Date & Time:
Mar 17, 1943 at 0410 LT
Type of aircraft:
Consolidated B-24 Liberator
Operator:
Registration:
42-40147
Flight Phase:
Landing (descent or approach)
Flight Type:
Training
Survivors:
Yes
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Cannon - Cannon
MSN:
1224
YOM:
1943
Country:
United States of America
Region:
North America
Crew on board:
11
Crew fatalities:
5
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
5
Circumstances:
The crew was performing a cross country navigational exercise out from Cannon AFB, Clovis, NM. In the early morning, while returning to base, the pilot missed his first attempt to enter the landing pattern. As he was making an S-turn to get back into the lading pattern, the instructor pilot, who was in the copilot's seat, called out the airspeed but failed to notice the loss of altitude when the airplane impacted ground and crashed 8 km northeast of the airbase. Five crew members were killed and six others were injured.
Crew:
1st Lt Jack R. Moss, pilot,
2nd Lt Merle K. Clark, bombardier,
2nd Lt Stephen T. Mezei, navigator,
Sgt Bruce H. Davis Jr., assistant radio operator,
Sgt Maxwell Wolfe, air gunner +6.
Crew:
1st Lt Jack R. Moss, pilot,
2nd Lt Merle K. Clark, bombardier,
2nd Lt Stephen T. Mezei, navigator,
Sgt Bruce H. Davis Jr., assistant radio operator,
Sgt Maxwell Wolfe, air gunner +6.
Probable cause:
Controlled flight into terrain following a wrong approach configuration on part of the pilot-in-command.
