"Airplane Accidents in Continental US, 1942-45" Topic

We always think of aircraft being lost due to enemy action and forget that a lot are lost due to pure accident. This chart link shows the number of aircraft lost in accidents in the US…

And it's a low estimate:

'A new book is coming out this year, by Anthony J. Mireles, whose research indicates that the AAF suffered 6,351 fatal accidents with over 15,500 fatalities and the loss of over 7,100 aircraft. "Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945", which will be published in June 2006 by McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, Jefferson, NC. The research is based is based on the official Form # 14 AAF Aircraft Accident Reports. He sent me an e-mail and stated that many accident reports missing from the microfilm files, so the actual number of fatal AAF accidents probably exceeds the numbers that he published in my book. warbirdcrash.com'

Oddly there's a B-29 crash site on my "places to hike to when the weather gets better" list. Post-war, in the Peak District.

A local one:

Prototype Boeing B-29 crashes into Seattle's Frye Packing Plant on February 18, 1943.

HistoryLink.org Essay 2874 : Printer-Friendly Format

On February 18, 1943, the second of Boeing's top-secret XB-29 prototype Superfortress bombers catches fire 20 minutes after takeoff from Boeing Field and crashes into the Frye Packing Plant. Lead Boeing test pilot Eddie Allen and 10 crewmen perish along with 19 workers in the meat-processing factory. Although the event cannot be concealed, the identity of the aircraft type -- which will drop the first atomic bombs on Japan -- will remain classified until the end of World War II.

Birth of a Superfortress

In 1940, the U.S. Army Air Corps commissioned Boeing to design a new bomber that could fly higher and farther than its stalwart B-17. Two XB-29 prototypes were rushed to completion at Seattle's Boeing Plant 1, and the first took wing from Boeing Field on September 21, 1942, with veteran Boeing test Pilot Edmond T. "Eddie" Allen (1896-1943) at the controls.

Tests continued on both planes through the winter of 1942-1943. The second XB-29 took off from Boeing Field late on the morning of February 18, 1943, for routine engine tests with Allen and a crew of 10 technicians and engineers. Twenty minutes into the flight, Allen radioed that he had an engine fire and was returning to land.

Terror in the Sky and on the Ground

The first blaze was extinguished but a second fire erupted. Two crewmen bailed out as the plane narrowly missed downtown Seattle skyscrapers on its approach, but their chutes could not deploy in time. The giant bomber pancaked onto the Frye plant just short of Boeing Field, killing Allen and the remaining eight aboard.

Fortunately, most Frye employees were on their lunch break when the factory burst into flames. Army Pvt. Sam Morris, a newly enlisted African American from Florida was later hailed as a hero for helping to rescue several workers from the conflagration. Official records say 19 died on the ground, although early reports ranged as high as 30.

The nature of the aircraft was kept secret while work proceeded on the B-29. Ultimately, thousands of the planes were built at Renton and at Wichita, Kansas. They helped to turn the tide in the Pacific, and it was a B-29 Superfortress, the Enola Gay, that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.

The good old days weren't.

Compare the accident rate for 'simple/rugged' prop aircraft such as the Thunderbolt, Mustang or Spitfire with modern jets and the prop jobs were hard to fly pieces of crud hardware (in comparison).

The rugged reliable Sabre or Hunter is a relative nightmare risk wise compared to an F-22 or EU Typhoon.

There was a WWII bomber crash site in one of the lakes in the mountains near San Bernradino. When my family would vacation there in dry years, you could see the empennage just poking out of the water.

I read that the Germans lost 33,000 pilots killed in training accidents on the 109 alone. Reason: it was a real problem to land for a noob pilot.

The Germans only built about 34,000 in me 109's

In lake Michigan there were 2 training carriers (paddle wheeled) where Navel pilots learned how to make carrier landings. Over 17,000 pilots were trained and 228 aircraft crashed and are still in the lake. Have no idea how many pilots died.

A bit more on accidents during the war:

276,000 aircraft manufactured in the US .
43,000 planes lost overseas, including 23,000 in combat.
14,000 lost in the continental U.S. link

So only 40% of US aircraft lost were due to combat…

From same source:

'According to the AAF Statistical Digest, in less than four years (December 1941- August 1945), the US Army Air Forces lost 14,903 pilots, aircrew and assorted personnel plus 13,873 airplanes — inside the continental United States. They were the result of 52,651 aircraft accidents (6,039 involving fatalities) in 45 months.

Think about those numbers. They average 1,170 aircraft accidents per month—- nearly 40 a day. (Less than one accident in four resulted in totalled aircraft, however.)'

The article is worth reading just to see how many of each aircraft type was produced. The figure given for Me109s is 30,480.

The brother of a friend of mine was killed while training in a Corsair in California during WWII. He and another plane in his unit collided in mid-air.

Check out the B25 that crashed into an upper story of the Empire State Building during the war.

B.

Don't forget about traffic accident for ground vehicles…..

I read that the Germans lost 33,000 pilots killed in training accidents on the 109 alone. Reason: it was a real problem to land for a noob pilot.

I think it was about 1,000.

My rule of thumb was US 25,000 aircrew died during training and 5,000 Commonwealth.