Douglas A/B-26 Invader

Accidents

	Associated reading Bad day at Biggin Accidents/Mishaps in photos - 1 Accidents/Mishaps in photos - 2 Accidents/Mishaps - Misc The Highball incident A-26 Invader aircraft downed during the cold war A-26B Invaders - Warton - 29th November 1944 "Bombers in the Marsh"     Full list of A/B-26 Invader incidents General pilots Memorial Notable A/B-26 Invader crashes   11th July 1944 An A-26 Invader crash that on July 11, 1944, claiming the lives of 19 people from 9 months to 42 years old. Twenty others were injured. ( See in depth article below ) The crash happened when U.S. Army Lt. Phillip Russell of South Portland lost control of his A-26 invader and crashed into a densely populated trailer park housing World War II shipyard workers. Russell was returning home to visit his wife and 3-month-old daughter, both of whom witnessed the crash from an airport observatory tower. Russell passed the tower and circled back for his runway approach. There were reports from witnesses that smoke and fire was seen coming out of one of the plane's two engines, he said. The plane may have clipped a tree, Kierstead said, before it "Frisbeed" into the trailers, each of which would have had a 55-gallon drum of heating oil or kerosene. " The oil blew up into the atmosphere, became a plasma and caught fire," he said. On 29th November 1944, two A-26 Invader aircraft collided shortly after take-off over marshes close to the then USAAF BAD 2 airbase at Warton in Lancashire. The aircraft, A-26B-10-DT 43-22298 (pilot: 2nd Lt. Kenneth E. Hubbard accompanied by Pvt. John F. Guy) and A-26B-15-DT 43-22336 (2nd Lt. Norman Zuber unaccompanied), had been en route to Brétigny, Oise in northern France to take up service with the 641st Squadron of the 409th Bombardment Group. 28 April 1945 - A-26C-25-DT Invader, 43-22644, assigned at Wright Field, Ohio, crashes into the Choctawhatchee Bay, 3 Miles NE of Fort Walton, Florida after being struck by a bouncing bomb. Dropped at low altitude (~10 feet) the weapon skipped back into the aircraft completely knocking off the tail unit causing the bomber to nose over instantly and crash into the bay. It had taken off from Eglin Field, Florida, on a low level bombing exercise at AAF water range Number 60. 12th July 1945 - Eastern Airlines Flight 45 Collides with a USAFF A-26 Invader Bomber. Eastern Air Lines Flight 45 was in straight flight and letting down at approximately 200 feet per minute toward Columbia, SC. At the same time a US Army Douglas A-26C-35-DT Invader plane (44-35553) was on a training flight in the area. The Army plane had just returned to straight level flight after having been banked 15 degree or 20 degree to the left in a turn of about two miles radius for more than one minute when both aircraft collided. Impact occurred at an altitude of approximately 3100 ft. Initial impact was with the vertical fin of the A-26 against the leading edge of the DC-3's left wing at a point slightly in from the landing light. The fin progressed along this loading edge until it struck the left engine nacelle, tearing loose that engine. This engine then moved to the right sufficiently to allow its still rotating propeller to strike and cut into the fuselage of the DC-3 at a point just behind the baggage compartment door. The top 4-5 feet of the A-26's fin and rudder were broken off and parts of these also struck the DC-3 fuselage. The A-26 crashed out of control and the pilot of the DC-3 was able to carry out an emergency belly landing on a field. See article: http://www.n6cc.com/i-saw-one-go-down Probable cause: " The lack of vigilance on the part of the pilots of both aircraft resulting in the failure of each pilot to see the other aircraft in time to avoid collision."  September 16th 1946 - Twin Falls Airport (Twin Falls, Idaho) - Four crew members were killed when their A-26 Invader crashed while performing a loop during a local airshow. August 9th 1946 - North Montana State Fair (Great Falls, Montana) - Six crew members and people on the ground were killed when two A-26 Invader bombers were invovled in a mid-air collision while flying low over the grandstand area. The wing from one bomber sheared off the tail section of another. One plane landed on a horse barn killing the crew members and people on the ground and the other plane crashed into a field killing the crew members. A third bomber, in the air at the time, was not damaged September 16th 1947 - Crash of Douglas A-26 Invader  in the Big Belt Mountains of Montana  September 16th 1947 April 10th 1948 – Eglin AFB, Florida, suffers second accident in two days when TA-26C Invader, 44-35446, of the 1st Target Towing Squadron, Biggs AFB, El Paso, Texas, goes down in the Gulf of Mexico 2 miles S of Destin, Florida. Two of three crew survive by parachuting from stricken bomber, TDY here for firing exercises over the Gulf. First Lieutenant John Kubo and T/Sgt. Joseph A. Riley (ages, hometowns not given) are rescued by Eglin crash boats. KWF is T/Sgt. John E. Brizendine, officially listed as missing. February 11th 1964 – During an evening airpower demonstration, an B-26 Invader on a strafing pass over Range 52 at Eglin AFB, Florida, loses a wing as it pulls up at ~1945 hrs., with the loss of two crew, both assigned to the 1st Air Commando Wing, Hurlburt Field. KWF are pilot Capt. Herman S. Moore, 34, of 28 Palmetto Drive, Mary Esther, Florida, and navigator Capt. Lawrence L. Lively, 31, of 19 Azalea Drive, Mary Esther, Florida. Moore, originally of Livingston, Montana is survived by his widow, Nancy Lee Moore, and a stepson, John H. Duckworth, 9, and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. William N. Moore, 117 South 10th Street, Livingston. Mrs. Moore is a teacher in the Okaloosa County School system. Lively is survived by his widow, Joan R. Lively. The Invader was participating in a demonstration of the Special Air Warfare Center's counter insurgency capabilities, an activity that had been presented on average of twice each month for the past 21 months. This was the