1953 — Dec 17, USAF B-29 takeoff engine loss, crash, housing/10, Anderson AFB, Guam– 19

–19 Aviation Safety Network. “ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 25915.” Accessed 5-12-2023
— 9 in the B-29
–10 on the ground
–19 Daily Chronicle, Centralia, WA. “Aid Given to Guam Families.” 12-19-1953, p. 4.
–19 Gero, David. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. 1999, pp. 57-58.
–19 Planecrashinfo.com. “1953…Accident Details…Mil-USAF…Guam…Dec 17, 1953…”
–11 in the B-29 (6 crew and 5 passengers)
— 8 on the ground in officer’s housing area
–13 Baugher. 1944 USAAF Serial Numbers (44-83886 to 44-92098). 10-15-2011 rev.

Narrative Information

Aviation Safety Network:
“Date: 17-Dec-1953
“Time: 06:50
“Type: Boeing B-29MR-90-BW Superfortress
“Owner/operator: 1st BSqn / 9th Bomb Wing USAF
“Registration: 44-877741
“MSN: 12544
“Fatalities: Fatalities: 9 / Occupants: 16
“Other fatalities: 10
….
“Location: Andersen AFB, Yigo, Guam
“Phase: Approach
“Nature: Military
“Departure airport: Andersen AFB, Guam
“Destination airport: Andersen AFB, Guam
….
“Narrative:

“Boeing B-29-90-BW Superfortress 44-87741: Delivered to USAAF 5 July 1945. Assigned to Strategic Air Command, 509th Bomb Wing, and named “Private Love Witch”. Modified to B-29MR. Re-Assigned to 19th Bomb Wing. Re-Assigned to 1st Bomb Squadron, 9th Bomb Wing, Mountain Home AFB, Idaho (still as a B-29MR).

“The heavy bomber left Andersen AFB at 06:05 Local Time on its way back to Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, via Kwajalein Island. Shortly after takeoff, the engine number two failed. The crew was able to shut it down, and feathered the propeller. On final approach to runway 07R, after passing through the last cloud layer, the pilot-in-command decided to make a go around and following a circuit before starting a second approach few minutes later.

“While struggling to land the second time, he turned the B-29 into the feathered propeller at too steep of an angle, with the landing gear down, and flaps retracted which caused the bomber to lose lift and control. The aircraft banked 80 degrees to the left, and crashed in a near vertical position onto several houses located short of the runway.

“Among the 16 occupants, all four crew members and five passengers were killed, seven others were injured. On the ground, ten people were killed, among them six children, and two entire families. It is still (as of 2017) the worst ever accident (in terms of fatalities) to have happened as Guam AFB.

“Crew of 44-87741:

1st Lt Henry G. Oetgen, pilot, killed
1st Lt Sophus Eddie Larsen, copilot, killed
1st Lt Dominick J. Christopher, navigator, killed
T/Sgt John M. Reilly, flight engineer, killed
1st Lt Howard L. DeBoer, bombardier, killed
S/Sgt Homer A. Pickrell, gunner, killed
T/Sgt Fred Leard, killed
A3c Donald J. Wagner, killed
A2c Francis L. Murray, killed
1st Lt Jack Patton, survived
A2c Robert L. Jensen, survived
A1c Donald C. Van Doren, survived
A1c William J. Backman, survived
A2c Nelson H. Graham, survived
A2c Roberto Duran, survived
A2c Walter R. Newby, survived

“Those killed on the ground were:

Lt Col Benjamin L. Mills, his wife Agnes, and his three daughters Margaret (aged 9), Helen (aged 5), and Martha (aged 2)

Maj Gerald A. Orken, his wife Shirley, his daughter Vivian (aged 5), and son Steven (aged 3), Bonnie Kimball (aged 11), daughter of Cpt Stanley J. Kimball.

“Cause: The failure of the engine number two was caused by overheating of the hydraulic liquid and cylinders. Thick smoke came out when an exhaust pipe broke off. The crew was forced to shot the engine down and to feather the propeller. In such conditions, the control was difficult.”

(Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation. “ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 25915.”)

Baugher: “Boeing B-29-90-BW Superfortress….87741 (B-29MR) crashed on landing at Anderson AFB, Guam Dec 17, 1953. 16 on board, 11 survived, but 8 on ground also died.” (Baugher. 1944 USAAF Serial Numbers (44-83886 to 44-92098). 10-15-2011 revision.)

Gero:
“Date: 17 December 1953 (c.0650)
“Location: Guam, Mariana Islands
….
“Flown by Strategic Air Command, the bomber crashed into an officer’s housing area at Anderson Air Force Base, located near the tip of the island 15 miles (25km) north-east of Agana, while attempting an emergency landing with one of its four engines out.

