1957 — Feb 22, USAF C-124A transport engine explodes after takeoff/crash lands ~Yanggong-ni S. Korea–22

–22 AP. “Dead, Missing In Korean Crash Listed.” Pacific Stars and Stripes. 2-25-1957, p.11.
–22 Gero, David. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. 1999, p. 66.
–22 Pacific Stars and Stripes. “17 Still Missing in Korea Crash.” 2-24-1957, p. 1.
— 5 bodies recovered
–17 missing
Narrative Information

Gero:
“Date: 22 February 1957 (c.20:00)
“Location: Near Yanggong-ni, Kyonggi-do, South Korea
“Operator: US Air Force
“Aircraft type: Douglas C-124A (51-141A)

“Heavily laden with passengers, the four-engine transport had taken off from Runway 32 at Kimpo Air Base, bound for Japan. After reaching a height of about 800 to 1,000ft (250-300m), the No. 3 power plant backfired, and an emergency was then declared. As it was returning to the airfield, the same engine exploded, with flying debris disabling No. 4 power plant and tearing a hole in the fuselage. Despite the application of maximum power on the two port engines, level flight could not be maintained, and the C-124 continued descending until finally touching down, with its undercarriage still retracted, in a channel of the Han River, about 10 miles (15km) north of the base and 25 miles (40km) north-west of Seoul, coming to a stop on an ice-littered sand bar.

“Among the 159 American service personnel aboard, 22 lost their lives, including three of the aircraft’s 10 Air Force crew members, one of them the co-pilot. The survivors, 24 of whom suffered varying degrees of injury, were evacuated from the crash scene by helicopter. Fire, which had erupted in the wing areas an estimated 15 minutes after the crash, eventually consumed most of the wreckage.

“The cause of the initial power plant failure was not disclosed by military authorities. The resulting forced landing was carried out in darkness, but the meteorological conditions in the area were good, with the sky clear and a visibility of more than 10 miles (15km).”

Newspaper

Feb 23, Pacific Stars and Stripes: “Seoul – The bodies of four American soldiers were recovered Saturday morning [Feb 23] from a C-124 Globemaster which crash-landed on a tiny Han River sandbar. Twelve of the 159 who were aboard still are unaccounted for.

“Most of the passengers and crewmen were airlifted to safety in a dramatic helicopter chain-rescue operation before the icy waters of the rising river could engulf them Friday night. Many of the rescued were injured, but none was reported in serious condition. Most of the injuries involved burns, broken bones and cuts and bruises. Reports showed that 134 were taken to the 121st Army Evac. Hosp. at Ascom City and nine to the AF Kimpo dispensary.

“An Army search party, looking for the 16 missing men, found the four bodies in the plane during a low tide Saturday morning. However, the tide rose again, calling off the search temporarily. It was unknown whether the other 12 missing men are in the plane.

“The Army sent out a search party of 300 men and four helicopters in case any of the crash victims wandered off into the night, it was reported.

“The crash occurred at about 7:45 p.m., a few minutes after the huge transport left Kimpo Airport here. The plane, loaded with R&R soldiers in its two decks, was on its way to Japan.

“There were 10 Air Force crewmen aboard in addition to the 159 soldiers.

“An AF officer said the pilot made a ‘one-in-a-million’ belly landing on the small sandbar which jutted out into the river only a mile and a half from the DMZ. Engine trouble was blamed for the crash.

“Eyewitnesses said the plane was on fire before it crashed. Although the crash occurred in an isolated are, the first victims were being taken to the 121st Army Evac. Hosp. within an hour. Various eyewitness reports, when pieced togeth4r, told of a desperate helicopter race against the rising river tide. With an AF plane circling overhead to coordinate the helicopter operations by radio, the choppers skimmed the swirling waters to get the casualties aboard. It was a moonless night, and the helicopter pilots had only their own landing spotlights to see by. Below, the men in the water calmly awaited their turn to board the rescue aircraft. They boarded four and five to a helicopter. About 60 were flown directly to the Army hospital. The others were shuttled to the river bank to waiting ambulances….All the men in sight were reported evacuated at 1 a.m.

“….The plane was from the 374th Troop Carrier Wg. At Tachikawa AB, according to Far East Air Forces.” (Pacific Stars and Stripes. “4 Die, 12 Lost as C-124 Lands on Han [River] Sandbar.” 2-23-1957, pp. 1-2.)

Feb 24, Pacific Stars and Stripes: “Seoul – None of the 17 men missing in the Friday night crash of a C-124 Globemaster in the Han River has yet been found. The death toll in the crash still stands at five. An Army spokesman said Sunday morning that the search will be carried out all the way to the Han’s estuary and the 8th Army Flight Det. Is applying to the U.N. Command Military Armistice Commission for permission to cross the ‘No-Fly Line’ to carry out the search. (The no-Fly Line is a line several miles south of the DMZ beyond which U.S. planes may not fly. Some parts of the Han River lie over this line).

“The search for the missing resumed early Sunday after some 200 ground troops and an umbrella of search helicopters combed an area 10 miles northwest of Kimpo AB where the two-decker R&R transport piled into a sandbar on its way to Japan with 159 servicemen aboard. They found five bodies before the search was called off because of an incoming 19-foot tide, second highest in the world.

“Four of the bodies found Saturday were under the river’s ice and a fifth was in a rice paddy six miles south of the disaster scent. This fifth man apparently had fallen from the plane before it crashed, and a survivor reported seeing two men disappear through the plane’s side when the starboard engine exploded and tore a gaping hole in the fuselage.

“AFFE/Eighth Army engineers and salvage divers from Inchon Port went to work in the early ebb-tide hours of Sunday to try to lift the plane from the water. They plan to build a pontoon bridge out into the Han River to move cranes alongside the wreck. At the point where the Globemaster hit, the river is more than a mile wide. A spokesman said some bodies may be found in the debris. Others, it is feared, may have been washed downstream in the freezing river water….” (Pacific Stars and Stripes. “17 Still Missing in Korea Crash.” 2-24-1957, pp. 1-2.)

Feb 25, AP: “Washington (AP) – The U.S. Defense Department Sunday made public the names of 22 Army and Air Force men killed or missing in Friday’s crash of an Air Force transport plane near the Republic of Korean capital of Seoul….” [List can be accessed via link in Sources below.]

Sources

Associated Press. “Dead, Missing In Korean Crash Listed.” Pacific Stars and Stripes. 2-25-1957, p.11. Accessed 3-2-2023 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/pacific-stars-and-stripes-feb-25-1957-p-11/

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

Pacific Stars and Stripes. “4 Die, 12 Lost as C-124 Lands on Han [River] Sandbar.” 2-23-1957, p. 1. Accessed 3-2-2023 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/pacific-stars-and-stripes-feb-23-1957-p-1/

Pacific Stars and Stripes. “17 Still Missing in Korea Crash.” 2-24-1957, pp. 1-2. Accessed 3-2-2023 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/pacific-stars-and-stripes-feb-24-1957-p-1/