1950 Fairfield-Suisun Boeing B-29 crash

Northeast of San Francisco, California, on 5 August 1950, a United States Air Force Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber carrying a Mark 4 nuclear bomb crashed shortly after takeoff from Fairfield-Suisun Air Force Base with 20 men on board. Twelve men were killed in the crash, including the commander of the 9th Bombardment Wing, Brigadier General Robert F. Travis, and another seven were killed on the ground when the aircraft exploded. The base was later renamed for Travis.

Accident

In July 1950, soon after the outbreak of the Korean War, the Joint Chiefs of Staff resolved to send ten Silverplate (nuclear-capable) Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers to Guam as a deterrent to a People's Republic of China (PRC) attack on Taiwan, (Republic of China), and for possible future use in Korea, each loaded with a Mark 4 nuclear bomb without the fissile pit. There were twenty passengers and crewmen on board B-29 44-87651 of the 99th Bombardment Squadron when it commenced takeoff from runway 21L at Fairfield-Suisun at 22:00 on Saturday, 5 August 1950, including the commander of the 9th Bombardment Wing, Brigadier General Robert F. Travis; ten men in the forward compartment and ten in the rear. The aircraft was piloted by Captain Eugene Q. Steffes, with First Lieutenant Carter W. Johnson as his co-pilot and Technical Sergeant Donald W. Moore as his flight engineer.

As the aircraft reached a speed of 125 mph about three-quarters of the way down the 8000 ft runway with the propellers rotating at 2,800 rpm, the number two (port inboard) propeller suddenly went up to 3,500 rpm. Steffes ordered the propeller feathered and the aircraft lifted off at an airspeed of 155 mph, then number three (starboard inboard) propeller suddenly went to 3,500 rpm. Moore reduced its speed to 2,800 rpm by reducing the manifold pressure. Steffes attempted to retract the landing gear by moving the gear switch to the "up" position but the gear did not respond; with the undercarriage still extended, drag reduced the aircraft's airspeed to 145 mph. Steffes checked the landing gear fuse; finding it satisfactory, he attempted to raise the gear again, but the gear motors did not operate.

Unable to accelerate, the aircraft would not be able to clear terrain ahead, so Steffes initiated a 180-degree turn to head back for an emergency landing. The tower cleared him to land on runway 21L, and crash crews were alerted. The aircraft turned around but lost altitude, Steffes asked Johnson to help him with the controls, and Moore reported more trouble with number three engine. Steffes allowed the aircraft to drift to the left to avoid a nearby trailer park, and the aircraft struck the ground at 120 mph.

The aircraft broke apart in the crash, and burst into flames, the entire nose section breaking off. The escape hatches there were jammed and would not open, but passengers and crew were able to exit through a hole in the nose caused by the crash, and through a window from which the commander and co-pilot removed the plexiglas. Travis was thrown clear from the wreckage but died from his injuries on his way to a hospital. One other man in the forward section, Staff Sergeant Joseph Prachniak, was also fatally injured. All ten people in the rear compartment died in the crash. Only one of the twenty aircraft occupants, First Lieutenant C.E. Boyce, escaped uninjured.

Four men were on duty in the base bake shop near where the forward section came to rest. They immediately ran to assist. They heard cries for help from the nose section, and helped to remove eight men from the wreckage. Firefighters arrived on the scene, as did military police and spectators. When.50 caliber ammunition started to "cook off", Sergeant Lewis Siqueira, who was in charge of the bake shop detail, ordered his men out of the area. Sergeant Paul P. Ramoneda started to do so, but then turned back to help men still trapped in the burning aircraft. Lieutenant Colonel Raymond E. Holsey, the highest-ranking officer on the scene, feared the 5000 lb of explosives in the Mark 4 would explode. He ordered the large crowd of rescuers and onlookers to get clear, and told the firefighters to let it burn. The firefighters and onlookers did not comply.

About 20 minutes after the crash, the high explosives in the bomb detonated, spreading wreckage and burning fuel over a 2 sqmi area. The explosion blew a crater in the ground 20 yd across and 6 ft deep. An additional seven people who were not part of the crew died on the ground in the explosion, including Ramoneda and five firefighters. All of the base's fire trucks were destroyed, along with dozens of private vehicles in the nearby trailer park, which was set on fire. Some 49 people were admitted to the hospital, while another 124 were treated for minor injuries. Two women had their right feet amputated.