ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 97410
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| Date: | Tuesday 2 February 1943 |
| Time: | 17:20 |
| Type: |  Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress |
| Owner/operator: | 331st BGp USAAF |
| Registration: | 42-5105 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | 9 miles north of Bogue, KS -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | |
At 1720 CWT, the Boeing B-17F 42-5105 of 461st BS, 331st BG, USAAF, flying in poor weather crashed nine miles north of Bogue, Graham County, Kansas, (also reported as seven miles north and one mile east of Bogue) killing six crewmembers (the Graham County site says eleven were killed in error). The B-17F had taken off at 1358 MWT from the Army Air Base at Casper, Wyoming, on a ferry flight to Tinker Field, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Killed in the crash were:
1st Lt. Paul M. Capaccio, pilot
F/O Latteimer Stewart, co-pilot
1st Lt. Jacob M. Madson, navigator
TSgt. T. Donlavage, engineer
SSgt. Frank Culver, radio operator
MSgt. H M Bloch, passenger
Carl McKissen was an eyewitness to the crash. He saw the plane as it broke through the low overhanging clouds, saw it circle once, then watched it strike the ground in his father’s pasture and explode.
Lee M. Holmes, then sheriff of Graham County, who arrived soon after the crash, said the plane plowed a ditch five to six feet deep, ten feet wide, and around one hundred feet long. Wreckage was strewn over a fifteen to twenty acre area.
The B-17 was perhaps the most famous of World War II aircraft, second in size only to the B-29. The wingspan of the Flying Fortress was 104 feet, with a length of 75 feet and a height of 19 feet. The gross weight of the B-17 was 65,000 pounds. The fuel tanks held 2,780 gallons. When the plane crashed, it still had half of its fuel aboard.
Members of the local branch of the American Legion guarded the wreckage through the night of February 2-3, until Army Lt. Eaton and an emergency squad from Walker Air Base arrived. Parts of the bodies of the crew were collected in bushel baskets and brought to the Cutting Undertaking Parlor, where they were held for Army officials.
There are many theories about how and why the B-17 crashed. Lt. Eaton thought that ice forming on the plane caused it to go out of control and lose altitude. An army pilot with Lt. Eaton at the crash site said he had been forced to make an emergency landing the same afternoon because ice had formed on his wings.
Another theory involves the problem of cooperation between the pilot and co-pilot of the B-17. The idea was that when the plane dropped beneath the clouds, the pilot went to Instrument Flight Rules and the co-pilot went to Visual Flight Rules and was supposed to watch out for obstacles in the flight path. The pilot may have neglected his altitude observations for a moment and the co-pilot’s warning came too late.
Carl McKissen said that he could hear the engines surge in power just before the crash; it can be assumed the pilot tried to pull up before they crashed. The plane crashed somewhere between the gliding speed of 120 mph and its 250 mph cruising speed.
Investigatores stated. "Airplane was observed about 1720 CWT, traveling northwest. It descended from a low overcast, ascended again into overcast, and briefly thereafter came out in a steep dive. Apparently there was some attempt at recovery, but airplane dived into the ground with sufficient impact to force the engines and nose three to five feet into the frozen earth. Airplane exploded on impact, with intense fire in impact area. Wreckage was scattered south of impact area in direction paralleling line of wings and to one side only, indicating that the airplane had a strong sideways movement at the time of impact. Airplane and bodies of personnel were extensively disintegrated. Controls and instruments were unrecognizable at time of inspection. There had been some thunderstorm activity in vicinity. Just prior to crash, the airplane was traveling in direction opposite to its proper course."
Sources:
"Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945. Volume 1, January 1941-June 1943", by Anthony J. Mireles. ISBN 0-7864-2788-4
http://www.grahamhistorical.ruraltel.net/b-17/b-17.html
http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/AARmonthly/Feb1943S.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogue,_Kansas
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 05-Feb-2016 17:08 | Laurent Rizzotti | Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Phase, Nature, Source, Narrative] |
| 31-Mar-2020 17:23 | Reno Raines | Updated [Operator, Location, Operator] |
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