1951 — Apr 27, USAF B-36 & USAF F-51 Mustang planes collide, NE of Perkins, OK– 14

— 14 Baugher. 1949 USAF Serial Numbers. July 9, 2009 revision.
— 14 Coshocton Tribune, OH. “Fighter Plane Rams Into Giant Bomber…” April 28, 1951, p. 1.
— 14 Goleta Air & Space Museum Convair B-36 Crash Rpts. Air Force Accident Rpt. Synopsis.
(Provides names of all 14 fatalities.)
— 13 Baugher. 1944 USAAF Serial Numbers (44-83886 to 44-92098). 10-15-2011 rev.
— 13 Logansport Pharos-Tribune (IN). “Thirteen Airmen Die In Mid-Air Crash…” 4-28-1951.

Narrative Information

Baugher: “North American P-51D-25-NT Mustang….84973 collided in midair with B-36D 49-2658 while conducting gunnery training near Perkins, OK Apr 27, 1951. Pilot of P-51 killed, plus 12 crew onboard the B-36 were killed.” (Baugher. 1944 USAAF Serial Numbers (44-83886 to 44-92098). 10-15-2011 revision.)

Baugher: “Convair B-36D-25-CF Peacemaker collides in mid-air with F-51 Mustang (serial no. 44-84973), NE of Perkins, Oklahoma during gunner training. 13 killed in B-36, 1 in fighter; 4 survivors.” (Baugher. 1949 USAF Serial Numbers. July 9, 2009 revision.)

Goleta Air & Space Museum: “Synopsis of Air Force Accident Report…

“Aircraft Commander Major Charles Crecelius, Pilot Major William Apgar, and Co-pilot Captain Harold Barry, a crew of thirteen, and a civilian observer took off from Carswell AFB in B-36D, 49-2658 of the 436th Bomb Squadron of the 7th Bomb Wing at 8:00 A.M. on April 27, 1951. 49-2658 was an element in a flight of three B-36Ds. Their mission included bombing practice at the Midland, Texas bombing range followed by gunner training with a simulated air attack by North American F-51D Mustangs near Oklahoma City.

“Four Mustangs from the 185th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron took off from Will Rogers Field in Oklahoma City at 1:20 in the afternoon. They climbed to 20,000 feet altitude to intercept the bombers. They made a series of passes by the bombers to give their gunners practice tracking real airplanes. Training began with a series of high side passes. Then the B-36D reversed course for a series of high frontal passes.

“Major Crecelius flew the B-36D straight and level at 20,000 feet altitude. One of the regular gunners was back at Carswell AFB occupied by other duties, so Crew Chief MSgt. William Blair was invited back to the rear compartment to man the lower left gunner station.

“Each Mustang flew past the B-36D, headed the same direction as the bomber, and then made a 180 degree turn to approach it from the front. The gunners aboard the B-36D tracked the F-51Ds with their General Electric manufactured gun sighting mechanisms, shooting pictures instead of bullets.

“A flight of two Mustangs piloted by Captain Robinson Risner and 1st Lt. Fred Black made a high frontal pass on the bomber. The gunners estimated that Captain Risner’s Mustang passed less than 100 feet below the wing of the B-36D. Radio Operator TSgt. Albert Wolf commented over the intercom, ‘Man, he nearly hit the props’. In the rear compartment, Crew Chief MSgt. William Blair exclaimed, ‘He went between the props, didn’t he?’

“As Lt. Black approached in his F-51D, Wolf asked, ‘What’s this guy going to do?’

“The gunners in the rear compartment never saw Lt. Black’s Mustang, but they felt the collision. The F-51D hit the fuselage of the B-36D on the top left about nine feet back from the nose. The Mustang broke into two big pieces and lots of small chunks and burst into flames.

“The three surviving Mustang pilots saw two flaming objects tumble away from the B-36D. The B-36D porpoised for several seconds and pitched up into a steep climb. Then it fell off to the left into a spiral dive.

“Flight Engineer 1st Lt. Elroy Melberg manned the lower left gunner’s station in the rear compartment. His first attempt to head for the exit hatch was thwarted by the web safety straps that connected his parachute harness to the floor. Precious seconds passed as he struggled to unclip his parachute harnesses from the safety straps. He had to use both hands to unfasten the clips as the pitching of the B-36D kept throwing him off balance.

