Monte Capanne air disasters (1944)

On 4 April 1944 two Bell P-39 Airacobras belonging to the 347th Fighter Squadron, a fighter unit assigned to the Twelfth Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), took off from the American base at Ghisonaccia in Corsica for a weather reconnaissance flight over the Livorno area. The two aircraft, which made up the Dilute Purple Section, were flown by the young second lieutenants Milton Harber (section leader) and Robert Boyd.

The accident

The two P39N fighters were proceeding in parallel over the sea, with Lieutenant Milton Harber's aircraft in the lead at a slightly higher altitude and his wingman Robert Boyd slightly offset to the right, below. Visibility was very poor, with fog banks and low clouds. For reasons that can never be established with certainty, the two American aircraft, at around 11:30, instead of proceeding towards Livorno leaving the island of Capraia on their right, headed decisively towards the island of Elba. It can be hypothesised that a series of mistaken assessments may have led the pilots to believe that the uncertain outline of the island of Montecristo, which had appeared on the right among the clouds, might be the island of Capraia and that therefore there was no longer any obstacle in front of them until the low, sandy coastline between Pisa and Livorno. The two Airacobras «pierced» the Elban coast heading towards Monte Capanne, where they crashed a short distance from each other at the localities of Collaccio and Campitini, in the Comune of Campo nell'Elba. The Campitini aircraft remained substantially intact, while the one at Liscia del Collaccio disintegrated on the rock face.