first such accident for SAWC during that period. The USAF subsequently grounds all combat B-26s as the stress of operations now exceed the airframes' abilities. On Mark Engineering Company remanufactures 41 old airframes as one YB-26K and forty B-26Ks with new spars, larger engines and rudders, and new 1964 fiscal year serial numbers which see use in Southeast Asia, and which will be redesignated A-26As for political reasons. October 3rd 1955: Multimillionaire George Shakel and his wife Ann, parents of Ethel Skakel Kennedy (wife of Robert Kennedy), were killed when their refurbished WWII Douglas A-26 Invader bomber ( N67148 ) crashed near Union City, Oklahoma. Witnesses reported seeing the plane flying low with both engines on fire shortly before the crash. The plane's crew also died in the crash. September 21st 1980, ( See feature ) The pilot was Don Bullock, who not only carried his business associate Peter Warren along with 5 passengers in the A-26, but tried to roll the Invader on that fateful day at Biggin Hill International Air Fair. There was no maintenance problems, but the official sources say, you "do not" attempt to roll an Invader, let alone at low-level and definately not with 6 passengers on board. Following the accident, the CAA ruled that only "essential crew" would be carried during air shows and "no passengers". If anyone was found flouting this rule, they risked having their display permit withdrawn. June 22, 1993 - N8036E "My Mary Lou", belonging to the Collings Foundation. The crash happened on take-off in Kankakee, IL and the master cylinder in the #2 engine let go. The aircraft rotated and the gear was just beginning to retract when the engine fully let go and she began to torque roll. Fortunately her right wing tip struck the ground and kept her upright. However this also took about 8 inches of wing tip off and ground the very end of the spar. After hitting her wing tip, she slammed side ways back onto the taxiway and this torqued her entire airframe from the nose to the very last rib in the tail cone. She then proceeded to slide off a berm at the end of the runway and became airborne again before landing one more time in a wheat field and coming to a stop. ( See video ) When she impacted the wheat field her glass nose literally exploded and the metal broke into two halves. The #2 engine broke from its mount and a small fire started but was quickly put out. Her back also broke right behind the gunners compartment and the main landing gear was shoved up through the wells. The entire nosecase from the #1 engine came out and two of the blades did some damage when they seperated. One blade came over the top of the canopy taking off the right hand clam shell while the other bounced down the armor plating inbetweem the fuselage and nacelle. If the power had simply been pulled back or if she had bellied straight ahead, she would have a good chance of flying again, but because she hit sideways she is completely torqued and her spars are also probably cracked from the flexing they took.   The aircraft was almost back to 100% stock. About the only things left to do to her was add the periscope in the gunners compartment, make the turret operable, finish bringing her cockpit back, and then get her 6 gun nose back that she wore in Korea. She was the A-26 raced at Reno and flown around known as "Cotton Ginny". October 16th 2000 - It was during the wing Change of #27 that Air Spray experienced the large hangar fire in Oct.2000. Readying the A/C for wing pull in the hangar, a fuel line was disconnected with residual fuel falling to the floor onto an electrical cord / trouble light. A mechanic went to remove the cord from the pool of fuel, the movement sparked at the connection and ignited the L/H Nacelle area quickly engulfing the wing Aircaft and hangar. Unfortunately the Engineer doing the work, Vance Braden passed away 2 months after due to extensive burns. The fire consumed 7 airplanes, a Douglas B-26 Invader, was destroyed in a hangar fire at the company's Red Deer, Alberta facility. Two other B-26 fuselages and at least four other aircraft were also destroyed. An Airspray F-86 and several nearby PBY Catalinas belonging to Buffalo Airways narrowly escaped the fire. Various major assemblies and all of the Invader inventory, rooms full of parts from decades of storage. The Hangar was an old wooden air force hangar and of course was virtually gone within a couple hours. This and the fact of loosing Vance was the beginning of a terrible year to try and keep the company going. Luckily the owner Don Hamilton wanted to carry on and Forestry gave us a lot of grace in meeting our contract requirements.   Ed Counselman 7-27-43 / 6-2-88 Bill Murray 5-4-52 / 6-26-88 Above is the crash site in Copper Park, where there are three wooden memorial plaques on an adjacent tree which read as follows: ED Councelman 7-27-43 / 6-2-88 BILL Murray 5-4-52 / 6-26-88 In loving memory Our Bill ~ Dad and Mom May 4, 1952 - June 26, 1988 There were numerous ball caps in the wreckage marked "Douglas A-26 Invader". There was also found a very faded circular patch. The surface was almost illegible, but by turning it over and reading it as if in a mirror, you could make out the words, "302 SPECIAL OPERATIONS SQUADRON - ANYWHERE ANYTIME". The central image appeared to be a helicopter diving into a valley. There were wheels and wreckage up in the trees, and other parts over a fairly wide area. No single piece of wreckage was much bigger than a backpack. When the plane struck the mountain, it created a crater about 20 feet across and 10 feet deep filled with debris. We saw about thirty ball caps lying about, as well as pieces of clothing and a pilot-type briefcase. We found the patch described above, and also the plane's radio. See http://www.lns.cornell.edu/~seb/philmont-fhp.html, for more details Serial #: 44-35964 Construction #: 29243 Civil Registration:   N4813E Model(s):   A-26C   B-26C Monarch 26 Name: None Status: Destroyed Last info: 1988   History: Rock Island Oil & Refining Co, Wichita, KS, 1960-1963 - Registered as N4813E. - Planned conversion to Monarch 26 not completed. Aim Aviation Inc, Houston, TX, 1966-1970. Environmental Protection Agency, Las Vegas, NV, 1975-1977. Edward G. Counselman/Combat Air Museum, Topeka, KS, 1984-1988. - Flew in camoflague scheme. - Crashed and destroyed, Cinmarron, NM, June 26, 1988. -- Counselman killed. Note   Evidently, Counselman and Murray had purchased the plane surplus and were flying it to an air show "in Taos". They encountered a violent storm in the Baldy area that disabled their navigation equipment. Knowing that they needed power to clear Baldy, they put the throttles ahead full. Unfortunately, the plane was not level at the time, and instead was nose down. Accordingly they essentially did a full-power dive into the side of French Henry.   