Date & Time: Jul 15, 1943
Type of aircraft:
Consolidated LB-30 Liberator
Operator:
Registration:
AL604
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Test
Survivors:
Yes
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Río Hato - Río Hato
MSN:
102
YOM:
1941
Location:
Río Hato
Coclé
Country:
Panama
Region:
Central America
Crew on board:
6
Crew fatalities:
3
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
3
Circumstances:
After aborting a radar search mission on July 15, 1943, because n°1 engine of an LB-30 piloted by 2nd Lt Clement Telep was not producing power, Lt Telep returned the aircraft to Rio Hato Air Base. When the problem could not be duplicated on a ground check of the aircraft, Lt Telep, his co-pilot 2nd Lt Theodore B. Small, and four other members of the crew re-boarded the old bomber for a test hop in anticipation of returning to base for the rest of the crew if the hop proved the plane was okay. The test showed the balky engine still was not developing proper power, and as Lt Telep headed the LB-30 on downwind leg of the landing pattern, the engine began to burn. Fire extinguishers only caused the blaze to falter momentarily before blistering back to life. The electric prop would not feather. Lt Telep climbed the LB-30 to afford the aircrew an altitude of about 900 feet from which to bail out. Lt Telep ordered Lt. Small, whose parachute got soaked with water, rendering it unusable, to go back to the waist of the Liberator and jump with one of the spare chutes left by the other crew members still waiting on the ground. Lt Small, along with three other crew members, all bailed out from the waist of the aircraft. Lt Small and two of the three crew members who parachuted from the burning aircraft survived. M/Sgt William L. Armstrong, the third crew member, died because his parachute burned. When the burning Liberator crashed, Lt Telep and S/Sgt Earl Stopher his radio operator were still in their seats, and died in the crash. Lt Telep was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by General Orders Number 56, Headquarters, Sixth Air Force, August 4, 1943, for remaining at the controls of his burning aircraft until it exploded, thereby enabling three of his fellow crew members to parachute to safety, at the forfeiture of his own life.
Crew:
2nd Lt Clement Telep, pilot, †
2nd Lt Theodore B. Small, copilot,
M/Sgt William L. Armstrong, †
S/Sgt Earl Stopher, radio operator +2. †
Source: http://www.aviationarchaeology.com
Probable cause:
Engine fire in flight.