1958 — Feb 1, USAF C-118A and US Navy P2V-5F Planes Collide, near Norwalk, CA– 48

— 48 Aviation Safety Network. Accident Description. USAF C-118A and Navy P2V-5F, 1958.
— 48 Baugher. US Navy…Marine Corps BuNos Third Series (126257 to 130264) 8-26-2011.
— 48 Gero. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. 1999, p. 72.
— 48 Notable California Aviation Disasters. “The 1950s.”
–41 USAF Liftmaster
— 6 Crew
–35 Passengers
— 6 US Navy Neptune (2 survivors)
— 1 Woman on the ground trying to run away from collision debris.
— 48 Sturkey, Mid-Air. 2008, p. 72.
–41 (all) USAF Douglas C-118 Liftmaster
— 1 On the ground, caused by Liftmaster crash
— 6 (of 8) UN Navy Lockheed P2V Neptune.
— 48 Wikipedia. “List of Accidents and Incidents Involving Military Aircraft (1950-1974). 10.

Narrative Information

ASN: “The C-118A departed Long Beach at 19:08 for a flight to McGuire AFB. While climbing under VFR the aircraft collided with a US Navy Lockheed P2V-5F Neptune patrol bomber (127723). The Neptune had just departed from Los Alamitos for a training flight. The C-118 disintegrated and crashed through the roof of a service station [killing 6 in plane]. The Neptune crashed into an excavated clay pit on Norwalk Boulevard. Two occupants from the Neptune survived the accident.” (ASN. Accident Description. USAF C-118A and Navy P2V-5F, 1958.)

Baugher: “127723 collided with C-118A 53-3277 near Norwalk, CA Feb 1, 1958. 47 out of 49 onboard both planes killed, plus one killed on ground. 2 on the P2V-5 survived.” (Baugher. US Navy…Marine Corps BuNos Third Series (126257 to 130264) 8-26-2011.)

Gero:
“Date 1 February 1958 (c.19:15)
“Location: Norwalk, California, US

“First aircraft
“Operator: US Air Force
“Type: Douglas C-118A (53-3277A)

“Second aircraft
“Operator: US Navy
“Type: Lockheed P2V-5F (127723)

“The two aircraft collided at an approximate height of 3,000ft (1,000m), scattering wreckage over residential and business areas of suburban Los Angeles. Killed in the disaster were a total of 47 American military personnel, all 41 aboard 53¬3277A (35 passengers and six crew members) and six of the eight crewmen of 127723, one of whom died on the way to hospital, plus one civilian on the ground who was struck by a piece of falling debris outside her house. The two Navy men who survived suffered serious injuries.

“Operated by the Military Air Transport Service, the C-118 had taken off from Long Beach Municipal Airport about 5 minutes before the accident, on a domestic transcontinental flight with a. destination of McGuire Air Force Base, in New Jersey. Although it was to have continued under instrument flight rules upon reaching its cruising altitude of 17,000ft (5,200m), the four-engine transport had been cleared to climb to that height under visual flight rules (VFR) proce-dures.

“Meanwhile, the twin-engine patrol bomber had been on an instrument training exercise, also being conducted under VFR. At the moment of the collision, 53-3277A was on an easterly heading and banked to the right, and 127723 northbound, and the former then burst into flames. Its empennage fell atop a service station and the main portion of its wreckage crashed in the near-by parking lot of the Norwalk Sheriff’s Department sub-station, with some 30 civilian or patrol vehicles being destroyed or damaged in the impact or ensuing fires. The P2V fell into a rock quarry about 2½ miles (4km) to the north of the C-118 crash site. It was dark at the time of the accident, although the meteorological condi¬tions were good to excellent, with a high, thin ceiling and a visibility of 15 miles (25km). In accor¬dance with civil air regulations, when two aircraft are on crossing paths, the one on the right (in this case the P2V), would have had the right-of-way.” (Gero 1999, p. 92.)

Notable California Aviation Disasters:

Number 6 of California’s “10 Worst Crashes”
Date / Time: Saturday, February 1, 1958 / 7:13 p.m.
Operator / Flight No.: Military Air Transport Service (MATS) & U.S. Navy / Military
Location: Norwalk, Calif.

“Details and Probable Cause: Midair collision. One year and one day after the disastrous midair collision over the San Fernando Valley…a second catastrophic accident involving two planes occurred in the skies over the Los Angeles basin.