NTSB Identification: DEN88FA138 . The docket is stored on NTSB microfiche number 37248. 14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation Accident occurred Sunday, June 26, 1988 in CIMARRON, NM Probable Cause Approval Date: 9/19/1989 Aircraft: DOUGLAS A-26C, registration: N4813E Injuries: 2 Fatal. THE PLT RCVD A WX BRIEFING BEFORE TAKEOFF, BUT DID NOT FILE A FLT PLAN. DRG THE FLT, THE ACFT (DOUGLAS A-26C, N4813E) CRASHED IN MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN AT AN ELEV OF ABOUT 11,200' NEAR BALDY MOUNTAIN. SCOUTING PERSONNEL, WHO WERE CAMPED IN THE VICINITY, RPRTD THE WX WAS POOR WITH A LOW CEILING, RESTRICTED VISIBILITY, RAIN & HAIL. AN EXAM OF THE CRASH SITE REVEALED THE ACFT IMPACTED IN A STEEP, RIGHT WING LOW, NOSE LOW ATTITUDE. MUCH OF THE WRECKAGE COLLAPSED INTO THE IMPACT CRATER. THE DEGREE OF DESTRUCTION WAS CONSISTENT WITH A HIGH SPEED IMPACT. CHORDWISE SCRATCH MARKS WERE FOUND ON THE PROP BLADES. SEVERAL TREE BRANCHES & LIMBS AT THE CRASH SITE HAD SMOOTH CUTS. THE PLT WAS TYPE RATED IN THE A-26, BUT HIS CERTIFICATE HAD A LIMITATION THAT RESTRICTED HIM TO FLYING IT IN 'VFR ONLY.' NEITHER THE PLT NOR THE RATED PASSENGER HELD AN INSTRUMENT RATING. THE RATED PASSENGER DID NOT HAVE A TYPE RATING IN THE A-26, BUT THE PLT POSSESSED A WAIVER TO FLY N4813E AS A SINGLE PLT AIRPLANE. The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows: VFR FLIGHT INTO IMC..CONTINUED..PILOT IN COMMAND AIRCRAFT CONTROL..NOT MAINTAINED..PILOT IN COMMAND SPATIAL DISORIENTATION..PILOT IN COMMAND Contributing Factors LIGHT CONDITION..DUSK VISUAL/AURAL PERCEPTION..PILOT IN COMMAND TERRAIN CONDITION..HIGH TERRAIN WEATHER CONDITION..LOW CEILING WEATHER CONDITION..FOG WEATHER CONDITION..RAIN WEATHER CONDITION..HAIL WEATHER CONDITION..OBSCURATION LACK OF TOTAL INSTRUMENT TIME..PILOT IN COMMAND TERRAIN CONDITION..MOUNTAINOUS/HILLY   In detail   THE PLT RCVD A WX BRIEFING BEFORE TAKEOFF, BUT DID NOT FILE A FLT PLAN. DRG THE FLT, THE ACFT (DOUGLAS A-26C, N4813E) CRASHED IN MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN AT AN ELEV OF ABOUT 11,200' NEAR BALDY MOUNTAIN. SCOUTING PERSONNEL, WHO WERE CAMPED IN THE VICINITY, RPRTD THE WX WAS POOR WITH A LOW CEILING, RESTRICTED VISIBILITY, RAIN & HAIL. AN EXAM OF THE CRASH SITE REVEALED THE ACFT IMPACTED IN A STEEP, RIGHT WING LOW, NOSE LOW ATTITUDE. MUCH OF THE WRECKAGE COLLAPSED INTO THE IMPACT CRATER. THE DEGREE OF DESTRUCTION WAS CONSISTENT WITH A HIGH SPEED IMPACT. CHORDWISE SCRATCH MARKS WERE FOUND ON THE PROP BLADES. SEVERAL TREE BRANCHES & LIMBS AT THE CRASH SITE HAD SMOOTH CUTS. THE PLT WAS TYPE RATED IN THE A-26, BUT HIS CERTIFICATE HAD A LIMITATION THAT RESTRICTED HIM TO FLYING IT IN 'VFR ONLY.' NEITHER THE PLT NOR THE RATED PASSENGER HELD AN INSTRUMENT RATING. THE RATED PASSENGER DID NOT HAVE A TYPE RATING IN THE A-26, BUT THE PLT POSSESSED A WAIVER TO FLY N4813E AS A SINGLE PLT AIRPLANE.         Special extended report on the crash of the South portland crash - See 11th July 1944 incident above at the top of the page.*     July 10, 1994 CITY, FRONT, page 1A TRAGIC MEMORIES OF DEADLY CRASH AT REDBANK AN ARMY BOMBER CRASH TOOK THE LIVES OF 19 PEOPLE 50 YEARS AGO. TODAY, THE IMPACT AND THE MYSTERY REMAIN. Tess Nacelewicz Staff Writer It was to be a storybook wartime reunion. Lt. Philip I. Russell, 23, a handsome former star athlete at South Portland High School, would land his Army bomber at the Portland Municipal Airport after flying all the way from a Louisiana air base. His wife, their 3-month-old daughter in her arms, would rush to hug and kiss him. Other family members would crowd around. A photo of the reunion would run in the paper the next day. But something went terribly wrong. Russell's plane came in surprisingly low over the airport, circled and vanished into a fog bank. Seconds later, the family heard it crash. The bomber had caught its wing on the ground and cartwheeled into the nearby Redbank trailer park, disintegrating and setting 16 trailers on fire. Russell and 18 other people died, most of them young mothers and small children. Instead of a smiling family, the paper the next day carried photos of the charred ruins and a list of the dead and injured. The tragedy on July 11, 1944, still stands as the deadliest air crash in Maine history. Fifty years later, its cause remains a mystery and its impact is still being felt. A look back at the events of that fiery Tuesday offers a glimpse into Mainers' lives during wartime - an era of air-raid drills, mobilized workers and families torn apart by events. Most people today can't pinpoint the site where so many people lost their lives. All trace is gone of the large government-owned trailer park on Westbrook Street, built in 1942 to help house the huge influx of shipyard workers into the area. Less than a mile from what is now the Maine Mall, it was home to about 100 families, including more than 200 children. Directly across Westbrook street from the trailer colony sprawled the new duplexes of Redbank Village. Today those houses are a privately owned complex called South Portland Gardens. Redbank was one of the largest housing projects built during the war. It was erected for military personnel and workers at the South Portland shipyards. Of