1948 – Aug 11, USN PB4Y-2 Privateer flies into cliff, Rota Island, Mariana Islands     –all 12

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard Oct 1, 2023 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–12  Aviation Safety Network. USN PB4Y-2 flies into cliff at end of Rota Island, Marshall Isles.

–12  Sandusky Register Star-News, OH. “Carl Christiansen…Missing in Pacific Crash.” 8-14-1948, 1.

 Narrative Information

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Database, 1948 (USN PB4Y-2, 8-11-1948):

“Date:                          Wednesday 11 August 1948

….

“Type:                         Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer

“Owner/Operator:       United States Navy (USN)

“Registration:              59776

….

“Fatalities:                   Fatalities: 12 / Occupants: 12

“Location:                   Rota Island – Northern Mariana Islands

….

“Narrative:                   Flew into cliff at end of Rota Island NAS Agana.[1]

Newspapers

Aug 12, AP: “Guam, Aug. 12. (AP) – A four engine navy privateer with a crew of nine and two aerologists aboard was missing today on a weather reconnaissance flight 450  miles north of Guam. The big plane, the navy’s version of a liberator bomber, left the naval air station at Agana this morning and was due back shortly after noon.” (Associated Press. “Report Navy Plane Overdue.” Hamilton Daily News Journal, Fort Hamilton, IN. 8-12-1948, p. 1.)

Aug 13, UP: “Guam – (UP) – The charred wreckage of a navy Privateer patrol bomber was found this morning, halfway up an 800-foot cliff on Rota island, 50 miles north of here. All of the plane’s crew members were presumed to be dead. Although a plane of this type usually carries a crew of 11, the number aboard the wrecked plane was undetermined. Two C-47s, loaded with doctors and rescue crews, landed on an abandoned Japanese air strip immediately after distress signals flown by natives were seen by search planes. Search for the missing plane began Wednesday afternoon with Navy and United States Air Forces planes and Japan-based destroyers participating.” (United Press. “Navy Privateer Wrecked on [off] Guam.” Bakersfield Californian, 8-13-1948, p. 31.)

Aug 14, Sandusky Register Star-News: “Carl H. Christiansen, aviation electronics man, second class of Sandusky, was one of two Ohioans listed among 12 crew members of a navy patrol bomber missing from the wreckage of their plane found on Rota Island yesterday by natives. Reports from Agana, Guam, 50 miles south of the island said the burned wreckage of the four-engined reconnaissance plane, out on a weather mission, had been located on the side of a 1,500-foot cliff on Rota. Planes were dispatched immediately to the scene of the PB-4Y Privateer crash in hopes that survivors might be found…..Daniel P. McDonald, aviation electrician’s mate, third class, of…Canton, is the other Ohioan missing.” (Sandusky Register Star-News, OH. “Carl Christiansen, Sandusky, Missing in Pacific Crash.” 8-14-1948, p. 1.)

Sources

Associated Press. “Report Navy Plane Overdue.” Hamilton Daily News Journal, Fort Hamilton, IN. 8-12-1948, p. 1. Accessed 10-1-2023 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/hamilton-daily-news-journal-aug-12-1948-p-1/

Sandusky Register Star-News, OH. “Carl Christiansen, Sandusky, Missing in Pacific Crash.” 8-14-1948, p. 1. Accessed 10-1-2023 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/sandusky-register-star-news-aug-14-1948-p-1/

United Press. “Navy Privateer Wrecked on [off] Guam.” Bakersfield Californian, 8-13-1948, p. 31. Accessed 10-1-2023 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/bakersfield-californian-aug-13-1948-p-31/

[1] The plane flew out of the US Naval Air Station at Agana, and crashed into Rota Island, ~56M to the northeast.