Pyote AFB

Upon landing, the heavy bomber went out of control and came to rest, bursting into flames. The aircraft was destroyed by fire and all five crew members escaped unhurt.

One of the engine failed and caught fire in flight. Control was lost and the airplane crashed 8 km south of Pyote AFB. Eight crew members were killed.
Crew:
2nd Lt Norman P. Beck,
2nd Lt Edward E. Curran,
2nd Lt Joseph C. Folsom,
Sgt Robert L. Been,
Sgt Alphonse M. Kwedar,
Sgt David Lachter,
Sgt Allen Y. Mumford,
Sgt Edward W. Trapp.

While on a mission out from Pyote AFB, the airplane impacted the slope of Guadalupe Peak, in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. All 11 crew members were killed.
Crew:
2nd Lt Charles G. Ryan,
2nd Lt William J. Sauer,
2nd Lt Joe A. Chamberlain,
2nd Lt Frank N. Jones,
T/Sgt William B. Clark,
S/Sgt Martin J. Patten,
Sgt John J. Hefferan Jr.,
Sgt Edward J. O'Hearn,
Sgt Edward D. Reed,
Sgt George W. Byrnes,
Cpl Julian B. Wilkerson.

The airplane suffered an engine failure and crash landed in a field located some 3 km northwest of Pyote AFB. There were no fatalities.

On February 1st, the airplane departed Pyote AFB to fly the airline beams to Albuquerque AAB, NM when there was a fog blanket of 1, 500 feet. The Tower told the crew they could fly above it and when they were due to come back early the next morning there would be a cloud ceiling of 1,000 feet. The aircraft arrived back the next morning with dense fog below. The Tower told the crew to do a procedure let down and turn around on the beam, which they did. When they got down to 1,000 feet they were still in dense fog so decided to let down to 500 feet as that country is very flat and there were lots of gas flares burning from the local gas wells which the crew thought they would be able to see easily at 500 feet. They let down to 500 feet and did not see any flares and were just starting to pull up when the aircraft hit the ground. It plowed along the ground, all the propellers had hit and become deformed, the number three engine was torn off the wing, and wind milled through the tail of the plane. The plane had cracked and bent behind the bomb bay and the fuel line to the torn away engine was spewing gasoline on the ground near the plane. The crew opened the window on the left side of the cockpit and those in the front climbed out that window. The rest of the crew went out through the door in the rear of the fuselage.
Source: Joe Baugher.

After a crew was dropped at Pyote AFB, Texas, the airplane was flying back to base in Casper with seven crew members on board. While cruising at an altitude of 9,000 feet over New Mexico, the airplane suffered an in flight fire then exploded and crashed 5 km east of Medio, some 56 km north of Tucumcari. The airplane was destroyed and all seven occupants were killed.
Crew:
2nd Lt Theodore L. Hinman, instructor pilot,
2nd Lt Robert J. George, pilot,
F/O Robert B. Goodman, copilot,
2nd Lt Miller C. Ashcraft, navigator,
T/Sgt Maynard J. Marple, flight engineer,
T/Sgt Charles F. Zinn, radio operator,
S/Sgt Thomas L. Hamilton, air gunner.