1947 — June 14, off-course USAAF B-29 hits top of Hawks Mountain at night, VT –all 12
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard 10-12-2023 for upload to: https://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
–12 Aviation Safety Network. USAAF B-29 crash into Hawks Mt., VT. 15 June 1947.
–12 Baugher. 1944 USAAF Serial Numbers (44-40049 to 44-70254). Oct 28, 2011 revision.
–12 Times Record, NY. “Officials Identify Soldiers Killed in Vermont Plane Crash.” 6-17-’47.
–12 Titusville Herald, PA. “Army Plane Crash Kills 12.” 6-16-1947, p. 1.
Narrative Information
Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Network, Data, 1947:
“Date and Time Sunday 15 June 1947, 00:14 LT [local time]
“Type: Boeing B-29A Superfortress
“Owner/operator: 64th BSqn / 43rd BGp USAAF [United States Army Air Force]
“Registration: 44-62228
“MSN: 11705
“Fatalities: Fatalities: 12 / Occupants: 12
“Aircraft damage: Written off
“Location: Hawks Mountain, 2 miles NW of Perkinsville, Vermont – USA
“Phase: En route
“Nature: Military
“Departure airport: Pittsburgh Airport, Pennsylvania
“Destination airport: Hanscom AFV, Massachusetts
“Narrative:
….
“Written off (destroyed) June 15, 1947: The flight had originated the previous morning when the plane took off from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, for a navigational training mission to the east coast. The plane was scheduled to land at Andrews Field (Later known as Andrews Air Force Base) in Washington, D.C., but due to bad weather was diverted to Pittsburgh Airport where it arrived at 15:07 Local Time.
“After refueling, the aircraft proceeded towards Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, Massachusetts, where it was to remain overnight before flying back to Arizona the following day. However, the weather grew worse, and with poor visibility and darkness falling the crew became lost, ending up over Vermont instead of Massachusetts.
“Shortly after midnight – reportedly at 12:14 on June 15 – the bomber crashed into the southeast side 12 feet below the peak of the 2,098 foot (638-metre) Hawks Mountain and exploded. All twelve men aboard were killed, and to this day the incident remains the worst aviation accident to ever occur in Vermont….
“NOTE: B-29 44-6228 lost radar and radio contact at approximately 11:55 pm on Saturday, June 14, 1947. However, some sources list the crash as happening “shortly after midnight”, at around 12:14 am, that is, a few minutes into Sunday, June 15, 1947. Hence both dates are being reported. Contemporary newspaper reports – mostly published early on Monday June 16 – give the latter date.
“Crew of 44-62228 (all killed):
1st Lt Robert G. Fessler, pilot,
2nd Lt Wilfred E. Gassett, copilot,
2nd Lt Ceasare P. Fontana, observer,
M/Sgt D. D. Jack, crew chief,
T/Sgt Paul H. Fetterhoff,
T/Sgt Clayton K. Knight,
S/Sgt Oliver W. Hartwell,
S/Sgt Sylvester S. Machalac,
S/Sgt John J. O’Toole,
Cpl Harry C. Humphrey,
Cpl Robert Clark,
Pfc Robert M. Stewart.”
(Aviation Safety Network. USAAF B-29 crash into Hawks Mt., VT. 15 June 1947.)
Baugher: “Boeing B-29A-70-BN Superfortress….62228 (64th BS) crashed into Hawks Mountain, Vermont in bad weather Jun 14, 1947. All 12 onboard killed.” (Baugher. 1944 USAAF Serial Numbers (44-40049 to 44-70254). Oct 28, 2011 revision.)
Newspapers
June 15. AP: “Springfield, Vt., June 15 – (AP) – (Sunday) – A “big” plane crashed on the lonely and heavily wooded slopes of Hawk’s Mountain early today, and Civil Aeronautics authorities reported an Army B-29 was “missing.” The Civil Aeronautics Communications office at Burlington reported the “missing” B-29, but added that neither the departure point nor destination of the craft was known. At Westover Field, Mass. – the nearest large Army air installation — officers said no planes from that field were in the air.
“Fire Chief Myland H. Jordan reported “a big plane flew low across the community” shortly before the crash was reported. It was raining heavily at that time. A few minutes after the plane crossed Springfield — so low, Jordan said, “it shook the windows in the houses” — the night telephone operator at Perkinsville, six miles north of this community, reported “a flash and a crash on Hawk’s Mountain.”….
