ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 98698
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| Date: | Tuesday 23 December 1947 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Boeing F-13A Superfortress (B-29) |
| Owner/operator: | 72nd SRSqn /5th SRWg USAF |
| Registration: | 45-21775 |
| MSN: | 13669 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 8 |
| Other fatalities: | 3 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | East slope of Mount Hot Springs, 95 miles North of Nome, Alaska -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | Ladd AAF, Fairbanks, Alaska |
| Ladd AAF, Fairbanks, Alaksa |
Boeing B-29-95-BW Superfortress 45-21775: Modified to F-13. Assigned to Combat Crew Training Squadron, 237th Army Air Force Base Unit, Kirtland AAF, New Mexico. Force landed 19 December 1945 due to engine failure at Kearney AAF, Nebraska. Repaired and returnfed to service: Re-Assigned to 43rd Bomb Group.
Re-Assigned to 46th Reconnaissance Squadron (Very Long Range, Photographic), Alaska Air Command, Ladd AAF, Alaska
Unit Re-designated 72nd Reconnaissance Squadron 13 October 1947. The B-29 was Named "The Forlorn Turkey" aka "The Clobbered Turkey".
Written off (destroyed) December 23, 1947: The crew left Ladd Army Airfield in the day for a 15 hours training sortie. While flying over the Seward Peninsula at low height, the four engine aircraft christened 'The Clobbered Turkey' hit the eastern slope of Mount Hot Springs, 95 miles north of Nome, Alaska. The aircraft was written off but all eight crew members survived, the worst injuries being a crewmen with a broken leg and two with burns, one serious Two of them decided to walk away to find help but were found dead few days later. Six other occupants were rescued later and three rescuers were killed as well during the salvage operations.
Crew of 45-21775:
Lt Vern H. Arnett, pilot, killed while attempting to reach the village of Shishmaref
Lt Donald B. Duesler, copilot,
Lt Frederick E. Sheetz, navigator, killed while attempting to reach the village of Shishmaref
Lt Lyle B. Larson, flight engineer,
Lt Francis Schaack, radar operator,
T/Sgt Wilbur E. Decker, electrical mechanic,
Sgt Olan R. Samford, radio operator,
S/Sgt Leslie R. Warre, photographer.
Rescuers who lost their lives in the rescue attempt: Leon J. Casey, Santhell London, and Albert J. Kinney
The local community banded together to help rescue the stranded men. Local bush pilots, William Munz and Frank Whaley, made a daring landing at the site of the crash on December 30th. In the days to come, local pilots and dog sled mushers, who had extensive knowledge of the area, would help rescue the survivors and located the bodies of the deceased. By December 31st, the survivors had been rescued. The Clobbered Turkey incident forced the Air Force to review their arctic rescue procedures. After the incident, only experienced paratroopers were used in arctic rescues and plane crash survivors were required to stay near wreckage. The remains of the Clobbered Turkey rests in the stillness of the preserve as a reminder of the crash seventy years ago.
The official investigation found the cause of the accident to be a defective altimeter. While the pilot thought that they were cruising at 10,000 feet, there were actually at less than 1,000 feet altitude, meaning that this was a classic case of CFIT, or controlled-flight-into-terrain.
While the official story is, as was mentioned above, there were persistent rumors floating around at the time that the situation was actually quite different and much more dire for the crew. These stories are attributed to Alaskan locals, and conversations they had with the crew. According to the stories, the "Clobbered Turkey" had been on a mission to photograph the Soviet side of the Baring Strait (the nearest Soviet land was a mere 125 miles due west of the crash site, or a half-hour at a B-29's cruising speed; in contrast, the crash site was 430 nautical miles from their home base at Ladd AAF, Fairbanks), had been shot at and sustained damage, and at least one of the crew members had been injured when they took fire.
The pilots had been struggling to keep the aircraft airborne until they could get back over Alaskan territory. Thus, it isn't at all surprising that after the crew was rescued, an Air Force team went back and burned the wreckage, and then subsequently bombed it in order to destroy any evidence of the actual mission...
The 72nd Reconnaissance Squadron, known as "The Secret Explorers", their mission was to provide long range reconnaissance over the Arctic for the new Strategic Air Command, especially along the Soviet Union's northern border, as part of Project NANOOK. The unit was also tasked with deep-penetration reconnaissance missions, which were kept classified Top Secret until 2001.
Sources:
1. http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1945.html
2. http://vintageairphotos.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/the-legacy-of-clobbered-turkey-tragedy_19.html
3. https://www.nps.gov/bela/learn/historyculture/clobbered-turkey-plane-crash.htm
4. [LINK NOT WORKING ANYMORE:http://www.baaa-acro.com/1947/archives/crash-of-a-boeing-b-29-95-bw-superfortress-near-nome-2-killed/]
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 21-Jun-2014 14:02 | Uli Elch | Updated [Aircraft type, Cn, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Phase, Source, Narrative] |
| 26-Jun-2017 23:53 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 14-Apr-2020 15:53 | Reno Raines | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
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