Date & Time:
Mar 11, 1943
Type of aircraft:
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
Operator:
Registration:
42-5719
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Training
Survivors:
Yes
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Carswell AFB - Hobbs AAF
MSN:
6015
YOM:
1942
Country:
United States of America
Region:
North America
Crew on board:
8
Crew fatalities:
0
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
0
Circumstances:
Crashed during a training flight 8 km south of Mineral Wells. The crew was briefed to fly at 8,500 feet to Amarillo, then Tulsa, Shreveport, turning east to Dallas and then on to Fort Worth Field, where they were to remain over night, returning to Hobbs Field the following day. Except for excessive fuel consumption and increasingly bad weather, the flight was normal until the plane left Shreveport. It began to pick up ice. The Pitot tube froze (used to measure air speed), but Pitot heat was turned on and the instrument came back online. The pilot lifted the plane to escape icing and to maintain radio contact. Rounding Shreveport, the plane turned east toward Dallas. Cruising at 14,000 feet on the way to Dallas, they ran into large build ups of clouds and again started to pick up ice. They had to climb to 18,000 feet to get above the icing and retain radio contact. As they approached Dallas, they dropped down into the overcast at 14,000 feet. They maintained radio contact this time. When they were over Dallas Radio Station, the ceiling in Fort Worth, TX was reported at 800 feet. Fort Worth, TX told them to descend to 3,000 feet The crew began going through their landing checklist while waiting clearance to make a procedure let down into Tarrant Field, Fort Worth. The airfield reported a ceiling of 300 feet. "No go on your landing, climb to 8,000 feet and head for Abilene". The ceiling there was supposed to be 1,000 feet. As the aircraft came into Fort Worth, TX and went on out the north leg for procedure let down, the ceiling dropped to 300 feet and in a very little while it was down to 100 feet. As it was going around to make a 180 degree turn to come back onto the beam, the No.1 engine failed; they were at 3,000 feet then. The crippled plane managed to climb to 8,000 feet on the three remaining engines. The weather outside continued to worsen. The No.2 engine failed and the propeller would not feather. They attempted to contact Abilene by radio, but couldn't. They reported this fact to the Fort Worth, TX radio and asked for instructions but didn't get any. The pilot and copilot were unable to control the plane. They were going down. Air speed fell to 115 mph. They couldn't keep a compass heading. They estimated they were fifty miles from Fort Worth, TX with a ceiling no more than 600-800 feet. The pilot decided to abandon the airplane and all eight crew members bailed out safely.
Source: Joe Baugher.
Source: Joe Baugher.