“Gunner TSgt. Milton Hewitt was in the lower right gunner’s station across from 1st Lt Melberg. TSgt. Hewitt refused to wear his parachute pack and had ridiculed crew members who wore them. His first impulse was to get to the bunk where he had left his parachute pack.

“Crew Chief MSgt. William Blair was giving Gunner TSgt. Milton Hewitt a replacement gun film canister when the collision occurred. MSgt. Blair injured his left leg as he was thrown against the bunks by the impact. He grabbed the exit hatch, but it would not open against the compartment pressurization.

“MSgt. Blair called to TSgt. Hewitt to open the emergency pressure dump valve, but Hewitt was trying to get to his bunk to retrieve his parachute pack. They ran into each other as Blair reached for the pressure dump valve.

“Gunner TSgt. Dick Thrasher occupied the upper left gunner’s station. He had been aboard B-36B, 44-92075 when the crew was forced to bail out over Vancouver Island on February 13, 1950. Gunner TSgt. Ellis Maxon sat across from TSgt. Thrasher in the upper right gunner’s station. They climbed down the ladders to the exit hatch as the gyrations of the crippled bomber flung them about.

“MSgt. Blair dumped the pressure in the compartment and TSgt. Thrasher pulled open the exit hatch. TSgt. Thrasher lay down on his left side next to the exit hatch, grabbed the edge of the hatch and rolled himself headfirst out through the narrow opening. Having never bailed out of an airplane before, MSgt. Blair paid careful attention to TSgt. Thrasher’s method of egress, intending to copy his moves.

“MSgt. Blair assisted 1st Lt. Melberg to release his parachute harness from the safety straps. He found the exit hatch blocked by the seven-foot long wooden dip stick that was used to measure the amount of fuel in the tanks. He moved the dip stick out of the way, but it fell across the hatch again. He injured the fingers of his right hand in the effort to get out the hatch. He crawled under the dipstick and stuck his head out the hatch.

“At that moment, the tail section of the B-36D ripped away from the rest of the fuselage from the bottom to the top at the forward bulkhead of the rear crew compartment. TSgt. Maxon, 1st Lt. Melberg, and MSgt. Blair were thrown from the rear crew compartment as it ripped open. TSgt. Hewitt was last seen trying to get his parachute pack from his bunk, but he did not survive the crash.

“The air around the survivors was filled with falling metal debris. One of the turret bay doors struck the shroud lines of MSgt. Blair and the tail section tumbled past him on the way down. 1st Lt. Melberg’s parachute shroud lines struck him in the throat as his parachute opened. His disorientation and the nausea from the pain caused him to vomit repeatedly during the descent. The chest strap and quick release button of TSgt. Maxon’s parachute hit him in the face and throat as his parachute opened, but he was too relieved to have escaped from the airplane to notice any pain.

“None of the twelve men in the forward compartment were able to escape from the falling bomber as it spun to the ground:

Aircraft Commander Major Charles Crecelius
Pilot Major William Apgar
Co-pilot Captain Harold Barry
Navigator Major Arthur Burmeister
Radar Observer Major Robert Renner
Radar Observer Captain William Walsh
Radar Observer Captain William Zurivitza
Flight Engineer Ernest Cox, Jr.
Radio Operator TSgt. Nathan Fetters
Radio Operator TSgt. Albert Wolf
Radar Mechanic TSgt. Edward Ennis
Civilian Observer Benedict O’Conner

“Wreckage from the B-36D fell across 3-1/2 miles of Oklahoma pasture land, ten miles south of the town of Perkins, Oklahoma and 37 miles north northeast of Tinker AFB at 1:41 P.M. CST. The F-51D impacted 12 miles south of Stillwater with 1st Lt. Fred Black still in the cockpit.

“The four survivors saw several other empty parachutes descending with them. They were unable to control the oscillation of their parachutes. Each of them hit the ground in an uncontrolled fashion. TSgt. Maxon landed in a 3-foot deep ditch and injured the medial meniscus of both knees. As he was dragged a short distance by his parachute, he suffered abrasions to his right knee, contusions to his left thumb and the left side of his neck, and a laceration to his scalp. MSgt. Blair’s parachute dragged him a few feet after landing, and he suffered additional abrasions on his leg, abdomen, and lower left eyelid. TSgt. Thrasher and 1st Lt. Melberg also suffered rough landings.

