1952 – April 4, USAF Globemaster and C-47 Skytrain Planes Collide, Mobile, AL — 15

— 15 Anniston Star (AL). “15 Are Killed In Collision Of 2 Planes,” April 6, 1952, p. 1.
— 15 Aviation Safety Network. USAF Douglas VC-47D collision near Mobile-Brookley AFB.
— 15 Bedford Gazette. “2 Airplanes Collide Near Alabama City, Killing Total of 15,” 4-5-1952
— 15 Long Beach Press-Telegram, CA. “14 Bodies Found in Alabama Crash,” 4-6-1952, C-14.
— 15 NFPA. “Worst Aircraft Fires of ’52–North America.” Quarterly, V46/N3, Jan 1953, p.235
— 15 Wikipedia. “List of Accidents and Incidents Involving Military Aircraft (1950-1974).

Narrative Information

Aviation Safety Network:
“….
“Type: Douglas VC-47D (DC-3)
….
“Total: Fatalities: 9 / Occupants: 9
“Collision casualties: Fatalities: 6 (Douglas C-124A-DL Globemaster II
….
“Location: ca 9 km N of Mobile-Brookley AFB, AL…
“Phase: Approach
….
“Departure airport: Montgomery-Maxwell AFB, AL…
“Destination airport: Mobile-Brookley AFB, AL…
“Narrative:

“Mid-air collision at night between Douglas VC-47D 45-926 and Douglas C-124A-DL Globemaster II 50-1260. Both aircraft spun down, crashing on top of parked railroad box cars and bursting into flames.

“The VC-47 operated on a flight from Maxwell AFB to Brookley AFB while the Globemaster operated on a local flight out of Brookley AFB.” (Aviation Safety Network. USAF Douglas VC-47D collision near Mobile-Brookley AFB, 4 April 1952.)

National Fire Protection Association: “Apr. 4, Mobile, Ala., United States Air Force; 15 killed; $2,000,000.

“The mid-air collision of a C-124 Globemaster and a C-47 over Mobile, Alabama caused the larger aircraft to crash in flames in a railroad yard less than a mile from the city’s business district. The C-47 also crashed and burned in a swamp somewhat farther away from the city. All fifteen occupants of the two planes were killed as a result of the accident. Twelve railroad box cars were destroyed in the ensuing ground fire involving the main sections of the C-124 fuselage. The Mobile Fire Department dispatched six companies to the scene with off-duty men also responding as the fire area was extensive and the nearest hydrant 3,000 ft. from the accident site.” (NFPA. “Worst Aircraft Fires of ’52–North America.” Quarterly, V46/N3, Jan 1953, p.235.)

Newspapers

April 5, AP: Mobile. Ala. (AP) — Two military planes collided and crashed last night near the heart of Mobile’s industrial section….patrolmen at the scene…[said] that ‘at least 15’ were dead. One of the planes was reported to be a giant C-124 Globemaster transport [C-124 Globemaster II]. A military spokesman said a nine-man crew was presumed be aboard this craft. The Civil Aeronautics Authority said it had a report just before the crash that a C-47 transport was missing.

“Wreckage was strewn over a wide area. Flames and snarled traffic hampered investigators. All
available ambulances at Mobile and Brookley Air Force base rushed to the scene.” (Bedford Gazette. “2 Airplanes Collide Near Alabama City, Killing Total of 15,” 4-5-1952.)

April 5, AP: “Mobile, Ala., April 5. (AP) An 8-week-old infant being rushed to Washington’s Walter Reed Hospital for an emergency operation was killed, with its parents, when two planes collided over Mobile last night.

“Brooklyn Air Force Base authorities tonight identified infant Robert Neville, his father, Sgt. Paul E. Neville of Fort Benning, Ga., and his mother among nine persons killed aboard the C-47 transport which rammed a huge C-124 cargo carrier and plummeted into Mobile’s railroad yards.

“The baby, suffering from a kidney tumor, was accompanied also by a flight nurse, Capt. Sara E. Long, who died in the crash.” (Long Beach Press-Telegram, CA. “Baby and Parents Among Crash Dead..” 4-6-1052, p. 1.)

April 5, AP: “Mobile, Ala., April 5. (AP) The bodies of 14 of the 15 men and women killed in a collision of two Air Force planes over Mobile had been recovered today. Workers were still digging through the wreckage of a giant C-124 in search of the 15th victim. Bodies of all nine persons reported aboard a C-47 had been found. Two of the dead found in the C-47 rubble were women. One was a small child….

“The planes crashed to the ground a half mile apart in the worst air disaster in Mobile’s history last night.

“Workers at the C-47 crash site had been hampered by dense undergrowth in the swampy region where the plane fell. Large nests of water moccasins were reported a hindrance.” (Long Beach Press-Telegram, CA. “14 Bodies Found in Alabama Crash,” 4-6-1952, C-14.)

April 6: “A fourth major plane disaster in the New York City area within four months and the spectacular collision of two military planes over the suburbs of Mobile, Ala., left 20 persons dead Saturday and 24 injured. Ground and helicopter rescue teams reached the wreckage of C-47 in heavy swamps near Mobil Saturday and began removing the bodies of nine of 15 persons killed when the C-47 and a C-124 collided in the air.

“A Coast Guard PBY had spotted the wreckage about one-half mile from where the other plane, a huge C-124 cargo plane, crashed in flames onto a railroad yard. Firemen, many dressed in asbestos suits, had to wait until the charred wreckage of the C-124 cooled off before they were able to remove any of the six bodies, apparently all Air Force crew members.

“Crash Starts Explosions

“The giant cargo plane plummeted into the Mobile, Gulf and Ohio Railroad yards just after the collision and started a series of explosions and fires. Six refrigerator cars were destroyed and six others damaged….

“Parts of the two planes that crashed over Mobile were found miles from where they collided.

“It was believed the C-47 was flying from Maxwell Field, Ala., with three Korean war veterans and a mother and child aboard. Brookley Air Force Base officials said the C-124 was on a routine training flight with just six crew members aboard but refused to confirm the report that the C-47 was also based at Brookley and flying from Maxwell…

“Ground crewmen waded through the murky swamps and a helicopter team flew to the wreckage of the C-47. Rescue workers began removing the nine bodies, but officials at Brookley said it would probably be late tonight before all the bodies were identified.

“Fred L. Weatherly, a veteran tail-gunner of World War II said he saw the planes hit about 500 feet over the suburbs of Mobile. “I saw one plane on fire. The wings were flaming as they plunged straight to the ground,” he said….” (Anniston Star, AL. “15 Are Killed In Collision Of 2 Planes,” April 6, 1952, 1.)

Source

Anniston Star, AL. “15 Are Killed In Collision Of 2 Planes,” April 6, 1952, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=85574664

Aviation Safety Network. USAF Douglas VC-47D collision with Douglas C-124-DL Globemaster II near Mobile-Brookley AFB, AL, 4 April 1952. Accessed 6-8-2023 at: https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19520404-0

Bedford Gazette, PA. “2 Airplanes Collide Near Alabama City, Killing Total of 15,” 4-5-1952, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=4095866

Long Beach Press-Telegram, CA. “14 Bodies Found in Alabama Crash,” 4-6-1952, C-14. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=46271102

Long Beach Press-Telegram, CA. “Baby and Parents Among Crash Dead…” 4-6-1052, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com

National Fire Protection Association. “Worst Aircraft Fires of ’52—North America.” Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 46, No. 3, January 1953, pp. 231-241.

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