C-54 crash at Tacoma

The C-54 crash at Tacoma was an aviation disaster involving a Douglas C-54G Skymaster transport aircraft of the United States Air Force that occurred on the night of Friday, 28 November 1952 near McChord Air Force Base in the area of the city of Tacoma (Washington), killing 37 people.

Crash

The Douglas C-54G military transport aircraft of the 1701st Air Wing was operating a passenger flight from Fairbanks (Alaska) to Tacoma (Washington) to transfer a group of military personnel with their families, and there were 39 people on board (including 7 crew members), among them 7 women (5 of them civilians) and 8 children.

At night, after midnight, while approaching McChord Air Force Base (near Tacoma), the crew at 00:30 requested weather information for Seattle–Tacoma Airport. According to the data received, there was fog in the region at that time, and visibility was up to ¾ mile (1.2 km), which was above the weather minimum, so the decision was made to land at McChord from the south. However, when the aircraft descended to a height of 300 ft, visibility dropped sharply to practically zero, so at 00:48 the pilots reported that they were abandoning the approach and diverting to their home airfield — Malmstrom (Great Falls, Montana).

A few minutes later the air base received a call from the sheriff in Lakewood that an air crash had occurred south of the city. Continuing northwards, at 00:50 the "Douglas" struck trees and then crashed into a field one and a half kilometres from the airfield. On impact the fuselage was torn in half, wreckage was scattered over two hundred yards, and the spilled fuel ignited, causing a severe fire.

Only three people were rescued at the scene: crew member 20-year-old Bobby Wilson (Bobby Wilson), who suffered third-degree burns and internal injuries; 23-year-old airman Curtis Redd (Curtis Redd), who was flying as a passenger; and 8-year-old boy Joseph M. Iacovitti (Joseph M. Iacovitti), who lost his father, mother, two brothers and a sister in the crash. But on 29 November Wilson died of his injuries. Both surviving passengers were also seriously injured, but were able to survive. In total the air crash near Tacoma claimed the lives of 37 people, completely wiping out three families.

The crash attracted wide attention, since it occurred only 8 days after the crash of a military C-124 in Alaska (52 killed). And three weeks after the crash near McChord, a military C-124 crashed in the Moses Lake area, also in Washington, killing 87 people. That is, within just 4 weeks, three transport aircraft crashes occurred in a row in the northwestern United States, claiming a total of 176 lives (52+37+87).

Causes of the crash

The commission investigating the crash was headed by Brigadier General Richard J. O’Keefe (Richard J. O’Keefe), who was called in from Norton Air Force Base (California). One of the propellers was found a hundred yards from the main wreckage area, stuck vertically in the ground, and examination showed that this propeller had not been rotating before impact. Witnesses stated that they had seen fire on the right wing or engine. But no reports of a fire were received from the crew.

After all the examinations, the following picture of the accident was established. When the crew encountered very dense fog during the approach and decided to divert to Malmstrom airfield, the nose of the aircraft was pitched steeply up to climb, and the engines were set to maximum power. But then an engine unexpectedly failed, as a result of which the total thrust dropped significantly, and the aircraft could no longer climb, while continuing to fly at low altitude. Then, flying over a hill, the C-54 was very low above the ground when it struck two spruce trees about 100 ft tall, as a result of which it lost speed and then fell to the ground.