Date & Time:
Jan 13, 1943 at 1135 LT
Type of aircraft:
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
Operator:
Registration:
42-5103
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Military
Survivors:
No
Site:
Plain, Valley
Schedule:
Pyote AFB - Casper
MSN:
3642
YOM:
1942
Country:
United States of America
Region:
North America
Crew on board:
7
Crew fatalities:
7
Pax on board:
0
Pax fatalities:
0
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
7
Circumstances:
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.
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.
Probable cause:
Investigators speculated that fumes accumulated in the bomb bay from an extra fuel tank that was mounted for the long flight. The explosion may have been triggered by an electrical short, or even a radio transmission.
