Crash of a Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress near Pendleton: 10 killed
Date & Time:
Mar 15, 1942 at 2355 LT
Operator:
Registration:
41-2559
Survivors:
No
Schedule:
Boise - Pendleton
MSN:
2370
YOM:
1941
Crew on board:
10
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
10
Circumstances:
The airplane departed Boise-Gowen Field on a liaison flight to Pendleton, Oregon. While cruising at night in marginal weather conditions, the airplane deviated from the prescribed route and impacted the slope of a mountain located in the Blue Mountain Range, some 20 miles southeast of the destination airport. The airplane disintegrated on impact and all 10 crew members were killed. It appears that the airplane caroming from the peak to another more than a mile away and the wreckage then strewn over a small valley.
Crew:
2nd Lt Lawler C. Neighbors, pilot,
2nd Lt John L. Bailey, copilot,
2nd Lt Glen R. Metsker Jr., copilot,
Sgt Weldon G. Wilson, flight engineer,
Cpl James T. Mitchler, radio operator,
Sgt Frank D. Gillis, gunner,
Sgt Charles C. Parsons, gunner,
Sgt Raymond J. Paveglio, gunner,
Cpl George R. Hall, gunner,
Cpl Frank H. Spooner Jr., gunner.
Crew:
2nd Lt Lawler C. Neighbors, pilot,
2nd Lt John L. Bailey, copilot,
2nd Lt Glen R. Metsker Jr., copilot,
Sgt Weldon G. Wilson, flight engineer,
Cpl James T. Mitchler, radio operator,
Sgt Frank D. Gillis, gunner,
Sgt Charles C. Parsons, gunner,
Sgt Raymond J. Paveglio, gunner,
Cpl George R. Hall, gunner,
Cpl Frank H. Spooner Jr., gunner.
Probable cause:
Controlled flight into terrain following a radio range navigation error in poor weather conditions.
