1977 — Dec 11, Brunswick NAS-based USN Orion crash, fog, El Hierro Mt., Canary Islands–13

— 13  ASN. Accident Description. USN Lockheed P-3B-80-LO Orion. Hierro, Canary Islands.

— 13  Baugher. US Navy…Marine Corps BuNos Third Series (150139 to 156169). 10-29-2011.

— 13  Brazosport Facts, Clute, TX. “13 Airmen Die in Navy Plane Crash.” 12-11-1977, p. 19.

— 13  Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME. “Brunswick-based…victims recovered.” 12-13-1977, p1.

— 13  Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME. “Tribute Paid to BNAS Airmen.” 12-14-1977, p. 9.

— 13  Planecrashinfo.com. Accident Details. December 11, 1977…Hierro, Canary Islands. USN

— 13  Redlands Daily Facts, CA. “P-3 Orion Crashes, 13 Aboard Killed.” 12-12-1977, p. 5.

— 13  VPNavy.org. U.S. Navy Patrol Squadrons. “VP-11 Shipmates.”

Narrative Information

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Network, Database, 1950:

“Narrative: The P-3 Orion aircraft departed at 08:36 on a ship surveillance mission. Approximately two hours after takeoff the aircraft reported all systems essential to the mission were operating normally. No further radio contact was made. At 11:20 the aircraft struck a mountain at an altitude of 2300 ft msl. The top of the mountain was at 5200 ft msl.  Visibility at the crash site was 50 meters in rain. The aircraft impacted in level flight at 220 knots.  All engines were operating, except for #1, which was shut-down for loiter.

“The PPC, navigator, radar operator and flight engineer were at the NCO club until 02:00 local, consuming alcoholic beverages. The post mortem showed that the navigator had experienced a myocardial infarction. The island was located inside the northwest corner of the assigned patrol area. It is very possible that the crew was unaware of the island.

“PROBABLE CAUSE FACTORS: Flight crew – violation of natops[1] regarding alcohol consumption/crew rest prior to flight. Supervisory/squadron – failure to implement an effective aircrew surveillance program.

“CONTRIBUTORY FACTOR: Flight crew complacency – nonadherence to sound navigation procedures.

“POSSIBLE CAUSE FACTOR: TSC briefing display omission of the three Canary Islands.
Weather conditions – fog and rain.” (Aviation Safety Network. Accident Description. United States Navy. Lockheed P-3B-80-LO Orion. 153428. Hierro, Canary Islands. 11 Dec 1977.)

Baugher: “Lockheed P-3B-80-LO Orion. 153428 (c/n 185-5225) crashed Dec 11, 1977 in El Hierro, Canary Islands. 13 killed.” (Baugher.  US Navy…Marine Corps BuNos Third Series (150139 to 156169). 10-29-2011.)

Newspapers

Dec 11:  “Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands (AP) – Thirteen American airmen were reported killed and another one was missing in the crash of a U.S. Navy patrol plane that hit a mountain Sunday and exploded on one of the Canary Islands, off the northwest coast of Africa.

“A U.S. spokesman said rescue workers recovered 13 bodies from the crash site on a 4,200-foot

mountain on the island of Hierro and were searching for the remains of the other man.

“The four-engine Lockheed P-3 Orion was on a training flight from the U.S. Air Force’s Lajes Base in the Azores. Officials on Hierro, at the southwest end of the chain of Spanish islands, said the plane was flying in clouds and rain at 1,200 feet when it hit the mountain. Wreckage and pieces of bodies were scattered across the mountainside, the officials said….” (Brazosport Facts, Clute, TX. “13 Airmen Die in Navy Plane Crash.” 12-11-1977, p. 19.)

 

Dec 12:  “Valverde, Canary Islands (UPI)–U.S. military personnel today opened an investigation

into the crash of a low-flying Navy reconnaissance plane against a foggy mountainside in the Canary Islands.

Police in Valverde – the main town in the island of Hierro, one of the Spanish Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean — said they recovered 13 bodies from the wreckage. There were no survivors.

“The four-engine turboprop Lockheed P-3 Orion, apparently on a training flight out of the U.S. Lajes military base in the Portuguese Azores Islands, smashed into a wooded slope Sunday and scattered debris for more than 2,000 feet. ‘The bodies were so badly burned and mutilated and the plane so smashed that it was difficult to identify where the plane came from,’ said a police spokesman In Valverde. ‘But from the boots and the uniforms and a piece of burned paper that said ‘Florida’ we decided they were Americans.’

“U.S. officials had no immediate details on the cause of the crash, but the American Embassy in Madrid said military investigators from the Rota Navy Base in southern Spain were flying to Hierro today….

“The plane and crew were permanently based in Brunswick, Maine, but Rota had been their main overseas base, U.S. officials said.

