1948 — Aug 24, USAF C-47 collides with USAF B-25 (no losses), 5M N of Newton, NJ — all 9

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

–9  Middletown Times Herald, NY. “Military Transport Crashes after Striking Bomber…” 8-25-1948, p.1.

–9  Aviation Safety Network. USAF C-47 collision with B-25 5 miles N of Newton, NJ, 8-24-1948.

Narrative Information

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Data Base, 1948:

“Date:                          Tuesday 24 August 1948

“Type:                         Douglas C-47 (VC-117B) (DC-3)

“Operator:                   United States Air Force – USAF

“Registration:              45-2554

“MSN:                         34212/18557

“First flight:                1945

“Crew:                         Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3

“Passengers:                Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6

“Total:                         Fatalities: 9 / Occupants: 9

….

“Location:                   8 km (5 mls) N of Newton, NJ (USA)

….

“Departure airport:      Harrisburg-Olmsted AFB, PA…USA

“Destination airport:   Danbury Airport, CT, USA

“Narrative:                 

“Collided with North American B-25J Mitchell 44-86870 at an altitude of about 7000 feet and crashed. The B-25 landed safely at Stewart Field.”

Newspaper

Aug 25, Middletown Times Herald, NY: “Newton, N.J. – Air Force officers from Stewart Field [NY] today were conducting an investigation of an airplane disaster yesterday in which a C-47 transport from Olmsted Field at Middletown, Pa sideswiped a Stewart Field bomber and crashed five miles north of here killing all nine men aboard. At Bolling Field Washington where the C-47’s flight originated the three crew members of the transport were identified as Captain William D. Beaty, Jr., thirty, the pilot, of Portland, Me., Captain John D. Fitts Jr., twenty-six, co-pilot, of Virginia Beach, Va., and Technical Sergeant John RE. Stringer, thirty-one of Washington D.C. The names of the passengers, all Air Force personnel enroute to Danbury, Conn. To attend a conference of Air Force Protestant chaplains and their enlisted assistants, were withheld pending notification of next of kin.

“Russell Blakeslee, a dairy farmer whose farm is located near Newton, apparently was the sole witness to the crash aside from the men aboard the ill-fated transport. Blakeslee called in New Jersey State Police located at Newton and told them he saw the transport coming in from the southwest at low level apparently in trouble. He said the plane began climbing over his farm and then went into a tailspin, struck the ground and exploded….

“At the time Blakeslee called the troopers it was not known that the transport had a few moments earlier been involved in a mid-air collision with the B-25 from Stewart Field. That aspect of the tragedy did not become known until the bomber, which had left Stewart Field enroute to Washington returned to the Newburgh flying field with several inches of its left wingtip sheared off and reported that it had been sideswiped by the transport. Lieutenant Colonel Edwin Brown, the pilot, Lieutenant Colonel David F. Tatum, co-pilot, and Technical Sergeant R. J. Lunde, crew chief, reported that the other plane seemed to loom at them out of the clouds. The three occupants of the bomber said they felt a jolt but that it was not too severe and that they had no idea that the other plane had crashed. They told authorities that the transport disappeared in the clouds following the collision and they thought it had continued on its way. Only a few moments after they made their report the Newton troopers called Stewart Field to tell of the transports crash.

“The C-47f had taken off from Bolling Field at 11:25 a.m. with its crew and four passengers. Landing at Olmstead Field, the plane picked up two more men scheduled to attend the Connecticut religious retreat and within a few moments took off for Stewart Field where it was to have taken on two more passengers.

“Within two hours after the crash troopers and volunteer rescue workers had removed all nine bodies from the wreckage of the big transport….

“This morning it was announced that a Stewart Field board of inquiry would seek to establish the cause of the crash. Authorities said that rigid flight plans are filed by all aircraft leaving Air Force installations to avoid just such mid-air collisions. They indicated that one of the planes may have been off its course.” (Middletown Times Herald, NY. “Military Transport Crashes After Striking Bomber; 9 Die. Lighter Aircraft, Damaged Slightly, is Landed Safely.” 8-25-1948, p. 1.)

Sources

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Data Base, 1948. USAF C-47 collision with B-25 5 miles N of Newton, NJ, 8-24-1948. Accessed 10-1-2023 at:

https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19480824-2

Middletown Times Herald, NY. “Military Transport Crashes After Striking Bomber; 9 Die. Lighter Aircraft, Damaged Slightly, is Landed Safely. Plane Returns to Steward Field, Crew Unaware of Newton Tragedy.” 8-25-1948, p. 1. Accessed 10-1-2023 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/middletown-times-herald-aug-25-1948-p-1/