“About 15 minutes after 44-87741 had taken off from the island of Kwajalein, its No. 2 power plant developed high oil and cylinder temperatures and was smoking and throwing sparks from around the cowl flaps; the power plant was then shut down and the crew diverted to Guam. As it was turning left on the base leg of the circuit, the B-29 overshot the final approach course to Runway 07-Right. Its bank angle increased to about 80 degrees, whereupon the bomber stalled, plunged into the residential area and exploded. The weather, which at the time consisted of a broken overcast at 800ft (2,500m), with a visibility of 8 miles (13km) and a west-south-westerly wind of 8 knots, was apparently not a factor as the aircraft had been under the clouds while in the traffic pattern of the base.” (Gero, David. Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908. 1999, pp. 57-58.)

Planecrashinfo.com:
“Date: December 17, 1953
“Time: 0650
“Location: Guam, Mariana Islands
“Operator: Military – U.S. Air Force
….
“Aboard: 16 (passengers: 6 crew: 10
“Fatalities: 11 (passengers: 6 crew: 5 passengers
“Ground: 8

“The aircraft crashed into an officer’s housing area after attempting to make an emergency landing with an engine out at Anderson Air Force Base on Guam.” (Planecrashinfo.com.)

Newspapers

Dec 17: “Guam, Dec. 17 (INS) – A U.S. Air Force B-29 bomber crashed in the officers’ housing area at the Andersen Air Force Base on Guam island today and killed 16 persons, five of them children.

“Seventeen others were injured in the crash as the big four-engine plane ripped a flaming path of death and destruction among the officers’ homes.

“Also among the dead were an officer and his wife and nine of 16 men aboard the B-29 which was approaching the field for an emergency landing and failed to make the runway.

“The crash demolished eight houses, partially destroyed two, and scorched three more as the B-29 plunged 800 feet through the housing area. Most of the victims trapped In the houses died in their sleep or perished at the breakfast tables.” (Pacific Stars and Stripes, Tokyo. “16 Die in B-29 Crash on Guam.” 12-17-1953, p. 1.)

Dec 18: “Agana, Guam, Dec. 18 (INS) – An Air Force investigating board today launched a formal probe into the crash of a U.S.-bound B-29 bomber which plunged into a Guam housing area, killing 17 persons, including six children.

“Mountain Home, Idaho, Dec. 18 (AP) — Officials at the Mountain Home Air Force Base identified today the casualties in the crash at Guam of an Air Force B-29 based here. The dead crewmen were identified as:

First Lt. Howard Deboer, Gresham, Neb.;
1st Lt. Dominic J. Christopher, Long Branch, N.J.;
1st Lt. Sophus E. Larsen, Lincoln, Neb.;
1st Lt. Henry G. Oetgen Jr., Sumter, S.C.
T/Sgt. Frederick Leard, Madill, Okla.;
T/Sgt. John M. Reilley, River Edge, N.J.;
A3/C Donald J. Wagner, Dubuque, Iowa;
A3/O Francis L. Murray, Brownstown, HI.”

(Pacific Stars and Stripes, Tokyo. “Probe Launched in Guam Crash.” 12-18-1953, p. 2.)

Dec 19: “Guam (AP) — Emergency aid was made available Friday to Air Force families who lost relatives or homes in the fiery crash of a B29 Superfort into a military housing area here Thursday.

“The crash took 19 lives. Twelve injured were still hospitalized Friday.

“Two families totaling nine persons were wiped out as the homeward bound plane plummeted into the housing area as it tried to land after turning back because of engine trouble. Some other families had one or more members killed or injured.

“The bomber carried a crew of 10 and 6 military passengers on the flight to its home base at Mountain Home, Idaho. It had been in the Pacific on a training mission.

“Some of the less seriously injured survivors were interviewed briefly in the naval hospital Friday. “I figured when the plane banked we couldn’t make it safely and told everyone to brace themselves,” said Airman 1/C Donald C. Van Doren, 22, of Valley, Wash. “My safety belt broke when we hit and I was tossed about considerably but managed to crawl out the upper escape hatch.” Van Doren, a gunner, suffered only minor head injuries.” (Daily Chronicle, Centralia, WA. “Aid Given to Guam Families.” 12-19-1953, p. 4.)

Sources

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation. “ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 25915.” Accessed 5-12-2023 at: https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/25915

Baugher, Joseph F. 1944 USAAF Serial Numbers (44-83886 to 44-92098). Oct 15, 2011 revision. Accessed 12-31-2011 at: http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1944_6.html

Daily Chronicle, Centralia, WA. “Aid Given to Guam Families.” 12-19-1953, p. 4. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=79549910

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, Tokyo, Japan. “16 Die in B-29 Crash on Guam.” 12-17-1953, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=133146464

Pacific Stars and Stripes, Tokyo, Japan. “Probe Launched in Guam Crash.” 12-18-1953, 2. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=133146476

Planecrashinfo.com. “1953…Accident Details…Mil-USAF…Guam…Dec 17, 1953…” Accessed at: https://www.planecrashinfo.com/1953/1953-68.htm