planes, attempting to land under a 300-foot ceiling, struck within 40 minutes of each other in the scrub pine countryside near here, a few miles south of Washington.

“Eye-witnesses said the DC 4, en route from Miami to New York via Atlanta, apparently hit a farmer’s lumber pile as the pilot groped blindly through the dense fog for a landing. The ship careened against a well house, ripped into a 1,300-volt high tension power line, crashed in a valley and burst into flames….

“At 11:26 p.m., the Army craft reported heavy fog and asked permission to land at National Airport, Washington, or at the Navy’s Bolling Field, across the Potomac River. Told to wait a moment, that another plane was coming in to land, the B-25 circled away and nothing more was herd from it until it crashed in a wooded area bout six miles south of the airport. Farmers living in the isolated area said they heard the plane circling around about three or four times and then suddenly it blew up in the air.’….” (Associated Press. “Army Plane and Airline Crash; 5 Killed. All Aboard Bomber Die…” The Bee, Danville VA, 10-12-1946, pp. 1 and 3.)

Oct 12, UP: “Rei De Janeiro, Oct. 12. – (UP) – A Beechcraft plane belonging to an American military attaché crashed into a fog-shrouded mountain near Matas Tijuca airport today and all five persons aboard were killed. Fire broke out in the wreckage after the crash and the bodies were burned. The owner of the plane, Gen. Richard Nugent, United States military attaché, was not aboard. Capt. Warren Jenks, special military attaché to the United States embassy, was one of the five victims….” (United Press. “Gen. Nugent Owner of Crashed Plane.” Altoona Mirror, PA. 10-12-1946, p. 1.)

Oct 13: “Two brothers were among three Washington service-men killed in the crash of an Army B-25 in nearby [Franconia] Virginia Friday night, the Army disclosed last night. Two other Army men died in the crackup. The brothers are Maj. Edwin G. Millar, 30, of 337 Ninth street S.E., pilot of the plane, and Lt. Comdr. Charles M. Millar, 37, a passenger, formerly of 4927 Pennsylvania avenue S.E. The third D.C. man was the crew chief, Sergt. Galt M. Nichols, 30…The Army listed the other dead as First Lt. Carl F. Moulton, co-pilot, whose wife lives in Oregon, and Pvt. R. Carter of Camp Lee, Va., a passenger whose home is in Chicago.

“Sources At Andrews Field, Md., where the bomber was based, said meanwhile that investigators still were seeking the cause of the accident….”

(The Sunday Star, Washington, DC. “Maj. Millar, Brother, Among 3 From D.C. Killed in B-25 Crash.” 10-13-1946, A-6.)

Sources

Associated Press. “Army Plane and Airline Crash; 5 Killed. All Aboard Bomber Die…” The Bee, Danville VA, 10-12-1946, pp. 1 and 3. Accessed 11-14-2023 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/danville-bee-oct-12-1946-p-1/

Associated Press. “U.S. Plane Crashes.” The Bee, Danville VA, 10-11-1946, p. 1. Accessed 11-4-2023 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/danville-bee-oct-11-1946-p-1/

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Database, 1946, p. 26. Private plane crash near Tulelake CA, 10-11-1946. Accessed 11-14-2023 at:

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/311098

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Database, 1946, p. 26. USAAF B-25J Mitchell, crashed in fog 6M W of Alexandria VA, 10-11-1946. Accessed 11-14-2023 at: https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/111592

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Database, 1946, p. 26. USAAF Beechcraft C-45F Expeditor crash on pico da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 10-11-1946. Accessed 11-14-2023 at: https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/95878

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Database, 1946, p. 26. USN patrol bomber crash after takeoff near NAS Kaneohe, Oahu, HI, 10-11-1946. Accessed 11-14-2023 at: https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/244669

The Sunday Star, Washington, DC. “Maj. Millar, Brother, Among 3 From D.C. Killed in B-25 Crash.” 10-13-1946, A-6. Accessed 11-14-2023 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/washington-evening-star-oct-13-1946-p-6/

United Press. “Gen. Nugent Owner of Crashed Plane.” Altoona Mirror, PA. 10-12-1946, p. 1. Accessed 11-14-2023 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/altoona-mirror-oct-12-1946-p-1/

United Press. “Two Airmen Are Killed in Carash.” Montana Standard, Butte. 10-12-1946, p. 9. Accessed 11-14-2023 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/butte-montana-standard-oct-12-1946-p-9/

Upper Klamath Basin Timeline. Internment and Homesteading…Tule Lake. “1940-1949.” Accessed 11-14-2023 at: https://anderstomlinson.com/tule-lake/towns/history-timelines/1940-1949/