1942 — Dec 5, USAAF C-47 approach crash 2M south Maxwell Field, Montgomery, AL–12
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 5-26-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
–12 AP. “Twelve Fliers Die…Crash…” Daily Times-News, Burlington, NC. 12-8-1942, p. 8.
–12 Mireles. Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in…US, 1941-1945 (V. 1), 2006, 206.
Narrative Information
Mireles: “At 2103 CWT, a Douglas C-47 attempting a landing crashed two miles south of Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Alabama, killing the crew of four and eight passengers. The Accident Classification Committee stated,
The subject airplane with the call letters 8494 cleared from Maxton Army Air Base, Maxton, North Carolina, for a non-stop flight to Brookley Field, Mobile, Alabama, [on a cargo and personnel transport mission] with an estimated time in route of 4 hours. The ship cleared Maxton Air Base at 1525 CWT and was due at Brookley Field at 1925 CWT.
At 1840, Maxwell radio received instruction from Airways Traffic Control to try and contact Army 8494 to advise him to land at Maxwell Field, Alabama, due to weather conditions at Brookley Field….. At 2056, 8494 contacted Maxwell Field radio advising that he was circling Maxwell Field at 1,500 feet. Maxwell Field radio then heard him contact Maxwell Field control tower and receive landing instructions from the control tower. The control tower, having contacted 8494, asked if he was flying contact and the answer was ‘Yes.’ The pilot requested flood lights, and the tower operator immediately turned the Northeast bank of lights on. Maxwell Field tower then proceeded to give him landing instructions, advising him to land into the southwest on the lighted runway and to call again when he was on his base leg.
The next call received by the control tower operator, the pilot 8494 advised that he was making his approach. The control tower operator advised 8494 that he was cleared to land, and 8494 replied ‘Roger.’ A few minutes later, a call was received at the Operations Office that a cargo type airplane had crashed at the Reconsignment and Holding Depot which is located approximately 2 miles south of Maxwell field.
Upon investigation it was found that the crashed airplane was 8494. Floodlights are installed on power line poles at this depot, which at night give the impression from the air of a series of parallel runways. Upon investigation it was found that 8494 circled this depot several times with landing lights on…It seems that the airplane was making his approach from the East for a landing into the West when approximately 40 feet above the ground the airplane struck an 11,000-volt power line. Four [power lines] were broken on each side of the pole, and it is the opinion of this board that only the landing gear struck the power line. A complete blackout of the area was caused by the failure of this power line.
Witnesses state that after the airplane hit the power line, it continued descending until the pilot opened his throttles when the airplane was approximately 20 feet above the ground. The airplane then began to climb rapidly at a steep angle and was approximately 200 to 300 feet above the ground when it made a sharp turn to the left and began to lose altitude rapidly and struck the ground at approximately a 20 degree angle, tearing up railroad track and crashing into a power pole, exploded and burned.
It is the opinion of the board that….if the pilot had continued to make a normal landing he would have been successful without undue damage to aircraft or injury to personnel, but it is believed that when the ship struck the power line and blacked out the entire area, the pilot realized that something was wrong and opened his throttles with in intention of pulling up and going around and that in pulling up, it is believed that he climbed at such a steep angle as to cause the ship to be in a stall. It is believed that the turn increased this stalling effect and in attempting to recover, the pilot dropped the nose but not having sufficient altitude crashed to the ground. (Quoted in Mireles 2006, 206.)
Newspaper
Dec 7, AP: “Montgomery, Ala., Dec. 7 – (AP) — Twelve army filers were killed late Saturday night when an army transport plane crashed and burned near here. Officials at the Maxton (N. C.) air base, to which queries were referred, said the transport was on a routine flight from there to Maxwell Field at Montgomery. There were no survivors.” (Associated Press. “Twelve Fliers Die in Crash of Transport,” Daily Times-News, Burlington, NC. 12-8-1942, p. 8.)
Sources
Associated Press. “Twelve Fliers Die in Crash of Transport,” Daily Times-News, Burlington, NC. 12-8-1942, p. 8. Accessed 10-4-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=38866482
Mireles, Anthony J. Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945 (Volume 1: Introduction, January 1941 – June 1943). Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2006.