1955 — Sep 26, Guantanamo NAS USN P2V-3W Neptune hurricane chaser lost, Caribbean-11

–11 Aviation Safety Network. “Database.” USN Lockheed P2V-3W Neptune, 26 Sep 1955.
–11 Wunderground.com. “The Lost Hurricane Hunters: September 26th, 1955.”

Narrative Information

Aviation Safety Network:

“Date: Monday 26 September 1955
“Type: Lockheed P2V-3W Neptune
“Operator: United States Navy
“Registration: 131442
“MSN: 426-5323
….
“Crew: Fatalities: 9 / Occupants: 9
“Passengers: Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
“Total: Fatalities: 11 / Occupants: 11
“Aircraft damage: Missing
….
“Location: 480 km (300 MLS) SW off Jamaica [Caribbean]
“Phase: En route (ENR)
“Nature: Military
“Departure airport: Guantanamo NAS, Cuba
“Destination airport: Guantanamo NAS, Cuba
“Narrative:
“
The P2V-3W Neptune aircraft ‘Snowcloud Five’ departed Guantánamo Bay NAS to investigate Hurricane Janet, which was at the time a Category 4 hurricane south of Jamaica. The aircraft penetrated the hurricane’s eyewall at an altitude of 700 feet and all contact was lost. All 11 people on board, including nine crew members and two journalists, were killed. An extensive search and rescue operation yielded no results.” (Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation. “Database.” USN Lockheed P2V-3W Neptune, 26 Sep 1955.)

Wunderground.com: “The only Atlantic Hurricane Hunter flight to go down occurred on September 26, 1955. Snowcloud Five, a U.S. Navy P2V Neptune weather reconnaissance airplane flying out of Guantanamo, Cuba, was lost in Hurricane Janet, 300 miles southwest of Jamaica. Snowcloud Five was part of the Airborne Early Warning Squadron Four (VW-4), based at the Jacksonville, Florida Naval Air Station. Carrying a crew of nine and two reporters from the Toronto Daily Star, Snowcloud Five took off at 0630 local time, and performed its initial penetration into Janet at an altitude of 700 feet. At the time of the crash, Janet was a Category 4 hurricane with 145 mph winds. The aircraft sent back this transmission, then was never heard from again:

NAVY RECONNAISSANCE FLIGHT 5U93, OBSERVATION NUMBER FIVE, AT 1330 GMT (8:30AM EST), MONDAY, LOCATED AT LATITUDE 15.4 DEGREES N, LONGITUDE 78.2 DEGREES W. OBLIQUE AND HORIZONTAL VISIBILITY 3-10 MILES, ALTITUDE 700 FEET, FLIGHT WIND 050 DEGREES (NE) 45 KNOTS (52 MPH). PRESENT WEATHER LIGHT INTERMITTENT SHOWERS, PAST WEATHER SAME, OVERCAST AND SOME SCUD BELOW, SURFACE PRESSURE 1,003 MILLIBARS (29.62 INCHES), SURFACE WINDS 050 DEGREES (NE), 45 KNOTS (52 MPH). BEGINNING PENETRATION.

“Snowcloud Five, the U.S. Navy P2V Neptune weather reconnaissance airplane that went down in Hurricane Janet of 1955.

“An intensive air and sea search operation combed a 300 by 200 mile region of the Caribbean for the airplane over the next five days. In all, sixty aircraft, seven ships, and three thousand personnel were involved. No trace of Snowcloud Five was ever found. A book called Stormchasers (David Toomey, 2002) provides a detailed story of the flight into Hurricane Janet, and provides some insight as to what may have gone wrong. Dr. Hugh Willoughby, former director of NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division, speculated on the fate of Snowcloud Five in a review of Stormchasers that appeared in the February, 2003 issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society:

“The enlisted aerographer’s mate was left behind that day in order to accommodate the Toronto Daily Star reporter. This key crew member was normally responsible for keeping the pilots aware of altitude by calling out readings from the only radar altimeter on board, located at the aerologist’s station. Without him, the aerologist, Lt. (jg) William Buck, had to do two demanding jobs: He had to simultaneously read the bouncing, flickering altimeter and peer down from his Plexiglas bubble in the nose to discern the wind from streaks of foam on the sea. It is easy to imagine how he might have lost control of the situation as he struggled to keep the airplane safely above the waves and flying perpendicular to the wind towards the eye.”

