1950 — July 27, USAF C-47 crash in Pacific after takeoff 10M S of Oshima Island Japan-25

Compiled by B. Wayne Blanchard, 8-23-2023, for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–25 Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation, Database, 1950. Accident Description.
–25 Gero, David. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. 1999, p. 47.
–25 Korean War Educator. [19 pages on fatality information, survivor statement, news articles.]

Narrative Information

Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation, Database, 1950. Accident Description:
“Date: Thursday 27 July 1950
“Time: 04:30
“Type: Douglas C-47D
“Operator: United States Air Force – USAF
“Registration: 44-76439
“MSN: 32771/16023
“First flight: 1945
“Engines: 2 Pratt & Whitney R01830-90
“Crew: Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 3
“Passengers: Fatalities: 22 / Occupants: 23
“Total: Fatalities: 25 / Occupants: 26
“Aircraft damage: Destroyed….
“Location: 15 km (9.4 mls) S off O-Shima (Japan)
“Phase: En Route (ENR)
“Nature: Military
“Destination airport: ?
“Narrative: Some twenty minutes after takeoff from the Haneda AB, the C-47
descended into the sea. One passenger survived the accident. The wreckage
sank to a depth of about 1500 m and was not recovered.”

Gero:
“Date: 27 July 1950 (c.04:30)
“Location: Off Japan
“Operator: US Air Force
“Aircraft type: Douglas C-47D (44-76439A)

“The twin-engine transport crashed in the Pacific Ocean some 10 miles (15km) south of the Island of O-shima and about 65 miles (105km) south-south-west of Tokyo. Among the 26 persons aboard, including a crew of three Air Force personnel, only one passenger was rescued. Four of these killed were American civilian war correspondents. None of the victims’ bodies was found, and the wreckage sank in water more than 5,000ft (1,500m) deep and was not recovered. Having taken off some 20 minutes earlier from Haneda Air Base, near the Japanese capital, and bound for the island of Kyushu, the C-47 had penetrated an overcast while climbing in pre-dawn darkness and was believed to have reached an altitude of about 3,500ft (1,050m) before its sudden and unexplained descent into the water. The army soldier who survived said that prior to impact the aircraft hit two moderate bumps, and that the cabin lights went dim, then went out, came back on and then dimmed again.”

Korean War Project: This project includes the statement made by the sole survivor, SFC Haruo Sazaki, 166th Military Intelligence Service Detachment, at Tokyo on 7-28-1950. According to this statement: “We hit two air pockets, the lights got real dim, went out and then came back on again to dim….We hit another air pocket and the plane went down, came back up, banked to the left and then straightened out. Then all of a sudden the plane gave a violent jerk and the engines were running very loud and the airplane seemed to snap over. At this point I noticed several of the passengers sitting on the same side of the aircraft as I. Their safety belts, along with mine, came loose. I do not know whether the safety belts were broken or pulled loose at the base…I noticed the lieutenant and sergeant sitting next to me (or one seat over) fell all the way across to the other side of the airplane. I also noticed my friend sitting opposite me was slumped way down in his seat. I remember feeling myself becoming free of my safety belt, not at an angle, but straight up. Then my complete sphere of vision was filled with this predominately red and greyish white thing…I remember smelling gas fumes and feeling warm air about my fact. I thought at that time that my lips were blistering. The next thing I remember I was out in space. I do not know how I got out of the aircraft…I pulled my ripcord and a couple of seconds later I received a terrific jolt….” [Remainder of statement details hitting the water, finding debris to float on, and being picked up by a Japanese fishing boat.]

The Korean War Project website also includes an extract from an Air Force Aircraft Accident report:

“The exact nature of the initial difficulties leading to the final plunge of the aircraft cannot be determined but in the opinion of the Board they are as follows, listed in order of probability:

a. Failure of the left engine accompanied by fire,
b. Structural failure of the left wing caused by an engine fire discovered too late for the crew to combat.

“Either of the above occurrences could have caused loss of control by the flight crew and resulted in a climbing left turn ending in a stall and spin or tight spiral. The maneuvers leading to this stall could have further been accelerated by the application of increased power and lack of attention of the crew of the altitude of the aircraft in an attempt to combat a or b above. St. Sasaki substantiates the fact that additional power was applied just prior to the apparent stall. In the ensuing time from the entry into the spin or spiral, the aircraft apparently broke up; the following pieces separated:

a. The Tail Section. In the opinion of the Board, the loss of the tail section is the only possible way that Sgt. Sasaki could have effected an involuntary exit.
b. The Left Wing. The loss of the left wing due to the violence of the maneuver or by fire and with its subsequent loss, the dispersal of the fuselage and its contents which would account for the lack of evidence of fire in the recovered articles.”

Sources

Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation, Database, 1950. Accident Description. Accessed 8-23-2023 at: https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19500727-0

Gero, David. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. UK and Newbury Park, CA: Patrick Stephens Limited, an imprint of Hayes Publishing, 1999.

Korean War Project. Accessed 8-23-2023 at:
https://www.koreanwar.org/kccf1/crash-july-27-1950-44-76439.pdf