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| Date: | Tuesday 30 July 1968 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Boeing KC-135A Stratotanker |
| Owner/operator: | United States Air Force - USAF |
| Registration: | 56-3655 |
| MSN: | 17404/94 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1958 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 6089 hours |
| Engine model: | Pratt & Whitney J57-P |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 9 / Occupants: 9 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed, written off |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | 56 km E of Red Buff, CA -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | Merced-Castle AFB, CA (MER/KMER) |
| Merced-Castle AFB, CA (MER/KMER) |
The KC-135 departed Castle AFB (MER) on a refueling training mission. The crew was conducting a practice emergency descent from FL390 to FL230. After a sharp turn the vertical stabilizer separated and the airplane crashed in a timberland forest on Mount Lassen.
Sources:
Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker: More Than Just a Tanker (Aerofax Series) / Robert S Hopkins, III
Location
Revision history:
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