Meteorological / Weather

The crew was engaged in a meteorological survey mission and left Ohakea AFB at 0700LT. Ten minutes later, while cruising in the Waitohu Valley in poor weather conditions, the aircraft hit the slope of a mountain located in the Tararua Mountain Range. SAR operations were conducted but eventually suspended few days later as no trace of the aircraft nor the 4 crew members was found. On March 19, 1949, walkers found the wreckage of the aircraft in a wooded area located near Otaki.
Crew:
F/Lt Walter Jacobs,
F/Lt Sydney Langton,
W/O Hedley Newell,
AC1 Anthony Hayhurst.

In the morning, the airplane departed RAF Brawdy for a sortie but was unable to return to base due to poor weather conditions. The crew diverted to RAF Westonzoyland where it landed at 1245LT. The crew departed RAF Westonzoyland in the early afternoon for a meteorological survey mission over the Atlantic. In the evening, while returning to base, the crew encountered poor weather conditions and the visibility was limited due to fog. Also, communications between the crew and ATC seemed to be interrupted. While completing an extended circuit to land, the airplane impacted the slope of a hill located in the Quantock Hills, about 20 km west of RAF Westonzoyland. The wreckage was found about 1,5 km northeast from the village of Crowcombe. All nine crew members were killed.
Crew:
P/O Keith Gordon Proverbs, pilot,
F/O John Joseph Frederick Hobden, pilot,
F/Sgt Dennis Norman Everett, flight engineer,
F/O Lindsay George McMillan, navigator,
F/O Patrick Alfred Bee, wireless operator,
W/O Roy Donald Cartwright, wireless operator,
F/Sgt Robert William Vinton, wireless operator,
Sgt John Macilrick Bryce Gordon, meteorologist,
Sgt Louis Grimble Groves, meteorologist.

The aircraft took off from Wick at 0930LT for a routine met reconnaissance RECIPE sortie, a straight line track north from Wick to 69N 02W and return. The aircraft encountered snow and ice about 4 hours north of Wick on the return leg, and these persisted for the remainder of the flight. When the aircraft approached Wick at about 2000LT, the weather was atrocious, low cloud, frequent showers and a strong gusty wind. The aircraft was heard over the airfield and given a course to fly, but contact was then lost. At 2040LT, the Fortress flew into a gently sloping hill, probably Cnocan Ruar, at an altitude of 700 feet. Six crew members were killed while three others were injured.
Crew (519th Squadron):
F/Lt F. K. Humphries, pilot,
F/O G. H. Pullan, pilot,
F/O T. G. Wrigley, pilot,
F/S Geoffrey Arthur Francis Panzer, air gunner, †
F/S William Henry Payne, flight engineer, †
F/S Kenneth Anthony Ian Day, air gunner, †
Sgt Alexander Purdie Beatson, wireless operator, †
E. A. Wood, †
D. A. Pressley. †
Source:
http://www.aircrashsites-scotland.co.uk/boeing_b-17e_loch-rangag.htm

The crew was performing a meteorological mission (called MERCER) over the Atlantic Ocean and left the RAF Tiree in Scotland during the day. After completing two circuits, the crew was returning to his base and while passing over Ireland, the aircraft was too low by night and hit a cliff near Bundoran, Donegal County. All eight occupants were killed.
Crew:
Lloyd Joyce Upshall, pilot,
Clarence Loree Scott, pilot,
Norman Glyn Gzowski, navigator,
Vladimir Adamic, wireless operator,
Frederick Edward Dawson, wireless operator,
Frank Ash, wireless operator,
Frederick Lewarne Eric Hussey, flight engineer,
Donald Parr Hewitson, meteorological observer.

The take off run was too long and the aircraft took off late. After rotation, it hit tree tops located at the end of the runway, stalled and crashed in a huge explosion in a wooded area. All ten crew members were killed.
Crew:
2nd Lt Otto H. Ahlers
M/Sgt John P. Buchanan,
S/Sgt Bernard Cohen,
T/Sgt Peter W. Costello,
Cpl Matthew Ekes,
Sgt Ralph W. Harding,
2nd Lt William H. Holcomb,
F/Lt Howard Harry John Leigh-Clare,
W/Cdr Jack Herbert Osborne,
2nd Lt LaVerne P. Rissinger.

Crashed in unknown circumstances somewhere into the North Sea while in a weather observation flight. Lost without trace.
Crew:
Oblt Helmut Eber, pilot,
W/Insp Helmut Luft, observer,
Uffz Rudolf Garz, radio operator,
Obfw Hermann Sturwald, mechanic.

The airplane departed Seymchan Airport on a weather reconnaissance flight to prepare the future transfer of a fleet to Yakutsk. Prior to the flight, the crew was briefed to avoid any cloud ceiling and not flying over the altitude of 15,000 feet. En route, weather conditions deteriorated and the crew continued into clouds, climbed to an altitude of 17,500 feet where he encountered icing conditions and a lack of oxygen. Contact was lost and the airplane crashed in a mountainous area located near Zyrianka. The wreckage was found by the crew of a Mil Mi-4 during the summer 1972. All three crew members were killed.

Shortly after midnight, the airplane departed Ephrata AFB on a one hour and thirty minute weather flight. Ceiling was reported between 4,000 and 6,000 feet. While cruising northeast of the airfield, the airplane exploded in midair and crashed in a prairie. All 11 occupants were killed.
Crew:
2nd Lt James A. Calnon,
2nd Lt Marvin R. Furch,
2nd Lt Joseph J. Whalen,
S/Sgt John G. Bowen,
S/Sgt Joseph E. Brielman,
S/Sgt Harold W. Bunce,
T/Sgt William T. Freeland,
T/Sgt Harold L. Mason,
T/Sgt Herman E. Stephens,
Sgt Abraham Kaden,
Sgt Jack D. Naus.

The airplane departed RAF St Eval at 0744LT on a weather reconnaissance mission. At 1130LT, the crew informed ground he was returning to base. About an hour later, while cruising in clouds, the pilot reduced his altitude and merged out of the cloud layer when the airplane was shot down by the German Marine Flak and crash landed on a beach in Camaret-sur-Mer. The pilot was killed and three other crew members became PoW.
Crew:
Sgt Samuel Charles Glover, pilot, †
F/O Maurice William Buttler, navigator,
Sgt Ernest James Winfield, radio operator,
Sgt Roy Gilbert, radio operator.

The airplane departed Belfast-Aldergrove on a routine weather reconnaissance mission. It failed to return to base and is believed to have crashed somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. Lost without trace.
Crew:
F/Sgt Samuel Ray Millar, pilot,
Sgt Philip Wadham Newbegin, navigator,
F/Sgt Cecil William Chatterley, wireless operator,
Sgt Sidney Edward English, air gunner.