ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 98604
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| Date: | Saturday 31 March 1945 |
| Time: | evening |
| Type: |  Boeing B-29A Superfortress |
| Owner/operator: | 17th BOTWg /246th CCTSqn USAAF |
| Registration: | 42-65287 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 13 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Caribbean Sea, off Aguadilla Pueblo, Aguadilla -
 Puerto Rico
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | Borinquen AAF, Puerto Rico |
| Pratt AAF, Kansas |
Martin-Omaha B-29-25-MO Superfortress 42-65287: Built under licence by Glenn L. Martin Company, Omaha, Nebraska.
Delivered to the USAAF 22 December 1944. Assigned to Combat Crew Training Squadron, 246th Army Air Force Base Unit, Pratt AAF, Kansas. [The crew was assigned to 461st Bomb Squadron, 346th Bomb Group]
Damaged in accident 22 February 1945 taxying at Pratt AAF, Kansas when with 17th Bomber Training Wing, 246th AAF Base unit.
Written off (destroyed) when ditched near Aquadilla, Puerto Rico March 31, 1945 due to engine failure. 3 crewmen perished, 10 were rescued. Crew was from 461st BS, 346th BG. (MACR 16208). According to an account from published sources (see links #3 & #4):
"Although it was lost in Puerto Rican waters, 42-65287 was assigned to the Army’s Second Air Force, 17th Bomber Operational Training Wing, 246th Army Air Force Base Unit, which was home-based at Pratt, Kansas; while all personnel aboard at the time of the loss were assigned to the Second Air Force, 346th Bomb Group (Very Heavy), 461st Bomb Squadron (Very Heavy).
On the evening of 31 May 1945, the nearly brand new aircraft lifted off from Borinquen Army Air Field, crossed the coastline, and headed over the ocean to initiate a bombing and gunnery mission as part of Gypsy Sub Task Force THREE. Shortly after takeoff, oil pressure began dropping in engines one and two, and the propeller blades on those engines jammed in their pitch settings and started to "run away," that is, run at high, uncontrollable speeds while providing no thrust. Due to the stuck blade pitch settings and the uncontrollable speeds of the two propellers, the pilot reported "two props running away" to the base control tower, declared an emergency landing, and, with the closest land astern of them, began to turn around. By this time both of the engines were throwing out a substantial amount of smoke. The tower closed the field to all other traffic at this time, and radioed that "287 was cleared to the field." When the ship was about halfway through its starboard turning leg for its new course back to base, the number three engine suddenly lost oil pressure, and that engine’s prop jammed in its pitch settings, lost thrust, and jumped to an uncontrollable speed as well. The pilots, 2nd Lieutenant James B. Giacomo and 2nd Lieutenant James A. Barrett, and the flight engineer, Master Sergeant Edward Herrick, attempted to "feather" all three props to neutral pitch settings, but the props would not respond. Due to the loss of the third engine, Giacomo determined that they would not be able to hold sufficient enough altitude to allow them to clear the coastal ridge line, make the field, and execute an emergency landing. After updating his aircraft’s situation to the base control tower, he turned the aircraft back out to sea and into the wind, and prepared the crew of thirteen for an emergency wheels-up ditching at sea. The last inter phone communication came from Barrett, who warned the crew to "prepare for immediate ditching." The last message received by the control tower from the Superfortress was "287 ditching."
The Superfortress hit the water flying into the wind and waves with the tail low, wheels up, and full flaps on, flaring out just before impact. Giacomo later related that "we flew the aircraft into the water at 110 M.P.H. and in a landing attitude." The ship met with rough seas, on which six to eight foot waves were running across strong swells. The Superfortress skimmed across the surface for about 400 feet before the nose ploughed into a wave and went under.
The impact with the surface of the sea broke the plane’s back, shearing it in half at the radar room. The tail section sank in about 45 seconds, while the forward section floated for between three and four minutes, during which time it rode with the waves, and toward the end of which it stood on its nose as it sank. The gunnery instructor on the flight observed that "the ship went under nose first, exposing the entire bottom torn off, and the tanks and bombs intact."
The crew of thirteen, some helping one another and others fighting their way out individually, forced their way through in-rushing, shoulder-high water to escape from the rapidly filling and sinking aircraft. Some were knocked unconscious by the impact, and others suffered serious injuries. After escaping from the sinking aircraft, many crewmen had to kick free of debris or disentangle themselves from the loose rigging in which they had become tangled. One airman who became tangled in loose control cables was almost dragged under with a portion of the aircraft. In the water, the crew tried to assist each other as much as possible. Many crew members experienced trouble inflating their Mae West flotation vests due to the air chambers in them having been split by the hard impact.
Giacomo, perhaps driven by the additional burden of responsibility for the crew charged to his leadership and care, managed to make his way out on the port wing as it was going under, where he successfully removed a five-man life raft from its compartment and inflated it for use by the most injured crew members.
Within about ten minutes, Army crash boats from the Eleventh Army Air Force Emergency Rescue Boat Squadron were directed to the crash scene by overhead aircraft. By the time the Army boats arrived, two sections of the bomber were already underwater. All that remained on the surface were survivors, some hanging to the sides of a life raft and some adrift, and, according to the crash boat crews, "a lot of equipment floating in the water...oxygen tanks, cushions, and pieces of metal."
Despite the crew’s efforts to help one another exit the sinking Superfortress and stay afloat, and the quick response time of the crash boats, three of the crew, the navigator, radar operator, and tail gunner, were lost at sea."
Crew of B-29A 42-65287:
Jim Giacomo, 2nd Lt., Pilot
James Barrett, 2nd Lt., Co-pilot
Joseph Linnane, 2nd Lt., navigator - KIA
William Langius
Edward Herrick, Master Sgt., Engineer
Donald Snyder
Robert Layton
Richard Fowler
Donald Gerade
David Garrett
Carl Gilmore, Corporal, Tail Gunner - KIA
Henry DiBenedetto, Flight Officer, Radar Operator - KIA
NOTE: The MACR has the serial number being 42-55287, which was a cancelled A-24B (presumed to be a simple "typo"...)
Sources:
1. http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1942_3a.html
2. http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/AARmonthly/Mar1945S.htm
3. https://www.history.navy.mil/research/underwater-archaeology/sites-and-projects/aircraft-wrecksites/1996-puerto-rico-survey.html
4. http://www.divebuddy.com/divesite/5331/aguadilla-superfortress-wreck-b-29-42-65287-puerto-rico/
5. http://www.iscubatoo.com/Dive-Site-Detail/DSID/b21f9889-48c3-48b1-9650-63a94c6c334f
6. https://346bg.com/memories/puerto_rico.html
7. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/100110149
8. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/104271767
9. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/108430403
Media:
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 13-Feb-2017 20:15 | gerard57 | Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 09-Jul-2017 17:28 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Date, Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 09-Jul-2017 17:42 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Date, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 23-Dec-2019 22:01 | stehlik49 | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
| 12-Mar-2020 18:04 | DB | Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Operator] |
| 31-Jan-2021 15:53 | Anon. | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
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