the 500 homes there, 247 of them were officially dedicated on July 11, 1943, exactly one year before the tragedy. Although christened ``Redbank,'' residents called the place ``Mudbank'' because much of it didn't have grass, recalls Philip G. Roberts, 65, of Falmouth. Roberts and his family moved into 60 MacArthur Circle West in Redbank Village in 1943. In many ways they were typical of its residents. Roberts' father was one of the more than 25,000 workers who built ships for the war effort. The Robertses had been bumped to the top of the waiting list for Redbank Village because their home on Munjoy Hill had been destroyed by fire in February 1943. Roberts' 9-year-old brother, David, was killed in the fire. Memories of that tragedy would be revived when the family witnessed the fiery destruction of the trailers across from their new home. Although the Roberts family has long roots in Portland, they had at one point moved to Houlton. Like many families from all over New England, they came to the Portland area during the war for jobs. Shipyard workers earned $1.50 an hour, big money back then. Some came from areas so rural that they didn't know how to use flush toilets, said Marietta E. Burrows, 59, of Cresskill, N.J., Roberts' sister. A lot of the residents of Redbank Village and the trailer park were at home on July 11, 1944. It was just past 4:30 p.m. and almost time for supper. In one trailer, Vina Hannan, 18, was about to put a steak on. Hannan was a mother's helper for Hazel V. Little, 24, a shipbuilder whose husband had been drafted. Little was in another room of the trailer as were her two children, James, 4, and Nancy, who was about 2. Hannan was chatting in Little's kitchen with Rita Robertson, 24, a next-door neighbor. Robertson earlier had prepared her husband's favorite meal, stew, for supper. Her 3-year-old daughter, Ann Marie, whom everyone called ``Penny,'' was probably playing outside Little's trailer. Robertson's 10-month-old son, George J. Robertson Jr., was home asleep in his crib. Her husband, George J. Robertson, 28, most likely was in the trailer with the baby. The world of those eight people was about to erupt in flames. A foggy day for reunion As Hannan and Robertson talked, a family gathering was taking place at the airport, about three quarters of a mile away on Westbrook Street. Lt. Philip Russell's relatives were waiting to welcome him home. Russell, whom everybody called ``Phee,'' was well-known in South Portland. Outgoing and popular, he had played basketball, baseball and football at the high school and was outstanding in all three sports. He had graduated in 1939, briefly attended the University of Maine, and held a job for a short time before entering the Army Air Forces. Russell was commissioned a second lieutenant in June 1943 and shortly afterward became a flight instructor at Barksdale Field in Louisiana. For the flight that would be his last, Russell had departed the base in an A-26B-5 Invader, a twin-engine attack bomber that was only three months old. The military report on the accident says he was on a long-range training mission. The bomber usually had a crew of three. But Russell was accompanied by only the flight engineer, Staff Sgt. Wallace Mifflin of Seattle. Marilyn Lowell, Russell's 12-year-old cousin, was among those waiting for him. Lowell, who now lives in Waldoboro, says she had been told that Russell was on a cross-country trip to test the plane and had gotten permission to visit his family on the way. Also waiting for Russell at the airport was his wife, Alma Sears Russell, 23, and the couple's 3-month-old baby, Patricia Ann. Alma Sears had been Russell's high school classmate and sweetheart before they married in June 1943. She had been with her husband at Barksdale Field until just two days before the crash. She seemed to know something about planes. ``We heard Phee's voice on the communication system when the ship circled over the airport . . . and Alma, noticing how low the ship was flying, said the plane was in serious trouble,'' a family member said at the time. The military accident report says the plane's altitude was about 200 feet. The report also says that the ceiling was 500 feet. A tower spokesman at the time said Russell's plane had arrived at 4:41 p.m. - five minutes earlier than scheduled. In one sense, however, it was six minutes late - the airport had been officially closed at 4:35 p.m. because of fog. `An awful noise' It is hard to determine just how foggy it was that overcast afternoon. Witnesses said they could see the plane as it circled the airport. The Army's accident report says visibility was 2 miles in fog. All accounts agree that a fog bank was rising to the south of the airport. A map included in the accident report shows the fog just over the trailer park. According to newspaper reports of the crash, the tower told Russell to climb to 1,500 feet when he asked for landing instructions. The operator, who later said he was prepared to reroute the plane to New Hampshire, reported that Russell disappeared into a fog bank and crashed without responding. Russell had been in contact with the control tower for less than a minute. The witnesses to those crucial seconds included an airport mechanic, Guy Walker. He said the plane came in going directly north over the hangar and administration building and circled the field in a tight bank. ``The fog was rolling in at the south end of the field and the plane ran right into it. That was the last we saw of the ship,'' Walker said. ``Fifteen seconds later, we heard the motors stop and almost simultaneously we saw flames shoot 100 feet into the air.'' The fog was like a curtain separating the airport from the trailer park. But Russell's family could imagine the horror that lay on the other side. Alma Russell fainted when the sound of the explosion reached her. On the Redbank side of the curtain, Philip G. Roberts, then 15, was going home for supper after swimming with friends at Clark's Pond. ``Somebody said, `Boy, there's a low one.' Then, boom,'' Roberts