35 ~Niles, CA–40

lornajarrettblanchard February 17, 1956

— 40 Aviation Safety Network. Accident Description. United States Navy DC-4, 17 Feb 1956.
— 40 Baugher. US Navy…Marine Corps BuNos Third Series (30147 to 39998). 10-11-2009 rev.
— 40 Gero. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. 1999, pp. 63-64.
— 40 Notable California Aviation Disasters. “The 1950s”
— 35 Wikipedia. “List of Accidents and Incidents Involving Military Aircraft (1950-1974).”

Narrative Information

ASN: “After circling for 30 minutes, the pilot contacted Oakland Municipal Airport, reporting that he was on his approach to Alameda NAS. While flying in low overcast and drizzling rain, the Navy plane flew up a steep canyon, skimmed over one ridge and then slammed into Sunol Ridge at the 1300 feet level. A subsequent Marine board of inquiry into the cause of the crash placed the blame on the flight crew’s deviation from the prescribed holding pattern, departure from the radio beacon, and making their descent in a unprescribed manner.” (ASN, US Navy, 17Feb1956.)

Baugher: “Douglas R5D-2….39116 (c/n 18331, Line No. DO105), ex USAAF 43-17131….while operated by the USMC on Feb. 17, 1956 the aircraft was involved in a fatal accident on approach to NAS Alameda, CA, 5 crew, 35 PAX fatal.” (Baugher. US Navy…Marine Corps BuNos Third Series (30147 to 39998). 10-11-2009 rev.)

Gero:
“Date: 17 February 1956 (c.13:45)
“Location: Near Niles, California, US
“Operator: US Marine Corps
“Aircraft type: Douglas R5D-2 (39116)

“All American servicemen aboard (35 passengers and a crew of five) perished when the four-engine transport crashed about 20 miles (30 km) south-east of Oakland. Operating under an instru¬ment flight rules clearance, the aircraft had been en route from El Toro Marine Air Station, in Southern California, and was to have landed at Alameda Naval Air Station, located on the east side of San Francisco Bay. After receiving instructions from Oakland approach control to maintain at least 1,000ft (300m) above the clouds, it entered a holding pattern and circled for about half-an-hour before being cleared for a straight-in radio range approach from the Newark fan marker beacon. It was observed by a ground witness proceeding in a westerly direction under a low overcast and in a level or slight nose-down attitude and to disappear into the clouds. Moments later, and while on a magnetic heading of approximately 270 degrees, the R5D slammed into Sunol Ridge at an approximate elevation of 1,500ft (500m), or almost 200ft (60m) below the crest of the hill, exploded and burned. The cloudy conditions in the area were accompa¬nied by occasional squalls, containing light to moderate rain, one of which obscured the terrain struck by 39116.

Examination of the wreckage revealed no evidence of material failure in the aircraft, or any indication of altimeter mis-setting. The accident was attributed to the non-adherence of the flight crew to the holding pattern, and to their departure from the radio beacon and let-down in an unprescribed manner. These irregularities may have resulted from one or more of the following factors: improper instrument procedures; misinterpretation of radio-navigational signals; an incorrect automatic direction finder indication; miscalculation of time while on the final outbound leg of the circuit, or an attempt to proceed in the instrument meteorological conditions under visual flight rules (VFR) procedures.

“Apparently unable to descend in a standard four-minute pattern to 3,500ft ((1,050m), the specified final approach initiation altitude, the pilots extended the outbound leg of the circuit in order to reach the Newark radio beacon at that height. This took the aircraft to an area where the ground was visible, which must have been misidentified as the flat terrain in the vicinity of Niles and nearby Irvington, located to the west of its actual position. The descent continued to 1,500ft, with the R5D flying in and out of the clouds, the pilots firmly convinced they would clear all obstacles at this height as they proceeded towards the Oakland radio range station (their belief would have been reinforced by the high background signals of the navigational aid that they would have been receiving at this location). It was also possible that the aircraft had been in or near the correct pattern and that the crew elected to make an unprescribed left-hand turn back to the Newark homing beacon, when VFR conditions were observed to the south-east.

