Date:	Friday 24 September 1948
Time:	day
Type:	Republic F-84B Thunderjet
Owner/operator:	48th FS, 14th FW, USAF
Registration:	46-665
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Rochester Fairgrounds, 1 mile South East of Rochester, NH -   United States of America
Phase:	Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:	Demo/Airshow/Display
Departure airport:	Dow AFB, Bangor, Maine, USA (GBR/KBGR)
Destination airport:

Narrative:
Republic F-84B-36-RE Thunderjet 46-665, 48th Fighter Squadron, 14th Fighter Wing, USAF: Written off (destroyed) September 24 1948 when crashed during air display at the Rochester Fairgrounds, one mile south east of Rochester, New Hampshire. Pilot - Captain John Fairchild, USAF - was killed

According to eyewitness reports: "In 1948 Captain John Fairchild was killed during a F-84B Thunderjet flight demonstration before an estimated 12,000 people at the Rochester Fair. While leading two other jet pilots, Captain Fairchild’s jet experienced mechanical failure and caught fire, careening his jet toward what could have been a collision course with the packed grandstand.

I was in the fourth grade at Allen School in Rochester and I saw that airplane come apart in flight right after it passed by our school. It appeared to pull up sharply and a wing separated from the plane. Our whole school was outside to watch the demonstration.I tried to tell everyone what I saw but they thought it was my imagination. A short while later a boy came by on his bicycle and told us that there was an airplane crash. The newspaper articles called the pilot a hero for avoiding the grandstand at the fair but I think he was a victim of a poorly designed aircraft".

1. Bangor Daily Democrat Saturday-Sunday September 25-26 1948 p 1
2. Fosters Daily Democrat 24 September 1993
3. Fosters Daily Democrat September 23 2018 [70th Anniversary Report]: https://eu.fosters.com/story/news/2018/09/23/thunderjet-crashed-at-rochester-fair-70-years-ago/9737583007/
4. http://forgottenjets.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/F-84.html
5. http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1946.html
6. https://www.aviationarchaeology.com/rptAF55.asp?RecID=113864
7. http://www.accident-report.com/Yearly/1948/4809.html
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochester,_New_Hampshire

https://t.co/wKlVJOGFTh

This month's video is about the 1948 Jet Crash during the Rochester Fair, I made contact with the pilot's sister and she was very helpful with providing info and picture of her brother.

— Rochester NH Historical Society (@Rochester_NH) September 1, 2019

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
02-May-2021 08:49	ASN archive	Added