said. He dashed to his home on MacArthur Circle and got his Brownie box camera. He took some of the first pictures of the crash, capturing the flames and the thick black columns of smoke. His sister, Marietta Burrows, says it reminded her of the scenes on war picture cards that came with bubblegum at the time. Witnesses said the plane ``swung around in an arc to escape the administration building and in about 15 seconds a ripping crash resounded and flickering tongues of fire blazed high in the air,'' according to an account in the Evening Express. ``The plane struck an embankment and bounced and pitched over rough soil.'' Directly in its path was Hazel Little's trailer. Hannan, the mother's helper who was starting supper, said she was alerted to the crash by ``an awful noise.'' ``I was thrown onto the floor with fire all around me,'' Hannan said from her hospital bed. ``I saw the floor caving in around me and I could see down through right under the trailer as I lay there. I got up and grabbed Jimmie (James Little, 4) in my arms and ran out and put him down. ``I saw the little girl (Nancy Little, about 2) outside with her clothing afire. I ripped off her dress and beat out the fire from her other clothes with my hands. Her burned skin came off on my arm.'' Hannan said Rita Robertson, the visiting neighbor, ``was crying for her baby. We found him at the hospital.'' Hazel Little died in the crash. Her two children, Nancy and James, died the next day at Maine General Hospital, now called Maine Medical Center. Hannan survived with facial burns. But Rita Robertson's 10-month-old son, George J. Robertson Jr., would die of his injuries that evening. Rita died the next day. Rita's 3-year-old girl, Penny, had arm burns but survived. She wonders today how she and her father managed to escape. He could never bring himself to talk to her about the events. Victims trapped, helpless The family of Charles Mitchell, a neighbor who help pull Nancy Little from the fire, was much more fortunate. Mitchell had been knocked from his trailer when a wing of the plane hit the home. He was able to run back in and carry out his 3-year-old son, Edward. His wife, who saw the crash while standing at the back door, rescued their 18-month-old son, James. ``I saw the wing strike first,'' she said afterward, ``and then there was a terrific explosion and burst of flame that stunned me for a moment.'' One of the twin engines of the plane ripped through a trailer, barely missing a woman and two children. The engine remained airborne for another 200 feet and tore through the corner of a second trailer 75 yards from where the plane struck. The engine was found partly buried in the ground in front of a third trailer. Airport officials had called the police ambulance and the fire department as soon as they realized the plane was down. ``The buildings went up like tissue paper,'' Francis Demarino, a South Portland fire captain, said at the time. ``We couldn't see anything because of the smoke. At first all we could do was play water on the edges of the area.'' Many victims were helpless. ``Trapped in their homes, the trailer residents . . . were burned to death by flaming gasoline,'' the Press Herald reported. The trailer camp manager said that 16 of the camp's 100 trailers had been destroyed by the fire and explosion. About a dozen others were damaged by flying parts of the plane that were hurled as far as 100 yards. Ernest ``Jim'' Darling, now 82, of South Portland, was the first South Portland police officer to reach the scene. ``It was a horror show, I tell you,'' he said 50 years later. He was patrolling nearby when he got a call that there had been a crash. ``When I got there, it was just a bunch of screaming people and a wall of red flame on the right,'' Darling said. He stood at MacArthur Circle and Westbrook Street and directed traffic. So many sightseers and concerned relatives had rushed to the scene that ambulances were having trouble getting through. The body of the pilot was not found until 9:30 that evening, Darling said. ``Russell's body was found beneath the flooring of a trailer,'' the newspaper reported. ``Firemen said he had evidently been blown through a window of the trailer's foundation. Mifflin's body (the flight engineer) was found near an open parachute among the trailers and several hundred feet from where the plane finally came to rest. No one reported seeing anyone parachute from the plane but the two chutes were found opened near the bodies.'' Five bodies were so charred that the county medical examiner asked the Portland Evening Express to run detailed descriptions the next day in hope that relatives would recognize them. By July 14, 18 people were confirmed dead. The 19th and final victim, Shirley May Brown, 34, would die in August of severe burns. Reports on the number of injured varied, but it appears that at least a dozen were hurt. About 60 people were made homeless, 30 of them children. Souvenir hunters Even as survivors wandered around in shock, sightseers were seeking mementos of the crash. ``People were souvenir-hunting while they were carrying out bodies,'' said Darling, the police officer. Charles Merrill of South Portland, then 16, was one of those souvenir hunters. He was working as a salesman at Benoit's Prep Hall at Monument Square in Portland when he heard about the crash on the radio. He rushed out of work, hopped on a Redbank bus and was there within a half hour. Merrill, now a retired Press Herald photographer, said ``it was a nightmarish scene.'' He remembers that a woman who lived in the trailer park was on the bus, terrified about what awaited her. The bus took outer Congress Street to Westbrook Street, which extended into Portland before the airport expanded. ``When we got there,'' Merrill said, ``the police stopped the bus momentarily. She looked out and screamed `Oh, no!' and she took her hands and parted those doors. I went right out behind her.'' He wandered around looking for keepsakes. He found small twisted pieces of green metal, parts