P-38H #42-66767, Ellensburg AAF AND Paine AAF. December 1943

Some people have bad luck; we called them unlucky. Some vehicles have bad luck; we call them lemons, especially when dealing with cars. What do you call an aircraft with bad luck, though? P-38H #42-66767 might fall into the category of an unlucky airplane. What about a group of machines built at about the same time? #42-66767’s siblings might also fall into this category, but more on them later. Aircraft #42-66767 was a P-38H-5 LO.

First, a little information about military aircraft designations. When a company gets approved to produce a new aircraft, that company produces a first example. In some cases, two or three. These are usually given designations beginning with X, basically indicating the aircraft was experimental. So the first P-38 would have been the XP-38. During that era, the first few production/service examples were given a designation beginning with Y, meaning these were prototypes. So the first few P-38s were YP-38s. The first model of an aircraft to see service, that is full service, is usually followed by A, so there was a P-38A. When the designers make improvements that are major, the aircraft undergoes a model change. The P-38H was a result of many improvements on the original P-38A. Sometimes, during a production run, minor changes or improvements are implemented. If they do not entail a model change, these improvements are marked by block numbers. Block numbers are a way to keep track of minor improvements since the first new model. Usually they jump by five, so the second block would be -5, then -10, then -15, however, that was not always the case. Sometimes these block numbers were followed by letters designating the factory at which the aircraft was constructed. A B-29A -10 BW would have been the third block built at the Boeing Witchita plant. So, P-38H-5 LO #42-66767 had minor differences from the earlier P-38H blocks. LO stood for the Lockheed plant.

P-38H-5 LO #42-66767 was assigned to Ellensburg Army Air Field. At the time, the field was used for training. On the first day of December, 1943, 66767 had already been up twice with two different pilots when Flight Officer Russell W. Senger got into her for a local gunnery mission at a little after 4pm local time. He went through his check lists and then taxied out to the active runway and took off as part of a four ship flight. The aircraft had been checked out and was considered airworthy, which she was. At about 5:30, Senger landed safely on Runway 29. His flight was cleared to taxi. It was 1734 hours, or 5:34pm. At that time of year in Central Washington it begins to get dark at about 4:30pm (in fact as this is being written, November 29, 2009, it is now 5:22pm and I consider it to be completely dark outside). It was well into dusk then, when Senger began taxiing back to the parking area. He had only go about 600 feet when the right main gear left the taxiway and entered a drainage ditch, which was about 4 ½ feet deep. The pilot could not right the situation once it had happened, and momentum carried it another 100 feet where it stopped at a right angle to the taxiway. A P-38 pilot taxiing behind him notified the tower of the accident. The accident board attributed it as 75% pilot error (carelessness) and 25% taxiway construction. They recommended painting marker lines on the taxiway.

Normally, that would be the end of an article like this. The aircraft would have been repaired and sent back to service. However, 66767 was an unfortunate aircraft. 66767’s nosewheel had been damaged in the December 1^st accident. A group of workmen from the 32^nd sub-depot at Paine Field replaced the entire assembly. However, they were unable to repair the nosewheel door because there was no sheet metal shop facilities at Ellensburg AAF. The Engineering officer decided to have her flown the short distance to the 32^nd sub-depot at Paine Field with her wheels locked down.

The gear handle was placed in down and safetied (Captain Laven’s account says it was safetied with wire). The main landing gear shut-off valve was closed to prevent an inadvertant gear-raising. Captain George Laven, Jr. was chosen to fly the aircraft to Paine Field on December 29, 1943. He took off at 3:48pm and encountered no trouble during the flight, except that the propeller on the left engine went out and he had to set to the manual position (What he meant by that was probably the variable pitch propeller was not operating automatically, so he had to operate it manually). He entered the landing pattern at Paine Field at about 4:30pm. Everything was normal until about 200 yards into the landing roll when he felt the ship turning right. He applied left brake, but the ship continued to pull right. He looked over and noticed that the right wing was lowering and felt the ship settle in that direction. He knew then that the right gear was collapsing and so as much left brake as he could to ease the turn. As soon as it left the runway he shut off the booster pumps, batteries, and mixture controls. When the ship stopped he exited the aircraft, no doubt, with alacrity.

First Lieutenant Robert W. Campbell, assistant operations officer at Paine Field, witnessed Laven enter the pattern and land. He watched as the right gear began to collapse and the plane veared off the runway. He jumped in a vehicle and headed for the scene of the accident. When he arrived the pilot was out of the aircraft.

