ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 98976
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| Date: | Monday 4 March 1940 |
| Time: | 06:00 |
| Type: | Boeing P-26B Peashooter |
| Owner/operator: | 6th Pursuit Sqn USAAC |
| Registration: | 33-195 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | near Fort Kamehameha, Oahu, HI -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | |
Shortly after 0600 hrs on 4 March 1940, as the “Honololu Clipper” flyingboat arrived at Hawaii bringing the Army’s Chieff of Staff, General George C. Marshall, on a tour of inspection, pursuit planes from Wheeler Field and bombers from Hickam Field took off to escort it.
As the clipper landed in Pearl Harbor, the Air Corps units began to pass in review, with the bombers in the lead followed by the P-26s and P-36s. As the 15-strong formation of P-26s were making a right turn over John Rodgers Airport at an altitude if 2,000 ft to join the procession, 2nd Lt Walter S Rector, leading the fourth element of three planes, collided with 2nd Lt Malcolm A Moore, who was flying the left wing formation of the third element. The propeller of Lt Rector’s airplane completely several the tail section of Lt Moore’s ship, which shot upward out of control and then flipped upside down. As it shot upward, it came directly into the path of the airplane piloted by Lt Wilkins, who was flying on Lt Rector’s right. He has to pull up violently to avoid it. A small piece of the wreckage knocked a hole in the windshield of another pilot, Lt Simpson.
With his plane upside down, Lt Moore unhooked his safety belt, fell out of the plane, pulled the ripcord of his parachute, and drifted safely to earth.
After the collision, Lt Rector immediately turned off the ignition switch and thought he could make a landing at nearby Hickam Field, but on second thought decided that his landing hear was undoubtedly damaged to such an extent that an attempted landing would be extremely hazardous. In addition, the airplane was nose-heavy and was settling fast. He was unable to straighten up. This was caused by the tail part of Lt Moore’s airplane having become entangled with and attached to his landing gear. The wing section of the P-26 prevented Lt Rector from seeing it.
His plane having gone into a vertical spinning dive, Lt Rector released the controls to bail out. The force of the dive held him to the back of the seat, but with super-human force he kicked himself free of the falling ship. By this time the plane had fallen to about an altitude of only 600 ft, so his parachute had barely checked his fall before he struck he ground on the sea-side of Fort Kamehameha, only 50 feet from the point where his airplane hit the ground.
The remains of Lt Moore’s plane struck about 250 yards from the other airplane. Moore landed in the shallow water about 300 yards from the Fort Kamehameha shore.
Both pilots were member of 6th Pursuit Squadron. Rector was lfying the P-26B 33-185 and Moore the P-26B 33-195.
Sources:
1. Air Corps Newsletter, 15 April 1940
2. https://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/1940sB4/1940.htm
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Kamehameha
4. http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=21.323333&lon=-157.959444&z=15&m=w
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 04-Mar-2021 10:43 | Laurent Rizzotti | Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Source, Narrative] |
| 04-Mar-2021 15:16 | Koumas | Updated [Operator, Location, Source, Operator] |
| 11-Jun-2023 21:33 | Ron Averes | Updated [[Operator, Location, Source, Operator]] |
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