Mid-air collision Accident Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star 50-422, Monday 18 April 1955
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Date:Monday 18 April 1955
Time:night
Type:Silhouette image of generic T33 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star
Owner/operator:United States Air Force - USAF
Registration: 50-422
MSN:
Fatalities:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:1
Aircraft damage: Destroyed
Location:12 mi SW of Gainsville, TX -   United States of America
Phase: Unknown
Nature:Military
Departure airport:Perrin AFB, TX
Destination airport:
Narrative:
Two T-33 from Perrin AFB collided in flight on a radar tracking exercise at night, crashed and burned after both pilots had bailed out. Parachute of 2°Lt Duane A. Soeren (25) did not open.7
I would like make a correction based on my observation of the collision. I was a 15 year old farm boy getting ready to milk cows, about 2,5 miles east of Muenster, tx ,
About 12 miles west of Gainesville. It occurred after sundown, however both planes were in the sunlight and were easy to observe. I saw them both heading I a southerly direction at about a 30 degree angle of each other. I remember thinking they could collide but assured myself they will cross at different altitudes. Then it happened. One plane immediately exploded, the other started down and I lost sight of it after it dropped below the sunlight and saw an explosion when it hit the ground several miles away. The other plane was observable going down in flames. I don’t recall seeing parachutes. The above narrative seems misleading when described as a nighttime incident. Signed David Walter, 214-676-1734.



Sources:

http://www.forgottenjets.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/T-33.html
The Baytown Sun 19 April 1955, p2

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
05-May-2021 16:51 ASN archive Added
17-Mar-2022 14:56 TB Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, ]
17-Mar-2022 15:05 TB Updated [Location, ]
17-Aug-2024 18:58 Anon. Updated [Narrative, ]

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