US military aircraft crash in Naguwashi Village, Saitama Prefecture

The US military aircraft crash in Naguwashi Village, Saitama Prefecture (Saitama-ken Naguwashi-mura beigunki tsuiraku jiko) was an accident on 24 March 1955 (Shōwa 30) in which a US military F-94 fighter crashed in Naguwashi Village, Iruma District, Saitama Prefecture (present-day Kawagoe).

Details of the accident

On 24 March 1955 (Shōwa 30), a US military F-94 fighter that had taken off from Johnson Air Base (present-day Iruma Air Base) in Saitama Prefecture suddenly burst into flames at around 2:40 pm while flying over Naguwashi Village, Iruma District, Saitama Prefecture, and crashed in the village's Shimo-Kosaka district. There were several houses at the crash site, and the aircraft slammed violently into the front garden of 1 of them, where it was destroyed and burned.

Because the jet fuel carried by the aircraft was scattered around the area at the moment of the crash, 1 house directly in front of the crash point was instantly engulfed in flames. 2 people who were inside this house, a 64-year-old woman and her 20-year-old grandson, were burned to death without time to escape. In addition, 5 people, including those who were around the house, suffered burns.

The volunteer fire brigade rushed to the scene immediately and fought the fire, but in the end the fire completely destroyed a total of 4 buildings with 85 tsubo of floor space, including the family's 2-storey house, a barn and a row house, and half-burned 2 storehouses before it was finally extinguished. After the fire was put out, an on-site inspection of the crash site began at night; the aircraft had penetrated about 3 metres into the ground, and at around 9:40 pm that night pieces of flesh were found in the wreckage, believed to be the cockpit, that had been buried in the ground at the crash point, so it was concluded that the 2 pilots had also been killed instantly.