of the disintegrated plane. As he was passing a trailer, he saw a hose sticking out. He pulled on it and out came part of the fuel pressure control system for the plane. The device controlled how much fuel went to the left and right engines. Later that evening Merrill and a friend went back to the scene and found the plane's propeller. They were walking off with it, wondering how they would get it home on their bicycles, when ``a policeman or an Army security person said, `Drop that!' and we did.'' The next day it was announced that four agencies were investigating the accident: the Army, the FBI, the state attorney general's office and the city of Portland. However, the plane's instrument panel had been taken the night of the crash and threatened to derail the investigations. ``Only through an inspection of this vital instrument . . . did any hope exist that the cause of the plane's fate might ever be known,'' the newspaper reported. Two days after the accident, the panel was turned over to Portland police by a man from the Deering district who said he had taken it as a souvenir. Merrill worried that his find also might be crucial to the investigation. He was so scared that he took all his souvenirs and buried them in a shoebox under the woodpile in the basement of his parents' house. He didn't remove it until he came across it again in 1979 when his mother was moving out. Trying to forget The results of all the official investigations of the crash apparently have never been disclosed. After the initial stories, the newspaper wrote little more about the event. The most significant follow-up was a brief story in 1946 saying that the U.S. government had agreed to pay a total of $72,000 to the injured and to the families of the 17 civilians killed. It is not surprising that no one ever pressed for more information about the causes of the crash. It was wartime, a few weeks past D-Day, and the tragedy paled in comparison to what was happening in Europe. ``There is no particular point in assessing blame,'' the Press Herald editorialized two days after the crash. ``This is the only near-approach to war conditions that Portland may ever have to make. . . . we had a brief glimpse of what has been going on in many hundreds of European cities and towns on a vast scale.'' And crashes of military planes in the state were common. At least half the U.S. planes that ended up in Europe during the war traveled there by way of Maine. They went through Canada to Greenland and Iceland before reaching England, according to Archie DiFante, an archivist with the Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. Leo Boyle, the head of the Maine Aviation Historical Society, said there have been more than 1,700 plane crashes in Maine, a number of them during the course of the war. In fact, a B-17 Flying Fortress crashed in the Rangeley region on the same day that Russell's plane crashed in Redbank. The entire 10-man crew was found dead. But perhaps the most compelling reason that the tragedy quickly receded from the public memory was that it was too painful to talk about. Darling, the police officer, said people of that era did their best to put the memories of such terrible events out of their minds and get on with their lives. ``You buried them,'' he said, ``because that was what you were supposed to do.''       An altenate viewpoint by Robert Dyke   Maine History Told by Mainers Plane Crash in South Portland, 1944 Submitted March 10, 2003 by Robert Dyke I would like to comment on the plane crash in South Portland in July 1944, across from Redbank on Westbrook Street, as one of the few true witnesses to that event. On that day my father, brother and myself were haying on the extreme northwest corner of the farm, known as the Dyke Farm very close to Crockett Corner which is Westbrook Street and Broadway. The aircraft in question had made several passes over us on a north south axis flying very low, his southerly flight path would have taken him toward the Scarborough beaches. There wasn't any problem with weather, ceiling, or fog on his last fly over.  My father said off hand, "he better gain some altitude", and seconds later it crashed. The offical report was flawed in many ways about the actual event. The report had the aircraft flying on the north side of Long Creek and turning for the airport. The aircraft never flew that approach, it was much too sharp a radius for that aircraft and would have required him to fly in a complete circle. His flight path over us would not have allowed a straight in landing. Being familiar with the approach of commerical aircraft at the time, said plane was too far west. Commercial aircraft flew directly over our house, which was quite a bit up Westbrook street. The report said he flew into a fog bank.  We were very familiar with fog and how it would roll in Fore River and Long Creek first.  As I said before, we were haying, and farmers don't hay in the fog.  We were only yards from Long Creek and there wasn't any fog there. The report said the pilot was "hotdogging" flying over the runway, waving to people on the ground, which in itself says there wasn't fog over the runway. I believe the pilot was confused by the appearance of Redbank, which wasn't there when he left for the service, and was trying to approach the runway west of Redbank. There wasn't any reason for that pilot to fly that aircraft into the ground that day, weather wasn't a factor at all that day. Due to the many flyovers he made I believe he ran out of fuel, and I also believe on his last flyover his engines didn't have the same hum to them that that previous passes had. We were at the crash site in a matter of minutes, long before fire trucks and reporters were there. We left shortly after the fire trucks arrived in order to get back to the farm to finish haying, there was nothing we could do at the crash site to help. That was a terrible sight and that's why I remember the event so well.   THE VICTIMS 1. Lt. Philip I. Russell, 23, of South Portland. Pilot. 2. S/Sgt. Wallace Mifflin of Seattle, Wash. Flight engineer. 3. (Family:) Clarence S. Hume Jr., 36 4. Edna M. Hume, 33 5. John Hume, 2 6. (Married couple:) Florence Gorham, 34 or 40 7. Gordon T. Gorham, 42 or 44 8. (Family:) Edward A. Gerrish, (also referred to as Alfred E. Gerrish), 31 or 32, shipyard worker from Orono 9. Virginia M. Wescott Gerrish, 26 10. Roberta Gerrish, 7 11. Rose M. Gerrish, 4 12. (Mother and son:) Rita M. Deschaine Robertson, 24 13. George Joseph Robertson, 10 months 14. (Mother and children:) Hazel V. Little, 24 15. James Little, 4 16. Nancy Little, about 2 17. (Mother and daughter:) Jennie Allen, 52 18. Virginia Warren, 32 (mother of two children) 19. Shirley May Brown, 34 (mother of four children) See the original story here