“At Long Beach Municipal Airport, 35 members of various branches of the U.S. military, including five women, boarded a Military Air Transport Service (MATS) Douglas C-118A Liftmaster (53-3277A), joining its five-man crew and a female stewardess for a flight to McGuire Air Force Base near Wrightstown, New Jersey. The plane, a military derivative of the four-engine Douglas DC-6A airliner, took off from Long Beach at 7:08 p.m.

“One minute earlier, at nearby Los Alamitos Naval Air Station to the southeast, eight U.S. Navy reservists assigned to a twin-engine Lockheed P2V-5F Neptune patrol bomber (127723) took off on a routine weekend training flight.

“Less than five minutes after both planes were airborne, and while operating under visual flight rules (VFR) as they climbed into the nighttime sky, they collided in midair over the city of Norwalk.

“The MATS C-118A Liftmaster, trailing flame and smoke, fell in several pieces, with the tail section of the transport slamming through the roof of a service station at the intersection of Firestone and Pioneer Boulevards in Norwalk. Another main portion of the flaming transport plummeted to the ground across the street and exploded in the parking lot of the Norwalk sheriff’s station, igniting an underground gasoline storage tank, demolishing a maintenance garage, and crushing or damaging a number of parked squad cars and civilian automobiles. All 35 passengers and six crew members aboard the C-118A perished in the fiery impact.

“The crippled Lockheed P2V-5F Neptune, meanwhile, angled northward and crashed into an excavated clay pit on Norwalk Boulevard directly across the street from a Los Angeles County fire station in the city of Santa Fe Springs. Three of the eight reservists aboard the Neptune survived the impact but one died en route to a local hospital. Of the two remaining survivors, one was critically injured and the other, Leslie Van Dyke, 23, miraculously walked away from the crash with a twisted ankle, facial and hip bruises, and a cut on his leg.

“Yet another victim of the disaster was a Norwalk housewife, 25-year-old Edith Hernandez, who was cut in half by a falling fragment from one of the planes as she ran from her house on Jersey Avenue upon hearing the aerial collision overhead.

“The catastrophe was witnessed by numerous motorists on the nearby Santa Ana Freeway (Interstate 5) as well as by dozens of area residents, many of whom were outdoors on the mild evening attempting to catch a glimpse of America’s first satellite, ‘Explorer 1,’ which was scheduled to pass over the region at about the same time.

“Pilot error was believed to be the cause of the collision, with both aircraft crews failing to exercise proper ‘see and avoid’ procedures regarding other aircraft in the vicinity of their own while operating under visual flight rules.

“Fatalities: 48 — All 35 passengers and 6 crew aboard the Douglas C-118A Liftmaster; 6 of 8 Navy reservists aboard the Lockheed P2V-5F Neptune, and 1 person on the ground.” (Notable California Aviation Disasters. “The 1950s.”)

Wikipedia: “1 February [1958] – A USAF Douglas C-118A Liftmaster military transport, 53-3277, of the 1611th ATW, and a United States Navy Lockheed P2V-5F Neptune patrol bomber, BuNo 127723, collided over Norwalk, California (a suburb of Los Angeles) at night. 47 servicemen were killed as well as a 23-year-old civilian woman on the ground who was hit by falling debris. Two crew on P2V-5F survive. A plaque commemorating the disaster was erected by the American Legion in 1961 at the location of the accident, the corner of Firestone Boulevard and Pioneer Boulevard.” (Wikipedia. “List of Accidents and Incidents Involving Military Aircraft (1950-1974).)

Sources

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation. Accident Description. United States Air Force C-118A and Navy P2V-5F, 1958. Accessed 2-22-2009 at:
http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19580201-1

Baugher, Joseph F. US Navy and US Marine Corps BuNos Third Series (126257 to 130264) Aug 26, 2011 revision. Accessed at: http://www.joebaugher.com/navy_serials/thirdseries14.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 1960s.” Oct 23, 2008 update. Accessed 10/17/2009 at: http://www.jaydeebee1.com/crash60s.html

Sturkey, Marion F. Mid-Air: Accident Reports and Voice Transcripts from Military and Airline Mid-Air Collisions. Plum Branch, SC: Heritage Press International, 2008.

Wikipedia. “List of Accidents and Incidents Involving Military Aircraft (1950-1974). 10-16-2009 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_military_aircraft,_1950-1974