1956 — Nov 30, USAF B-52 plane crash after takeoff from Castle AFB ~Ballico, CA –all 10

1956 — Nov 30, USAF B-52 plane crash after takeoff from Castle AFB ~Merced, CA –all 10

— 10 Aviation Safety Network. USAF RB-52B explosion and crash after takeoff, Merced AFB.
— 10 Bakersfield Californian. “Sisk Proposes Probe of B52.” 12-3-1956, p. 43.
— 10 Baugher. 1952 USAF Serial Numbers. 10-29-2011 rev.
— 10 Gero. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. 1999, p. 65.
— 10 NFPA. “Large Loss Aircraft Fires of 1956.” Quarterly, Vol. 50, No. 4, April 1957, p. 319.
— 10 Oakland Tribune, CA. “Third B52 Crash Probed at Merced. All 10 Crew…” 12-1-1956, 1.

Narrative Information

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Database:
“Date: 30 Nov 1955
“Time: night
“Type: Boeing RB-52B-20-BO Stratofortress
“Owner/operator: United States Air Force (USAF)
“Registration: 52-8716
“MSN: 16844
“Fatalities: Fatalities: 10 / Occupants: 10
“Other fatalities: 0
….
“Location: 4 mi N of Merced-Castle AFB, CA
“Phase: Unknown
“Nature: Military
“Departure airport: Merced-Castle AFB, CVA
“Destination airport: [Not noted.]
“Confidence Rating: Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources
“Narrative:

“Crashed less than 3 minutes after takeoff on a night training mission instructing former B-36 pilots. Newspaper reports indicate the Stratofortress was wracked by two explosions prior to the crash. The bomber crashed at 2205, four miles north of the base into a grain field in Merced County and disintegrated as it skidded at least a mile. The aircraft was unarmed except for 25 live photo bombs, used to illuminate the night for aerial photos. Air Force demolition experts deactivated them before any of the magnesium filled devices exploded. This was the worst single aircraft loss of life accident in the B-52s operating history with the entire crew of 10 killed. This was also the third B-52 crash at Castle in an 8 month period.”

Baugher: “Boeing RB-52B-20-BO Stratofortress c/n 16844 (93rd BW) crashed on takeoff 4 mi N of Castle AFB Nov 30, 1956. 6 crew plus 4 instructors killed.” (Baugher. 1952 USAF Serial Numbers. 10-29-2011 revision.)

Gero:

“Date: 30 November 1956 (c.22:00)
“Location: Near Ballico, California, US
“Operator: US Air Force
“Aircraft type: Boeing RF-52B (52-8716)

“The worst-ever B-52 crash involving a single aircraft occurred about a year and a half after the first of the eight-engine jet bombers had entered service with the Strategic Air Command. A little less than 3 minutes after it had taken off from Castle Air Force Base, on a combat training mission, 52-8716 plunged to earth and disintegrated in a fiery explosion some 15 miles (25km) north-north-west of Merced, and all 10 crewmen were killed.

“The accident occurred in darkness, but the weather was clear, with a slight breeze out of the west. At the moment of impact, the cleanly-config¬ured aircraft was descending at an angle of about 5 degrees from the horizontal, in a slight right wing-down attitude and on an almost due northerly heading.

“Investigation revealed no evidence of in-flight fire, explosion or structural failure, and that the crash apparently resulted from an abnormal nose-down trim condition which the pilots could not or did not correct due to an unknown malfunction or distraction. Subsequent to this accident, the minimum altitude for flap retraction in B-52 opera¬tions was raised to 1,000ft (300m), and pilots flying the type would also receive expanded training to include the importance of maintaining a positive rate of climb when retracting the flaps.” (Gero, Military Aviation Disasters. 1999, 65-66.)

Newspapers – Chronological

Dec 1, Oakland Tribune: “Merced, Dec. 1 —A grim-faced team of Air Force experts for the third time in nine months winged toward Castle Air Force Base today to probe the charred wreckage of an eight-jet B52 bomber which crashed and burned last night in a grain field near here, killing all 10 men aboard.

“Each investigator is an expert in his own field, brought in from bases throughout the United States in an effort to determine why the swept-wing intercontinental giant, the Air Force’s biggest A-bomb carrier, plunged to earth just four minutes after its takeoff on a routine training mission.