“MSgt. Blair landed just 100 yards from the home of a civilian oil company employee. The civilian got his company car and drove Blair to the place where TSgt. Maxon and 1st Lt. Melberg had come down. Melberg looked pretty beat up, so the civilian took him and Blair to the doctor in Perkins, Oklahoma. TSgt. Thrasher and TSgt. Maxon were picked up by officers of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and were also transported to the doctor in Perkins.

“The fuel tanks in the wings of the B-36D ruptured when it hit the ground. The gasoline erupted in flames, but a large portion of the fuel drained down the hill away from the crash. The resulting grass fire burned about 8 acres. It burned itself out before emergency vehicles from Tinker AFB arrived at the crash site approximately two hours after the crash.

“The parachute and billfold of one of the deceased crew members on the B-36D were found 40 miles northeast of the main crash site.” (Goleta Air & Space Museum Convair B-36 Crash Rpts. Air Force Accident Rpt Synopsis.)

Newspaper

April 28, United Press: “Guthrie, Okla. (UP)—An F-51 fighter plane plowed into a giant B-36 bomber, killing 14 men, during a mock aerial battle over central Oklahoma yesterday. The dead included the fighter pilot and a civilian observer who was aboard the B-36, the world’s largest land military plane. Four of the bomber’s crew parachuted and escaped with non-serious injuries. They were held in an Oklahoma City hospital overnight.

“Four F-51 fighter planes were simulating attacks on the 10-engine bomber to give its gunnery crews target practice as it roared southward for a simulated bomb attack on Oklahoma City during a routine 17-hour training mission….One fighter, driving in for attack, smashed into the bombers cigar shaped fuselage broadside, splitting the craft wide open with a crash heard on the ground four miles below. It took identification teams at Tinker air base in Oklahoma City four hours to identify the mangled bodies.” (Coshocton Tribune (OH). “Fighter Plan Rams Into Giant Bomber…” April 28, 1951, p. 1.)

April 28, United Press: “Guthrie, Okla. (UP)—Thirteen men were lulled Friday when a B-36 Superbomber and an F-51 fighter plane collided while practicing combat maneuvers high over central Oklahoma, the highway patrol said. Four members of the bomber’s crew parachuted and survived the collision…but others were found dead after descending in parachutes. The pilot of the single-engine fighter was believed to be one of the dead.

“Authorities said the six-engined B-36, designed to carry the atomic bomb on global missions, was making radar-controlled practice bombing runs in the Oklahoma City area when the single-engined fighter rammed it from the side while making a “pass.” The weather was clear when the accident occurred at 2 p. m. CST.

“The bomber caught fire when the collision occurred, but apparently the pilot attempted to bring the huge ship info a controlled glide at low altitude shortly before it crashed…

“Wreckage of the planes was scattered over several square miles about 18 miles southeast of Guthrie.

“The 3-36 was based at Carswell Air Force Base, Forth Worth, Tex. The fighter was attached to the recently-mobilized 185th Air National Guard Squadron at Will Rogers field, Oklahoma City….

“…crew members said the fighter was ‘making swipes at us so we could get in some gunnery practice.” (Logansport Pharos-Tribune, IN. “Thirteen Airmen Die in Mid-Air Crash…” 4-28-1951.)
Sources

Baugher, Joseph F. 1944 USAAF Serial Numbers (44-83886 to 44-92098). Oct 15, 2011 revision. Accessed 12-31-2011 at: http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1944_6.html

Baugher, Joseph F. 1949 USAF Serial Numbers. Aug 17 2011 revision. Accessed at: http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1949.html

Coshocton Tribune, OH. “Fighter Plane Rams Into Giant Bomber, Killing 14,” April 28, 1951, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=5181628

Goleta Air & Space Museum. Convair B-36 Crash Reports and Wreck Sites. “Synopsis Air Force Accident Report.” 10-16-2009 at: http://www.air-and-space.com/b-36%20wrecks.htm#44-92079

Logansport Pharos-Tribune, IN. “Thirteen Airmen Die In Mid-Air Crash of B-36 and Fighter Plane.” 4-28-1951, p. 3. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=83801990