	USAF Douglas B-26 (A-26) Invader / 8811B on Sorn At the time of the accident, B-26 Invader 8811B was on a ferry flight from the USA via Reykjavik, Iceland and Prestwick, Scotland to France. The aircraft was intended for use by Free French Air Force in Indo-China in their war against the Viet Minh. This B-26, therefore, was bearing French roundels. Clarification from Davy Wilson, Auchinleck: "Hi martin my name is Davy Wilson and I live a few miles from the Invader crash site at sorn. Since I was young the invader was my favorite plane, imagine my surprise, when in 1988 I found one had crashed close to home. I look on your site regularly, and the detail ,and research are amazing, you have spent a lot of time on this. but, I am surprised you have put up the info from the air crashes scotland site as it is full of flaws, the main one being it wasnt a free french aircraft going to Vietnam , it was a French Armee d air aircraft going to Algeria ( the french pulled out of indo china in 1954. ) I researched this plane in as much detail as I could, back in the early 90s, I spoke to the police sargent who was first on scene and it was him who gave me all the photos which are on the internet, from the sorn history site, these people got them from the local library, who I gave on the understanding, I would be credited for it, but hum ho. The one thing you see on the originals you cant see in copies is the serial no 43-22346, in most books this plane is stated as having crashed in Algeria in November of 1956, I cant get the record for this serial but I believe it served at the end of WW2 with 13th BS of the 3rd BG (based on the red tail markings of the wreck ) it would have definently have served in Korea , and it was later sent to Indo China in 1953 for its first serve with the French, it was returned to Clarke AFB ,returned to the US then sent to the UK when it crashed. I hope this info is helpful to you as I believe such a good site deserves the right info." Davy Wilson, Auchinleck This B-26 Invader was being flown by two US civilian crew employed by Fleetways Incorporated, Fleetways Incorporated Specialised in aircraft ferry flights. This company had been retained by the US Government to operate ferry flights on behalf of the USAF. After refuelling at Meeks Field / Patterson Field (Reykjavik-Keflavik Airport) Iceland, the B-26 was scheduled to make a stopover at Prestwick Airport. When Prestwick ATC had provided clearance to land, the pilot began his descent toward the airport. However, while still a few miles distant from the airport, Air Traffic Control lost contact with the B-26, both from their radio transmissions and also on their radar screens. As soon as it was realised that the aircraft had crashed, Prestwick ATC issued an alert to the search and rescue services. Teams were assembled from Catrine, Sorn, and Darvel to join in the search. USAF personnel based at Prestwick were advised of the situation and joined in the search for the missing aircraft. Mr. J. Anderson and his wife, the owners of Weitshaw Farm, Sorn, had seen a glare in the sky and then heard reports of a missing aircraft. Shortly afterward, police and rescue services arrived in their farmyard. Mr. Anderson was able to tell them what he had seen. Then, the local police and the USAF rescue teams proceeded to that area a few miles away over rough and boggy moorland. After searching in the darkness for about 5 hours, the wreckage was found eventually, partially buried in very boggy ground at Avon Head near Distinkhorn. The search parties soon discovered that fire had engulfed the B-26 shortly after impact. There were no survivors. Due to the boggy ground and inaccessibly of the site for road vehicles, it was not possible to recover the bodies except by using the accompanying search and rescue helicopter.  However, high winds prevented the helicopter from making an immediate recovery, and this had to be postponed until the winds had abated. The crew who died in this accident were: Edgar Joseph Flanagan (38) Collingswood, NJ (Pilot) Wayne Archer Taylor (32) Lamissa, CA (Navigator) Possible Cause Unconfirmed reports state that 'instrument failure' was the primary cause of this accident. The above photos are courtesy of Davy Wilson, Auchinleck

	Below, a B-26 which had been based at Grand Central Air Terminal in Glendale.   One person had been in the house, but both pilots lived. They had taken off and lost an engine cowling; they shut down the engine, but left gear and flaps down. The airplane was too dirty to fly and came down about 5 miles away.  To see the original article, go to Paul Antons site at Go to Paul Anton's site for details.   The aircraft, possibly 41-39527 (c/n 7240) to civil registry as N65Y, at the crash site crash near Burbank, CA Jan 1954

