1943 Whenuapai Consolidated Liberator crash
United Air Lines under contract with United States Army Air Force Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express · Controlled flight into terrain
From RNZAF Base Auckland-Whenuapai (NZWP) to RAAF Base Amberley (YAMB)
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
- 16 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 30
- Survivors
- 14
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
- Military
Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express
- Aircraft type
- Consolidated C-87
- 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
- 41-24027
- Onboard fatalities
- 16
- Route
- From RNZAF Base Auckland-Whenuapai (NZWP)To RAAF Base Amberley (YAMB)
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
The 1943 Whenuapai Consolidated Liberator crash was an aircraft accident that occurred in New Zealand on 2 August 1943 during World War II. The Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express was owned by the USAAF and was crewed by United Air Lines.
Accident
The Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express aircraft was transferring Japanese men, women, and children of the Consular Corps, to exchange for Allied POWs. On 2 August 1943, it took off from Whenuapai Aerodrome runway 04 at 2:20 am, with rain and fog conditions at minimums for departure, and quickly passed through low stratus. Captain Herschel Laughlin's gyro horizon had inadvertently been left caged – while the instrument displayed level flight, the aircraft entered a steepening bank to the left. The crew detected the problem in a few seconds, but as the aircraft was straightening up and levelling out, it hit the ground at about 322 km/h, bounced a few times and exploded. The third bounce threw its first officer, R. John Wisda, out through the canopy; he rolled end over end about 100 m through mud and reeds. A medic later found him trying to keep warm near a burning tyre. R. John Wisda survived the crash. The major factors of the accident were the lack of a pre-flight checklist, and crew fatigue (126 flying hours in the last 26 days).
Text from the Wikipedia article “1943 Whenuapai Consolidated Liberator crash” (revision 1360202595, 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: 1943 Whenuapai Consolidated Liberator crash
- Revision
- 1360202595 · 2026-06-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q4565226
- 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 "1943 Whenuapai Consolidated Liberator crash" (page 22487765, revision 1360202595)
- 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
- operator named as an armed force or military unit in the infobox
- 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.