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Date: | Monday 12 February 1945 |
Time: | 14:45 |
Type: | Lockheed P-38L Lightning |
Owner/operator: | 444th BU USAAF |
Registration: | 44-24790 |
MSN: | |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Location: | Silurian Valley, California -
United States of America
|
Phase: | Combat |
Nature: | Training |
Departure airport: | Daggett Municipal Airport, CA |
Destination airport: | |
Narrative:On 12 February 1945 five P-38s of 444th Base Unit USAAF took off from Daggett Municipal Airport, California on a scheduled camera gunnery mission. The flight rendezvoused with the target ship and the aircraft began making their camera gunnery passes. At 1445 hrs, Capt. Donald L. Webber, flying the P-38L 44-24807 in the number three position, and Capt. William D. Horton, 26, flying the P-38L 44-24790 in the number three position, entered into a pass at the target ship simultaneously, with Webber in front and slightly below. The airplanes peeled off of the target and collided. Both airplanes went out of control and impacted the floor of the Silurian Valley, in the Mojave Desert 10 miles south of Silurian Lake and 12 miles north of Silver Lake, destroying the aircraft and killing both pilots.
Sources:
https://joeidoni.smugmug.com/Aircraft-Crash-Sites/Lockheed-P-38L-Lightning-44/ "Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945. Volume 3, August 1944-December 1945", by Anthony J. Mireles. ISBN 0-7864-2790-6
http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/AARmonthly/Feb1945S.htm http://mapcarta.com/23137278 Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
12-Feb-2016 17:47 |
Laurent Rizzotti |
Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
12-Mar-2020 18:01 |
DB |
Updated [Operator, Departure airport, Operator] |