“From the layman’s viewpoint, there appeared to be few clues in the blackened grain field, four miles north of the air base. The largest part of the 200-ton, $8,000,000 aircraft left was a shattered section identified as part of the tail assembly. The rest was scattered in little pieces for more than three miles, evidence of a terrific impact, followed by a tremendous explosion as the plane’s full fuel tanks let go.

“One airman, flung from the plane when it first smacked into the field, was still conscious when the first rescuers reached the scene. He died on his way to the base hospital. The other nine bodies, all badly burned, were clustered together nearly a quarter of a mile away, where the huge bomber exploded after skidding and leap-frogging through the field following the initial impact…..

“Two witnesses to the crash, members of an Army antiaircraft unit stationed at the air base, said they saw ‘one huge flash about a mile away, and just before it hit, another explosion.’

“Glen Towers, a Merced County fireman, was one of the first to reach the crash site. He described the scene as ‘a streak of fire for about two miles and wreckage scattered all over.’ Burning photo flash-bombs, hurled from the plane, added an additional eerie illumination. Towers said he heard the one airman calling for help when he first reached the scene with a handful of volunteers…‘But he lapsed into unconsciousness just as we got to him,’ Towers said.

“The control tower crew at the air base said there had been no word of distress from the plane before the crash….

“The crash was the worst of the three B52 crashes this year, all of which occurred on flights out of Castle Air Force Base. A B52 crash near Tracy in February claimed four lives. Another near Madera in September killed five crewmen.

“Public information officer Capt. Robert Stephenson said the normal crew roster was six men, but that four instructors had gone along on the training flight. He said there has been no word from Air Force headquarters at Washington, D.C., on whether the crash will cause grounding of 40 other B52s at Castle. The bombers were grounded after the crashes at Tracy and Madera, while the Air Force investigators sought the cause of the tragedies. They have yet to announce the cause of the Madera crash, but laid the Tracy accident to malfunctioning of the plane’s electrical system.

“The Air Force announced after the Tracy crash that modifications had been ordered in the bombers’ electrical systems to correct the flaw. Captain Stephenson said the flaws had been corrected in the systems of the bombers that crashed in September and last night.

“Just last week the Air Force announced that eight B52s had completed nonstop flights of 13,700 and 17,000 miles, either one farther than a roundtrip to Russia and back, and both setting distance records for the key planes in the Nation’s nuclear striking force.

“The bomber that crashed last night was attached to the 93rd Bombardment Wing at Castle.” (Oakland Tribune, CA. “Third B52 Crash Probed at Merced. All 10 Crew Members Killed…” 12-1-1956, p. 1.)

Dec 3, United Press: “Fresno (UP) – Rep. B. F. Sisk (D-Calif) has demanded a congressional investigation of the B52 intercontinental bomber. Sisk’s demand followed a crash of a B52 last Friday near Cressey in which 10 men from Castle Air Force Base were killed. A total of 19 airmen attached to that base have been killed in B52 accidents so far this year. ‘This last crackup, in which 10 men died, indicates there is something definitely wrong with the B52 program,’ said Sisk, whose district includes Castle AFB. ‘This huge bomber is supposed to be a safeguard in the defense of our country, and the Air Force must investigate these accidents to make sure this huge retaliatory weapon is a safe aircraft for our airmen to operate’.” (Bakersfield Californian. “Sisk Proposes Probe of B52.” 12-3-1956, p. 43.)

Sources

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Database. USAF RB-52B-20-BO Stratofortress explosion and crash after takeoff, Merced-Castle AFB, CA, 30 Nov 1955. Accessed 7-5-2023 at: https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/47788

Bakersfield Californian. “Sisk Proposes Probe of B52.” 12-3-1956, p. 43. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=154154306

Baugher, Joseph F. 1952 USAF Serial Numbers. Oct 29, 2011 revision. Accessed 1-7-2012 at: http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1952.html

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

National Fire Protection Association. “Large Loss Aircraft Fires of 1956.” Quarterly, Vol. 50, No. 4, April 1957. Boston, MA.

Oakland Tribune, CA. “Third B52 Crash Probed at Merced. All 10 Crew Members Killed…” 12-1-1956, 1. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=33851564