1943 – Aug 18, USAAF B-24E crash, Gulf, 120M SE off Corpus Christi, TX               –all 10

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 4-28-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

—  10  Mireles 2006. Fatal Army AF Aviation Accidents…US…, V2, July 1943-July 1944, p. 482.

—  10  Salt Lake Tribune. “Plane Wreck Found; Crew of 10 Missing,” August 23, 1943, p. 7.

Narrative Information

Mireles: “Sometime after 1700 CWT, a Consolidated B-24E crashed into the Gulf of Mexico about 120 miles southeast of the U.S. Naval Air Station at Corpus Christi, Texas, killing the crew of ten. The airplane, based out of the Army Air Base at Pueblo, Colorado, had taken off from Galveston, Texas, on an over-water navigation train­ing flight and had failed to return. The airplane was declared missing and a massive search effort conducted the next clay. Investigators stated,

 

“B-24E Aircraft #42­7107 did not maintain radio contact with ground sta­tion during the flight. One position report was given 20 minutes after take-off. A search was instigated the following morning [8-19-43] that failed to reveal any­thing until dusk when a wing was sighted, minus mo­tors. The following day, 8-20-43, two U.S. Coast Guard boats were dispatched to the area (26 degrees 40’ North/95 degrees 32’ West and also at 26 degrees 50’ North/95 degrees 35’ West). [Oxygen cylinders, a main landing gear wheel, and numerous pieces of small wreckage] were picked up and brought in to Corpus Christi, Texas. Wreckage was found in an area of one mile long, by one-half mile wide. There was visible ev­idence of fire on numerous objects”.”  (Mireles 2006, V2, p. 482.)

 

Newspaper

 

Aug 22, Associated Press: “Pueblo, Colo., August 22 (AP) – The wreckage of a four-engine bomber from the Pueblo air base has been found in the Gulf of Mexico, and a systematic search for 10 missing crewmen has been abandoned, the public relations office at the air base announced today.  The bomber had been missing since last Monday, when it left the Pueblo base on a routine training flight.”  (Salt Lake Tribune, Aug 23, 1943.)

 

Sources

 

Mireles, Anthony J.  Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945 (Volume 2:  July 1943 – July 1944).  Jefferson, NC:  McFarland and Co., 2006.

 

Salt Lake Tribune, UT. “Plane Wreck Found; Crew of 10 Missing,” 8-23-1943, p. 7. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=89771415