“The crew members lost on the mission were:

Lt. Cmdr. Grover B. Windham Jr. of Jacksonville, FL, Plane Commander

LTjg Thomas R. Morgan of Orange Park, FL, Navigator

LTjg George W. Herlong of Yukon, FL, Co-Pilot

Aviation Electronics Technician Second Class Julius J. Mann, 22, of Canton, Ohio

LTjg Thomas L. Greaney, 26, of Jacksonville, FL, Navigator

Aviation Mechanic First Class J. P. Windham, Jr., 32 of Jacksonville, FL

Airman Kenneth L. Klegg, 22, of Cranston, RI

Aviation Electronics Man First Class Joseph F. Combs of Forest Park, NY

Aerologist William A. Buck, of Jacksonville, FL

Toronto Daily Star Reporter Alfred O. Tate

Toronto Daily Star Photographer Douglas Cronk.”

(Wunderground.com. “The Lost Hurricane Hunters: September 26th, 1955.”)

Newspapers

Sep 27, AP: “Miami, Fla., Sept. 27 (AP) – A great hurricane with 135-mile-an-hour winds spinning around the center roared toward British Honduras and extreme southeastern Mexico tonight. Named Janet by Weather Bureau forecasters, the season’s 10th storm was due to hit the coast in northern British Honduras and southern Mexico in thee next few hours.

“Janet already had left nearly 200 dead, among them perhaps 11 men aboard a Navy hurricane hunter plane that flew into the storm area yesterday. No trace of the plane has been found….The missing Navy plane, a Lockheed Neptune, was last heard from early Monday. An intensive search today covered some 40,000 square miles. ‘Very rough seas’ were reported by searchers, who planned to go out again tomorrow. The Naby Weather Squadron at Jacksonville and flying out of Guantanamo Bay, carried nine crewmen and two Canadian newsmen. Scores of Navy planes and ships combed an area midway in the Caribbean where the ill-fated aircraft was last reported….

“On the plane, now long overdue and wrapped in silence, were Alfred O. Tate and Douglas Cronk, a reporter and photographer for the Toronto (Canada) Star, who were doing a story on hurricane hunters.

“Others in the crew in addition to Comdr. Windham were:

Lt. (JG) G. W. Herlong, Lake City, Fla., co-pilot, a cousin of Rep. Syd Herlong (D-Fla)
Lt. (JG) T. L. Greaney, Pittsburgh, Pa., navigator.
Lt. (JG) T. R. Morgan, Fenton, Mich., second navigator.
Lt. (JG) W. A. Buck, Wilmington, Mass.
Mech. 1C. J. T. Windham, Bob Wiler, Texas (no relation to pilot).
Radioman 1C, J.F. Combs, Forestport, N.Y.
Radar Technician J. J. Mann, Canton, Ohio.
Photographer K. H. Clegg, Cranston, R.I.

“The Navy laid out a search area 200 miles north and south and 150 miles wide south of Jamaica and sent planes and ships on a search pattern over it. Officers said the chance of survival depended on where the plane went down. If inside the storm, rescue would be considered a remote possibility, they said.” (Associated Press. “British Honduras In Path Of Janet.” Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL. 9-28-1955, pp. 1-2.)

Sources
Associated Press. “British Honduras In Path Of Janet.” Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL. 9-28-1955, p. 1. Accessed 4-8-2023 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/sarasota-herald-tribune-sep-28-1955-p-1/

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation. “Database.” USN Lockheed P2V-3W Neptune, 26 Sep 1955. Accessed 4-8-2023 at:
https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19550926-0

Wunderground.com. “The Lost Hurricane Hunters: September 26th, 1955.” Accessed 4-8-2023 at: https://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/articles/lost-hurricane-hunters-4