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Date: | Wednesday 16 November 1949 |
Time: | 23:45 LT |
Type: | Boeing B-29 Superfortress |
Owner/operator: | 325th BSqn /92nd BGp USAF |
Registration: | 44-86364 |
MSN: | |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 9 / Occupants: 10 |
Other fatalities: | 9 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | McDonald Island, 9 miles North West of Stockton, California -
United States of America
|
Phase: | En route |
Nature: | Military |
Departure airport: | Fairchild AFB, Spokane, WA (KSA/KSKA) |
Destination airport: | Hill AFB, Ogden, Utah (HIF/KHIF) |
Narrative:Martin-Omaha B-29-50-MO Superfortress 44-86364: Built under licence by Glenn L. Martin Company, Omaha, Nebraska. Delivered to the USAAF 9 July 1945. Assigned to 326th Bomb Squadron, 92nd Bomb Wing.
Written off (destroyed 16 November 1949) in a mid air collision with B-29 44-69939 at 26,000 feet over Stockton, California, on November 16, 1949. 18 crew of 21 lost. 44-69939 crashed 14 miles North West of Stockton, California. The aircraft were on a "round robin" training flight from Spokane Air Force Base, with a mock bombing target to Stockton, California, then onward to Ogden, Utah, then a return home when tragedy struck on the night of November 16th, 1949.
Two in the group of thirteen Superfortresses collided at 26,000 feet above Stockton and plunged to earth in flaming wreckage. Nine other fliers perished when B-29 44-39939 aircraft impacted in 6-10 feet of mud on Rindge Tract Island in the San Joaquin Delta, about 11 miles to the northwest. One crew member parachuted to safety from the other B-29 (44 86364) but nine were killed when it impacted on McDonald Island about 2 miles further south of this crash site. Two of the crew of B-29 44-86364, that were killed, have been identified so far as:
S/Sgt. Harold E. Prinkey
S/Sgt. Donald Gray Lawrence, JR
The sole survivor of the crew of B-29 44-86364 PFC Keith Burns, age 19,
According to the following contemporary newspaper report ("Madera Tribune", Number 116, 17 November 1949):
"10 Die, 7 Missing as B-29s Crash At 26,000 Feet North of Stockton Four Leap Safely Into Peat Bogs of San Joaquin Delta.
STOCKTON' (CA.) Two Air Force bombers collided at 26,000 feet last night and crashed into the fog-shrouded peat bogs of the San Joaqnin river delta 14 miles northwest of here. Ten of the 21 airmen aboard the two B-29 Superfortresses were known to have died. Seven men were missing and four parachuted to safety and escaped with minor injuries.
Rescuers, hampered by the dense tide fog which blanketed the area and the widely-scattered wreckage of the giant planes, were unable to determine the fate of the seven missing crewmen, hours after the crash. Some may have parachuted and landed in an inaccessible part oi the delta region or they may all have perished when the planes smashed into the earth and buried deep in the mud.
Lt. Rome O. Freer. Falrfield Air Force Base, in charge of rescue operations, made a minute examination of one of the B-29s. which caught fire at impact and exploded on McDonald Island, hurling wreckage more than 700 yards. He found three bodies and some fragments of bodies. "It is very difficult to tell," he said, "whether they are parts of the three known dead or remains of the other members of the crew."
One man from the McDonald Island bomber parachuted to safety. The other B-29 crashed across the river three miles away on the Hindge tract and buried itself 20 feet into the slimy delta mud. Under-sheriff Michael N. Carlis of the San Joaquin county sheriff's office said seven bodies had been counted in the Hindge tract crash. Rescuers could not search the wreckage immediately because the plane and the area around it was covered with high-octane gasoline and the fire hazard was considered to dangerous"
McDonald Island is an island in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, in San Joaquin County, California, 53 km (33 miles) south of Sacramento. The 2,400 ha (5,900-acre) island is bounded on the north by San Joaquin River, on the west by Middle River and Latham Slough, and on the south by Empire Cut at approximate co ordinates: 38.001311°N, 121.489951 W.
Sources:
1. El Tiempo 18 November 1949, page 8. .
2.
http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1944_6.html 3.
http://www.baaa-acro.com/1949/crash-of-a-boeing-b-29-70-bw-superfortress-near-stockton-9-killed 4.
http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/dbahb.asp?HB=af&offset=27825 5. Madera Tribune, Number 116, 17 November 1949
6.
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=MT19491117.2.21 7. The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California November 19, 1949
8.
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/49390921/ 9.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/26233654 Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
14-Aug-2012 03:35 |
gerard57 |
Added |
14-Aug-2012 14:50 |
Alpine Flight |
Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport] |
09-May-2014 18:21 |
TB |
Updated [Date, Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
22-Jun-2017 21:30 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
22-Jun-2017 21:32 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Narrative] |
22-Jun-2017 21:36 |
Dr. John Smith |
Updated [Source, Narrative] |
06-Apr-2020 14:32 |
Reno Raines |
Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Source, Operator] |