The accident board discovered that the “right landing gear locking pin had been screwed down too far.” This prevented the gear from completely locking. The shut-off valve had also been shut in cold weather on the eastern side of the state while cold oil was still in the line bewteen the main gear and the actuating cylinder. The oil became heated due to engine temperatures and the warmer external air temperatures of the coastal climate over Everett, Washington. The heat expanded the oil sufficiently to partially move the actuating cylinder enough to dislodge the locking pin. The shock of landing and Laven’s application of brakes put enough force on the gear to retract.

As a result of this accident both engines were damaged by sudden stoppage. Three propeller blades were bent. The lower stabilizer and rudder were bent and crushed. Relatively minor dame considering.

I do not have information concerning what happened to 66767 after this. Given the amount of damage described in the report, it seems she was probably repaired and went on to lead a productive life, perhaps eventually becoming a part of the soda can we drink from, or perhaps she eventually made her way overseas and saw a different end. We may never know.

That 66767 was unlucky, may remain to be seen, since the damage she sustained was minimal and she could be returned to flying status. That her sisters were unlucky is no joke. #42-66775, #42-66768, and #42-66778 all met similar fates. I will write of them at a later date, though.

Sources:

Accident reports for #42-66767, dates: 12-1-1943 and 12-28-1943.

Fighter Planes, http://www.fighter-planes.com/info/p38_lightning.htm

Fatal Twins, #42-29500 AND #42-5313

In the early morning hours of March 29, 1943, in Central Washington State, two B-17F bombers fell earthward, taking their crews to the next life. These two crews were training at Ephrata Army Air Base. Although training losses were a common and unfortunate side effect of the ramped up pilot training required to destroy the Axis Powers in the air, it was not common, however, for two aircraft to go down within such a short time from the same base in unrelated incidents. That cold morning, though, that is exactly what happened.

2nd Lieutenant Derek Bovingdon, pilot of B-17F #42-29500, took off from Ephrata Air Base at 0037. The bomber’s mission was to complete Second Air Force Model Mission #8, which included 1 hour landings, 1 hour of night dry bombing runs on PDI, and an hour of instrument practice. The bomber was instructed to check in every 30 minutes. They did three times. The last was at 240AM, when the bomber checked in. It began to give a position report when the signal cut-off. Despite ground stations attempts, the ship could not be raised again.

At 0052, Captain Robert Stafford took off in 42-5313 to conduct a weather flight. Ceiling was between 4000 and 6000 feet. He landed at 0210, and reported no malfunctions with the aircraft. At 0254, Lt. Furch took of with #42-5313 to do some local flying.

At 0300 hours, control advised all ships to stand by for a weather up-date. All ships but 42-29500 and 42-5313 acknowledged. At 0310 hours an explosion was observed from the tower, approximately 5 miles NE, which caused the base to call all aircraft back for a landing.

Later, base personnel found that only 42-5313 had crashed 5 miles NE. It was not until April 2 that searchers found 42-29500 approximately 16 miles East of Ellensburg, or about 40-5 miles SW of Ephrata. It had hit a ridge about 40 feet from the top. The propellers had cut furrows for about 250 feet. It hit, bounced over the top and the majority of the wreckage ended up on the opposite side of the ridge.

The official opinion was that the pilot did not know where he was, and that staying under the 3300 foot ceiling caused him to plow into the mountainside which was a few feet above 3300. Also, he did not have permission to be in that particular air space. The entire crew died. There was no sign of parachute usage.

Bad luck was rampant that night. At 0310, Marvin Furch apparently had some difficulties. His aircraft, 42-5313, disintegrated in a fatal collision with the ground. Second Lieutenant Furch took off at 0254 for a planned 1 hour and thirty minute flight. About 0310 the control tower operator, Sgt Dunmire, observed an explosion in the vicinity of the base ammo dump. It was finally found that this was an aircraft and not the base ammo dump. Only 5313 was in that crash and only small pieces of her were found.

Pilot error was determined in both incidents. Lt. Furch’s error was in his transition from contact to instrument flight or vice-versa.

On the up side, both accidents saw such ramifications as having the co-pilot retain one type of flight profile while the pilot transitioned to the next. 42-29500 made it necessary for pilots to take better account of their navigation and know where they were.

(Resources for this post were the accident reports of #42-29500 and #42-5313, both B-17Fs from Ephrata AB)