Date:	Friday 8 June 1951
Time:	day
Type:	Republic F-84E Thunderjet
Owner/operator:	560th FS, 12th FEW, USAF
Registration:	51-506
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Richmond Municipal Airport, 6 miles SE Richmond, Wayne County, Indiana -   United States of America
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Wright Patterson AFB, Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio (FFO/KFFO)
Destination airport:	Selfridge AFB, Harrison Township, Michigan (MRC/KMTC)
Confidence Rating:	Information verified through data from accident investigation authorities

Narrative:
Republic F-84E-30-RE Thunderjet 51-506, 560th FS, 12th FEW, USAF: Written off (destroyed) June 8 1951 when this F-84E (and 7 others) crashed during a training flight near Richmond, Wayne County, Indiana. All 8 suffered icing on the jet engine intake screens while flying through a thunderstorm. Accident also reported as "engine fire/engine explosion in flight". 51-506 managed to came down near Richmond Municipal Airport, 6 miles South East of Richmond, Wayne County, Indiana. Pilot Captain Robert A Jackson, USAF survived.

According to an on-line posting from the pilot's widow (see link #10):

"I am the widow of the Capt. Jackson who "dead sticked" his F-84 into the plowed up field just short of the Richmond, Indiana airport. It was icing on the intake screens caused by flying through a super-cooled thunder storm. The first and third squadrons went around the storm, but the second plowed through. When the engine failed every thing else failed including the radio and canopy release. Bob said he could not see anything, but a small patch of light below so he headed for that and found the airport. He was flying no.2 in the second flight. It took super effort for him to manually release his canopy and crawl out before the fire reached the cockpit. (the engine was on fire). 3 were killed, 3 not injured, and 2 injured-one being my husband who suffered some spinal problems and a cut eye. I believe the Richmond paper's archives can now be found on the internet".

Additional: According to contemporary newspaper reports:

"Probe Mysterious Crashes Of Eight F-84 Thunderjets
Richmond, Ind., June 8—(U.P.) Air force and FBI agents investigated today whether sabotage caused eight F-84 Thunderjet fighters to crash in the biggest multiple airplane disaster in peacetime history. Three pilots were killed and two injured late yesterday when the planes crashed mysteriously while flying in a flight of 71 planes through an electrical storm. The three other pilots were unhurt. At least two pilots said their engines exploded after they were safely through the storm. Another said his engine "conked out" and that he saw at least two of the ships collide. All the planes crashed in a 25-mile radius near here. An Air Force spokesman said it apparently was the biggest number of planes ever lost during a peacetime operation. The biggest previous, to his recollection, was when a flight of pursuit planes flew into bad weather near Raleigh, N. C., in 1939, and six were lost.

Sixty of the planes in yesterday's flight flew on to Selfridge Field. Mich., but three others turned back and landed at Wright-Patterson Field, near Dayton, Ohio, where they had taken off only 10 minutes before the crashes.

The planes were escort fighters assigned to the strategic bomber command of Lt Gen Curtis Lemay. It had been reported that Lemay would be here for the investigation but later it was announced he would not come.

Heavily armed air police guards surrounded the wrecks here and the planes of the flight at Selfridge Field and Dayton.

Mechanics began making an inch-by-inch check of every part of the wrecks and the surviving planes, seeking evidence of possible sabotage. G-men cooperated with the air force investigators.

The air force refused all comment on the trend of the investigation, but one spokesman said, “Sabotage is always considered as a possibility until the cause of the crash has been determined or the investigation completed.”

Another said the extreme turbulence encountered in thunderstorms buffets jet fighters more than piston-engine ships since the jets travel twice as fast. But, he knew of no reason why turbulence might cause a jet engine to “conk out” or explode".

The surviving pilots of the downed ships made only brief statements to police before air force officers arrived from Dayton and clamped tight security over them and the crash scenes.

1. "Palladium-Item" Richmond, Indiana, Sunday 10 Jun 1951, Page 20
2. Illinois Daily 9 June 1951: https://idnc.library.illinois.edu/?a=d&d=DIL19510609.2.42&e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN----------
3. The Sunday Herald (Sydney, NSW) Sunday 10 Jun 1951 Page 3 EIGHT JETS IN MASS CRASH: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18500786
4. Sandusky Register-Star, June 9, 1951
5. http://forgottenjets.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/F-84.html
6. https://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1950.html
7. https://www.aviationarchaeology.com/rptAF55.asp?RecID=16463
8. http://www.accident-report.com/Yearly/1951/5106.html
9. https://eu.pal-item.com/story/news/local/2015/06/07/years-ago-jets-fell-wayne-co-sky/28641615/
10. https://www.facebook.com/IndianaHistoricalBureau/posts/on-june-8-1951-a-squadron-of-eight-us-air-force-f-84-thunderjets-crashed-or-cras/4539182956107615/
11. https://wreckchasing.websitetoolbox.com/post/mystery-of-the-jets-4613217
12. https://idnc.library.illinois.edu/?a=d&d=DIL19510609.2.42
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_Municipal_Airport

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
24-Feb-2015 21:42	TB	Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Narrative]