“Jordan said the scene of the crash was one mile northeast of Springfield municipal airport near a mountain ledge which he described as “very hard to reach.” Simultaneously, authorities at Rutland said they had been asked by Army officials to send ambulances and doctors into the Hawk’s Mountain area.” (News and Tribune, Jefferson City, MO. “Another Plane is Down in Vermont.” 6-15-1947, p. 12.)
June 15, AP: “Springfield, Vt., June 15. (AP) – A lost Army plane — desperately blinking its lights in a last signal for aid – crashed into the side of lonely Hawks mountain in a driving rainstorm early today and an Army spokesman said “it now looks as though 12 were killed.”
“Colonel E. L. Tucker, commandant at Grenier Field, N. H., said the B-29 Super-Fortress had 15 aboard when it left Tucson. Ariz., yesterday, but the passenger list was changed when it refueled at the Greater Pittsburgh airport.
“The number of persons aboard when the plane crashed and exploded a few hundred feet from the top of the 2,300-foot mountain was not yet known. Tonight a little more than 20 hours after the crash the Army spokesman said a 12th body had been found by the weary searchers beating their way through uprooted trees and burned underbrush.
“The training flight was to have taken the craft to Bedford, Mass., but it was far off its course and had been out of radio contact with Bedford for an hour and a half when it roared out of rain-laden clouds at midnight and circled about this Vermont village at 1,000 feet — or less.
“Aviators in the area, including Albert Wheelock, a Civil Air Patrol flier, said that a difference of relatively few feet in its elevation or course — or 20 minutes in time — might have saved the plane. Swiftly clearing skies a short time after the crash made the cloud-capped mountain tops visible.
“Major Miller said it appeared that all the dead except one would be identified. The task of identification of the shattered bodies was made more difficult by the fact that the number of bodies found exceeded the number known to be aboard when the plane left Tucson…. “The explosion must have been terrific. There was quite a load of gasoline aboard,” Major Miller said, “and there was a series of smaller explosions. The whole mountain was lighted up. The men never knew what hit them.”
“As the plane lunged from a lowering sky above Springfield, windows in homes vibrated from the thunder of the big engines and many residents rushed out of their houses. After circling twice over this manufacturing village and nearby Perkinsville, the whole sky was lighted by a great flash and the roar of the engines ceased.
“Law enforcement officials, firemen, National Guardsmen and others, including Wheelock, sped to the lonely mountain on whose upper slope a dim light marked the flaming wreckage and burning trees and underbrush.” (Titusville Herald, PA. “Army Plane Crash Kills 12.” 6-16-1947, p.1.)
June 17, UP: “Davis-Monthan Army Airfield, Ariz. (UP) — The Army today positively identified three and tentatively identified nine of 12 soldiers killed in the crash of a B-29 Sunday at Springfield, Vt. Positively identified were
Sgt. John J. O’Toole, Queens Village;
S/Sgt. Oliver W. Hartwell, Wells, Me., and
Pfc. R. M. Stewart, Westover Field, Mass.
“Listed as boarding the plane at Pittsburg and thus identified were
First Lt. Robert Fellser, Madison, Wis.;
Second Lt. W. E. Gassett, Brockton, Mass.;
Second Lt. Oscar P. Fontana, West Springfield, Mass.;
T/Sgt. Clayton K, Knight, Knoxville, Tenn.;
T/Sgt. Paul H. Fetterhoff, Shreveport, La., and
S/Sgt. S. S. Michalac Summer Hill, Pa.
“Boarding at Tucson and presumed aboard when the plane crashed were
Capt. Robert Clark, Jamaica Plains, Mass.;
Cpl. Harry Humphrey, Albuquerque, N.M., and
M/Sgt. D. D. Jack, Dalles, Ore.”
(Times Record, NY. “Officials Identify Soldiers Killed in Vermont Plane Crash.” 6-17-1947, 1.)
Sources
Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Network, Data, 1947. USAAF B-29 crash into Hawks Mt., VT. 15 June 1947. Accessed 10-13-2023 at: https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/98631
Baugher, Joseph F. 1944 USAAF Serial Numbers (44-40049 to 44-70254). Oct 28, 2011 revision. Accessed 12-25-2011 at: http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1944_4.html
News and Tribune, Jefferson City, MO. “Another Plane is Down in Vermont.” 6-15-1947, 12. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=93667955
Times Record, Troy, NY. “Officials Identify Soldiers Killed in Vermont Plane Crash.” 6-17-1947, 1. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=40336449
Titusville Herald, PA. “Army Plane Crash Kills 12.” 6-16-1947, 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=105995225