“The national news agency Cifra said the plane, which is built for submarine surveillance, was flying at an altitude of 1,200 feet over Hierro, which is the smallest island in the Canaries but has

peaks reaching 4,200 feet.

“Police in Valverde said the first report of the disaster was from a resident who ‘thought a truck had fallen on the highway.’ They said the plane was on a routine flight that was to take it out from Lajes and then back to that base, located in the north Atlantic Ocean west of Portugal.

“The Canaries are located off the northern curve of the bulge of Africa.

“Police said the weather over Hierro was overcast, rainy and foggy at the time of the crash. They said it was unusual for a plane to fly over the Island, which has only a small landing strip.”

(Redlands Daily Facts, CA.  “P-3 Orion Crashes, 13 Aboard Killed.” 12-12-1977, p. 5.)

Dec 13:  “….The men were part the 360-man VP-11 squadron and had been deployed overseas for about two months.  They were scheduled to return to Brunswick [ME] about three months from now. The following list of the 13 crew members was provided by the Brunswick Naval Air Station where the plane was based….

  1. Lt. j g. James C. Ingles. Bellevue, Wash.
  2. j g. Kirk B. Williams, Horseheads, N.Y.
  3. j g. Michael J. Rowe, Chicago, Ill..
  4. j g. John R. Williamson III, Pensacola, Fla.
  5. j g. Francis X. McKeone, Newark, Del.
  6. Chief Petty Officer Wayne D. Westland, Leavenworth, Kan.
  7. Petty Officer 2nd Class Wayne T. Kiess, Phoenix, Ariz.
  8. Petty Officer 1st Class Fred Woodall, Rockwood, Tenn.
  9. Petty Officer 3rd Class Bobbie D. Payne, Fredericksburg, Texas.
  10. Petty Officer 3rd Class Michael B. James, Corydon, Ind.
  11. Petty Officer 2nd Class Marvin L. Brown, Key West, Monroe. Fla.
  12. Petty Officer 2nd Class Garold L. Nesbitt, Boise, Idaho.
  13. Petty Officer 2nd Class Claude M. Cantrell Jr., Melbourne, Fla.”

(Kennebec Journal, Augusta ME. “Brunswick-based plane…victims recovered.” 12-13-1977, 1.)

Dec 14: “Brunswick (AP) – More than 500 persons crowded into a small chapel at the  Brunswick Naval Air Station Tuesday to pay tribute to the 13 American airmen who were killed Sunday in a plane crash in the Canary Islands.

“Gov. James B. Longley who attended the memorial service, ordered flags flown at half-mast out of respect for the airmen who had been permanently based here. Longley said that all of Maine shares the sorrow of the loss of our Navy personnel from Patrol Squadron 11 of the Brunswick Naval Air Station.

“The mourners at the service, which was conducted by the three chaplains at the base, sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic and Eternal Father Strong to Save, an unofficial Navy hymn.

“Among the mourners were the wives and children of Lt. j g Michael J. Rowe of Chicago and Chief Petty Officer Wayne D. Westland of Leavenworth Kan., the only two victims of the crash whose immediate families lived nearby.

“The Lockheed P-3  Orion, an anti-submarine Navy patrol plane, was on a routine operational flight from the U. S. Air Force Lajes Base in the Azores when it crashed into a foggy Canary Islands mountainside….” (Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME. “Tribute Paid to BNAS Airmen.” 12-14-1977, p. 9.)

Sources

Aviation Safety Network. Accident Description. United States Navy Lockheed P-3B-80-LO Orion. Hierro, Canary Islands. 11 Dec 1977. Accessed 10-2-2021 at:  https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19771211-0

Baugher, Joseph F. US Navy and US Marine Corps BuNos Third Series (150139 to 156169). Oct 29, 2011 revision. Accessed at: http://www.joebaugher.com/navy_serials/thirdseries19.html

Brazosport Facts, Clute, Lake Jackson, Freeport, TX.  “13 Airmen Die in Navy Plane Crash.” 12-11-1977, 19. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=126266751

Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME. “Brunswick-based plane. Crash victims recovered.” 12-13-1977, p. 1. At:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=14047515

Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME. “Tribute Paid to BNAS Airmen.” 12-14-1977, p. 9. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=14047915

planecrashinfo.com. 1977. Accident Details. December 11, 1977…Hierro, Canary Islands. USN. Accessed at:  http://www.planecrashinfo.com/1977/1977-72.htm [No longer operable.]

Redlands Daily Facts, CA. “P-3 Orion Crashes, 13 Aboard Killed.” 12-12-1977, p. 5. Accessed at:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=160244693

 

vpnavy.org. U.S. Navy Patrol Squadrons. “BP-11 Mishap….1970’s.” Accessed 9-1-2023 at:

https://www.vpnavy.com/vp11_mishap.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures Standardization.

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