	August 11, 1974. Pilot/firefighter Eric Yuill crashed into the steep talus slope of Stoyoma Mountain in heavy cloud, while water bombing a nearby forest fire. Almost 40 years later there is still much to see of this crash site. The site can be accessed by driving to Cabin lake (4x4 only) and then hiking the 5 km from the lake to the crash site. Site is only accessible in late summer/early fall due to its high elevation of around 6500', the rest of the year the site is snow covered. It was a beautiful labour day weekend that I made the trip out to the plane. Serial #: 41-39398 Construction #: 7111 Civil Registration: N91317 CF-DFC Model(s): A-26B B-26B B-26C Name: None Status: Destroyed Last info: 1974 History: Delivered to USAAF as 41-39398 - Stored at Davis Monthan AFB, AZ, Feb. 1957. Greg Board/AeroAssociates Inc, Tucson, AZ, 1965. - Registered as N91317. - Planned sale to Portuguese AF, not completed. Allied Aircraft Sales, Phoenix, AZ, 1966. Flight Enterprises Inc, Prescott, AZ, 1969-1970. Conair Aviation Ltd, Abbottsford, BC, May 1971-1974. - Registered as CF-DFC. - Flew as tanker #24. - Crash landed Prince George, BC, Aug. 10, 1971. - Destroyed in crash, Stoyoma Mountain, BC, Aug. 11, 1974.

	Data supplied by NSTB Douglas A-26 Invader Current Synopsis PDF Report(s) (Published) Event Date Estimated Release Location Make/Model Regist. Number NTSB No. Event Severity   Probable Cause Factual Probable Cause (12/04/1992) 6/7/1991 12/4/1992 CHICKAMAUGA, GA DOUGLAS A-26B N9150 ATL91FA108B Fatal(2)   Probable Cause Factual Probable Cause (09/19/1989) 6/26/1988 9/19/1989 CIMARRON, NM DOUGLAS A-26C N4813E DEN88FA138 Fatal(2)   Probable Cause Factual (02/06/1995) Probable Cause (02/06/1995) 3/17/1985   LAWTON, OK DOUGLAS A-26B N142ER FTW85LA151 Nonfatal   Probable Cause   2/9/1978   CHINO, CA DOUGLAS A-26B N99218 LAX78FUG16 Nonfatal   Probable Cause   8/8/1976   GRAND JUNCTION, CO DOUGLAS A-26B N3427G DEN76AD062 Fatal(1)   Probable Cause   7/16/1976   GRAND VALLEY, CO DOUGLAS A-26B N5426E DEN76AD058 Fatal(1)   Probable Cause   7/4/1972   MANILA,ASIA, Philippines DOUGLAS A-26B N4000K OAK73DJY09 Nonfatal   Probable Cause   10/20/1971   HUTCHINSON, KS DOUGLAS A-26C N6841D MKC72DCQ35 Nonfatal   Probable Cause   12/19/1970   BEIRUT, Lebanon DOUGLAS A-26 N40XY EU170DYZ02 Incident   Probable Cause   8/27/1970   MAYAGUEZ,PR, PR DOUGLAS A-26C N1221 MIA71AM018 Nonfatal   Probable Cause   5/16/1969   SILVER CITY, NM DOUGLAS A-26C N9301R DEN69F0241 Nonfatal   Probable Cause   11/26/1968   CHICAGO, IL DOUGLAS A-26B N919P CHI69A0057 Nonfatal   Probable Cause   7/3/1968   RESEDA, CA DOUGLAS A-26B N8394H LAX69A0002 Fatal(2)   Probable Cause   3/16/1968   KANSAS CITY, KS DOUGLAS A-26 N61B MKC68F0538 Nonfatal   Probable Cause   7/6/1967   TULSA, OK DOUGLAS A-26C N910H FTW68A0001 Nonfatal   Probable Cause   11/26/1966   DORCHESTER, GA DOUGLAS A-26B N3157G MIA67A0061 Nonfatal   Probable Cause   10/29/1966   HOMER, AK DOUGLAS A-26 N4824E ANC67A0043 Nonfatal   Probable Cause   8/18/1966   LA GRANDE, OR DOUGLAS A-26B N7719C SEA67A0015 Nonfatal   Probable Cause   3/12/1966   PHOENIX, AZ DOUGLAS A-26B N161Q DEN66A0064 Nonfatal   Probable Cause   12/6/1965   SAN ANTONIO, TX DOUGLAS A-26 N507WB FTW66A0055 Nonfatal   Probable Cause   9/17/1965   SCOTTSBLUFF, NE DOUGLAS A-26 N67907 MKC66A0019 Fatal(3)   Probable Cause   7/8/1965   SAN ANTONIO, TX DOUGLAS A-26B N500M FTW66A0003 Nonfatal   Probable Cause   8/20/1964   MADISON, WI DOUGLAS A-26B N4050A Unknown Nonfatal     Douglas B-26 Invader Current Synopsis PDF Report(s) (Published) Event Date Estimated Release Location Make/Model Regist. Number NTSB No. Event Severity   Probable Cause Factual (08/04/1994) Probable Cause (10/20/1994) 6/27/1993 10/20/1994 KANKAKEE, IL DOUGLAS B-26B N8036E CHI93DEE02 Nonfatal   Probable Cause Factual (02/06/1995) Probable Cause (02/06/1995) 8/17/1985   PATTONVILLE, TX DOUGLAS TB-26B N190M FTW85LA324 Nonfatal   Probable Cause Factual (02/06/1995) Probable Cause (02/06/1995) 3/5/1983   HUBBARDS FORK, KY DOUGLAS B-26C N4060A ATL83FA127 Fatal(1)   Probable Cause Factual Probable Cause (06/02/1983) 6/2/1982 6/2/1983 DUBOIS, PA DOUGLAS RB-26C N3428G NYC82DA114 Nonfatal   Probable Cause   3/3/1981   EDWARDS AFB, CA DOUGLAS B-26 N9417H LAX81FA054 Fatal(3)   Probable Cause   3/2/1980   GEORGETOWN, CA DOUGLAS B-26C N4204A LAX80FA060 Fatal(4)   Probable Cause   6/28/1975   BILLINGS, MT DOUGLAS B-26 N4818E SEA75FTA22 Nonfatal   Probable Cause   8/1/1974   BOISE, ID DOUGLAS B-26 N91354 SEA75AS006 Fatal(2)   Probable Cause   7/10/1973   IDAHO FALLS, ID DOUGLAS B-26B N5426E SEA74FYA03 Nonfatal   Probable Cause   5/4/1971   SPRNGRVILLE, AZ DOUGLAS B-26 N86469 LAX71FUJ99 Fatal(1)   Probable Cause   6/28/1969   AMES, IA DOUGLAS B-26C N91356 MKC70F0039 Nonfatal   Probable Cause   5/10/1969   LOS ANGELES, CA DOUGLAS B-26B N9405Z LAX70F0043 Fatal(4)   Probable Cause   6/22/1968   SHOW LOW, AZ DOUGLAS B-26 N8629E LAX69F0014 Nonfatal   Probable Cause   12/8/1967   OKLAHOMA CTY, OK DOUGLAS B-26 N6840D FTW68A0061 Nonfatal   Probable Cause   1/28/1965   OKLAHOMA CTY, OK DOUGLAS B-26 N202R FTW65A0078 Nonfatal

	1. Search A-26 Invader accidents - USA   This list represents aircraft accidents that occured on a state by state basis.    This page contains both minor and major aircraft accidents that occured both on and off of flying fields but does not record all accidents involving A-26 Invaders during the war.   Type in your search to acquire the results for the year of location   1918-1943      1944-1955 AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY DC

	2. Search A-26 Invader accidents in Europe   1942-1944        1945-1955   ADRIATIC SEA ALBANIA AUSTRIA BALTIC SEA BELGIUM BULGARIA CORSICA CRETE CYPRUS CZECHOSLOVAKIA DENMARK ENGLISH CHANNEL FINLAND FRANCE GERMANY GIBRALTER GREECE HUNGARY ICELAND IRELAND ITALY LUXEMBOURG MALTA MEDITERRANEAN NETHERLANDS NORTH SEA NORWAY POLAND PORTUGAL ROMANIA RUSSIA SARDINIA SICILY SPAIN SWEDEN SWITZERLAND UNITED KINGDOM YUGOSLAVIA

	3. Search A-26 Invader incident serial numbers 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 RAF-Lend Lease Information supplied by Accident-Report.com

	4. Canadian A-26 Invader - Air tanker accidents   Simon Beauchamp - Airspray Ltd. Tanker 9, C-GWJG, Watson Lake, Yukon. 01 07 1982 Howard Joseph Rowe - Conair Aviation Ltd. Tanker 24, Pemberton, British Columbia. 02 07 1975 Eric J. Yuill - Conair Aviation Ltd. Tanker 24, CF-DFC, Boston Bar, British Columbia. 11 08 1974 Lloyd B. Rauw - Conair Aviation Ltd. Tanker 23, Clinton, British Columbia. 07 08 1974   canadian fallen firefighters foundation