ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 98374
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| Date: | Friday 1 November 1946 |
| Time: | night |
| Type: |  Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress |
| Owner/operator: | United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) |
| Registration: | 43-39338 |
| MSN: | 10316 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 8 / Occupants: 8 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Aiguille des Glaciers, Haute-Savoie 74 -
 France
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | Napoli/Capodichino (Italy) |
| Bovingdon (England) |
A B-17G aircraft assigned to the US Army European Air Transport Service (EATS) with a crew of 4 officers and 4 NCOs took off from Capodichino Air Base (Naples, Italy) at around 2:00 am on November 1st 1946. Its destination was Bovingdon, an airfield near Southampton in England. The Flight Plan (Ref G1) required the aircraft to fly a route (Ref G2) parallel to the Italian coast as far as the island of Gorgona (between the tip of Corsica and Pisa), make a 45 degree left turn to Istres (Marseilles) from where it would head Northwards via Lyon and Paris then across the English Channel to Bovingdon. The Flight Plan identified various alternative airfields in the event that weather conditions prohibited continuation of the flight at any point. Despite the careful planning, the aircraft was destined never to make a safe landing at any of them. Adverse weather conditions with severe thunderstorms had been forecast in the first leg of the route (as far as Istres), but the aircraft captain, Col. Hudson H. Upham, after having discussed the situation at length with the Capodichino weather experts, his fellow Command Pilot Col. Ford L. Fair and his Co-pilot, Maj. Lawrence L. Cobb, examined a number of possible routes, concurred the Flight Plan and authorized the plane’s departure. One routine radio message was transmitted a few minutes after take-off, following which no other messages were received. When the aircraft failed to arrive at Bovingdon, queries concerning local navigation aids were made, but with no sign of the aircraft at any known station, including Orly aerodrome in Paris (its last alternative destination), a Missing Aircraft wire (Ref A) was issued. A series of telegrams were then dispatched to the various stations along the planned route requesting news of the aircraft, but all replies advised “no news”. HQ EATS then issued a series of “Search Instigation” messages to Capodichino, Istres and Orly, identifying the search areas to be covered (Ref B). Comprehensive cover of the entire route for a depth of 60 miles either side of the planned track was begun.
On November 6th 1946, after having received an initial report (Ref D) from Capt. Steigner, the Meteorological Officer at Capodichino, Brigadier General Lucas Beau of EATS wrote a letter (Ref C) to Major General Edwards, Commanding General of the US Air Forces in Europe. While expressing his conviction that the flight crew of the B-17 were very experienced and highly capable, he also stated “To think these experienced officers would clear after being briefed by the station weather officer and forecaster of the icing and severe thunderstorms along their route is beyond my comprehension.”
On November 7th 1946, a Missing Air Crew Report was issued (Ref E1, Ref E2 and Ref E3). This identified the eight-man crew shown below as “non-battle casualties”:
Colonel Ford L. Fair (Command Pilot)
Colonel Hudson H. Upham (Command Pilot)
Major Lawrence L. Cobb (Co-pilot)
2nd Lt. Alfred D. Ramirez (Navigator)
M/Sgt John E. Gilbert (Engineer)
S/Sgt William A. Hilton (Asst. Engineer)
S/Sgt Zoltan J. Dobovich (Radio Operator)
T/Sgt William S. Cassell (Asst. Radio Operator).
On November 18th 1946, despite almost 3 weeks of intensive search activity involving more than 50 American, French, British and Swiss planes, nothing had been found and General Beau authorized that the formal search should be abandoned (Ref F). The statement that “emphasis on adherence to a Flight Plan filed prior to departure” was expected for other aircraft appears to suggest that EATS were convinced the lost B-17 was off the route identified in its flight plan (Ref G1). Although the formal search had been called off, all routine flights along the route where the plane was believed to have flown were advised to be alert for any signs of its wreckage.
On November 30th, Capt. Steigner, the Capodichino Meteorologic Officer provided a more detailed description of what occurred during the course of the weather briefing to Fair, Upham and Cobb (Ref H).
Wreckage found by alpinists 1 August 1947 on La Aguja Glacier at 3870 meters altitude.
Sources:
MACR 15059
http://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-state-news/remains-of-pennsylvania-soldier-killed-in-1946-being-returned-to-nj-1.472677
El Litoral 2 August 1947, p1
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 16-May-2011 00:25 | Ashleigh | Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 06-May-2012 00:09 | Crunch | Updated [Narrative] |
| 08-Jun-2014 13:03 | gerard57 | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 20-Jun-2014 21:11 | Uli Elch | Updated [Cn, Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport] |
| 03-Feb-2015 18:36 | TB | Updated [Time, Other fatalities, Source, Narrative] |
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