Pan Am Flight 845/26
Pan American World Airways Boeing 377 Stratocruiser 10-26 · Engine separation, water ditching
From Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA) to Sydney, Australia
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 4 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 19
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 19
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Boeing 377 Stratocruiser 10-26
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 377
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N1032V
- Operator
- Pan American World Airways
- Onboard fatalities
- 4
- Route
- From Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA)To Sydney, Australia
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Pan Am Flight 845/26 was a four-engined Boeing 377 Stratocruiser named Clipper United States and registered as N1032V. It departed Portland International Airport in Oregon on a flight to Honolulu International Airport in Hawaii on 26 March 1955. The aircraft was en route and about 35 mi off the Oregon coast when at 11:12 Pacific Standard Time the No. 3 engine and propeller tore loose from the wing causing a loss of control. The aircraft was ditched.
The aircraft floated for twenty minutes before sinking in 1600 m of water. Approximately two hours after the aircraft ditched, the United States Navy attack transport USS Bayfield (APA-33) arrived on the scene and rescued the 19 survivors. Four people died.
The probable cause was failure of No. 3 propeller which caused the engine to detach and the aircraft to become uncontrollable.
The experience provided lessons that helped prevent any casualties in another ditching the following year, when Pan Am Flight 6 sank between Honolulu and San Francisco.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Pan Am Flight 845/26” (revision 1359338352, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Pan Am Flight 845/26
- Article
- Pan Am Flight 845/26
- Revision
- 1359338352 · 2026-06-14 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q7129574
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Pan Am Flight 845/26" (page 18136196, revision 1359338352)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- flight number in the article title
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.