1950 –Feb 15, USAF B-29 crash after takeoff, US HWY-117 3M SW of  Great Falls, MT–  8

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard, 8-29-2023, for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–8  Aviation Safety Network. USAF B-29 crash near Great Falls AFB, MT, 15-Feb-1950.

–8  National Fire Protection Assoc. “Large Loss Fires of 1950.” Quarterly, 44/3, Jan 1951, p. 249.

Narrative Information

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Database, 1950:

“Date:                          15-Feb-1950

“Time:                         05:30 PDT

“Type:                         Boeing B-29 Superfortress

“Owner/operator:        343rd BSqn /98th BGp USAF

“Registration:              42-65355

….

“Fatalities:                   Fatalities: 8 / Occupants: 15

“Other fatalities:          0

….

“Location:                   US Highway 117, 3 miles SW of Great Falls AFB, Montana

“Phase:                        Initial climb

“Nature:                       Military

“Departure airport:      Fairchild AFB, Spokane, WA

“Destination airport:    [Not noted.]

“Narrative:

“….crashed 15 February 1950 four miles east of Great Falls AFB, Montana, when conducting a long range search and rescue operation from Fairchild AFB, searching to the crew of a Convair B-36 which had crashed into the North-eastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of Washington State, USA…

“According to a contemporary newspaper report (“Corvallis Gazette-Times” Corvallis, Oregon Wednesday, February 15, 1950 Page 1…

“SPOKANE, Feb. 15 (UPI)

“Eight men killed in the crash of a B-29 bomber today near Great Falls, Montana, were Identified by the Spokane air force base. The air force did not list the men as dead, but “officially missing.” They were:

Major Clyde Butts, aircraft commander, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Capt. Lester V. Johnson, Jr., co pilot, Cove, Oregon.
Capt. Johnathan M. Herbold, Co-pilot Anoka, Minnesota.
1st Lt. Herbert S. Findley, navigator, Mossytuck, Washington,
1st Lt. John S. Bomberg, bomb aimer’
S/Sgt. Robert E. Fisher, flight engineer, Rouseville, Ohio.
Corporal. James V, Fulton, radio operator, Eldorado, Arkansas.
S/Sgt. James Di Ploro, radio operator, Spokane.”

….”

National Fire Protection Association. “Large Loss Fires of 1950.” Quarterly, 44/3, Jan 1951:

“Feb. 15, near Great Falls, Mont. U.S. Air Force, B-29, $750,000. 8 killed.

“Accident on take-off followed by fire. Eight crewmen killed, seven escaped.”

Sources

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Database, 1950. USAF B-29 crash near Great Falls AFB, MT, 15-Feb-1950. Accessed 8-29-2023 at: https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/98582

National Fire Protection Association. “Large Loss Fires of 1950.” The Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 3, January 1951, p. 249. 

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