“It was noted in the investigative report that the area where the crash took place had a history of pilot disorientation and several major accidents. The standard instrument approach chart used by pilots flying into the Alameda base lacked an annotation with regard to the minimum altitude at the point of the final approach fix, which was actually 2,000ft (600m) higher than that indicated, and a procedural change was one of the recommendations made in the report.”
(Gero. Military Aviation Disasters. 1999, pp. 63-64).

Notable California Aviation Disasters:

1956 Number 9 of California’s “10 Worst Crashes”
Date / Time: Friday, February 17, 1956 / 1:45 p.m.
Operator / Flight No.: United States Marine Corps / Military
Location: Near Niles, Calif.

“Details and Probable Cause: Carrying 34 U.S. Marines from Camp Pendleton en route to Hawaii for overseas assignment, one additional Marine deadheading to San Francisco to visit his parents, and a flight crew of five, the four-engine Douglas R5D-2 transport (39116), the military equivalent of the Douglas DC-4 airliner, departed El Toro Marine Air Corps Station in Orange County at 10:30 a.m. on a flight to the Alameda Naval Air Station on the eastern side of San Francisco Bay.

“At approximately 1:42 p.m., after circling for 30 minutes, the aircraft’s pilot contacted the control tower at Oakland Municipal Airport, reporting that he was on his approach to Alameda NAS.

“Instead, the plane, while flying in low overcast and drizzling rain, flew up a steep canyon, skimmed over one ridge and then slammed into Sunol Ridge on the Elmer O’Connell ranch, approximately 3.5 miles north of Niles and 20 miles southeast of Oakland. The aircraft broke up and burned, killing all 35 on board and scattering wreckage and bodies over a 300-yard area.

“It took rescuers over an hour to reach the crash site, located at the 1,300-foot level, due to the treacherous terrain. Also, identifying those aboard the ill-fated flight was initially hampered when a passenger manifest from a similar yet separate El Toro departure was mistakenly issued, then quickly retracted.

“It was the decade’s third major airplane crash to occur in or near the rugged, hilly terrain southeast of the Oakland-Alameda region of Northern California, following a United Air Lines crash near Decoto in 1951 that killed 50 and a 1953 Transocean Air Lines crash in Alvarado that killed 35 (see both entries above).

“A subsequent Marine board of inquiry into the cause of the crash placed the blame on the flight crew’s deviation from the prescribed holding pattern, departure from the radio beacon, and making their descent in a unprescribed manner.

“Fatalities: 40 — all 35 passengers and 5 crew members.” (Notable California Aviation Disasters. “The 1950s”)

Wikipedia: “17 February – Douglas R5D-2 Skymaster, BuNo 39116, on flight from MCAS El Toro, California to NAS Alameda, in low overcast and drizzle, strikes Sunol Ridge on ranch ~3.5 miles N of Niles, California at 1345 hrs. Aircraft broke up and burned, killing 35, all but one of them Marines.” (Wikipedia. “List of Accidents and Incidents Involving Military Aircraft (1950-1974).)

Sources

Aviation Safety Network. Accident Description. United States Navy Douglas R5D-2 (DC-4), 17 Feb 1956. Accessed 2/21/2009 at: http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19560217-0

Baugher, Joseph F. US Navy and US Marine Corps BuNos Third Series (30147 to 39998). 8-6-2012 revision. Accessed at: http://www.joebaugher.com/navy_serials/thirdseries4.html

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

Notable California Aviation Disasters. “The 1950s.” Oct 23 2008 update. Accessed at: http://www.jaydeebee1.com/crash50s.html

Wikipedia. “Lists of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft (1950-1959).” Accessed 11-13-2011 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_military_aircraft_(1950%E2%80%931959