ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 305794
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| Date: | Thursday 19 October 1939 |
| Time: | 7:30 |
| Type: | Chance-Vought SB2U-1 Vindicator |
| Owner/operator: | US Navy |
| Registration: | |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Other fatalities: | 4 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Hill near Lake Murray San Diego -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | |
SB2U-1 Vindicator collided with an SB2U-2 Vindicator and crashed on a hillside overlooking the San Carlos/Lake Murray region of San Diego. One disoriented pilot flying through fog clipped another Vindicator during maneuvering practice and both planes crashed and burned very close to each other creating a 500 foot field of debris. All four men in both planes apparently jumped before both planes hit the ground because their bodies were found far away from the aircraft. The planes had been flying too low for the crew of both planes to successfully bail out and all four were killed on impact with the ground. There were no eyewitnesses to the crash since thick morning fog obstructed the area. The vindicators were assigned to North Island (NAS San Diego) and the two Vindicators were not released as missing until the flight of SB2U's returned to their base. In the afternoon a search party found the burned remains of the aircraft. The victims of the crash were Edward Eakins, Theodore Smith, Leland Hall, and Harold Pence. The hillside where the planes crashed was said to be one called Black Mountain, but the name has been lost over the years and the only Black Mountain known today in San Diego is over 20 miles from the crash site.
Sources:
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT19391020.1.2&srpos=14&e=18-10-1939-22-10-1939--en--20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-Pence-------
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=CTZN19391019.2.3&srpos=9&e=18-10-1939-22-10-1939--en--20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-Pence-------
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SPNP19391019.2.2&srpos=7&e=18-10-1939-22-10-1939--en--20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-Pence-------
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=EVV19391019.1.1&srpos=5&e=18-10-1939-22-10-1939--en--20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-Pence-------
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_1939
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SCEN19391019.1.1&srpos=3&e=18-10-1939-22-10-1939--en--20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-Pence-------
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SBS19391021.1.5&srpos=16&e=18-10-1939-22-10-1939--en--20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-Pence-------
https://www.nytimes.com/1939/10/20/archives/4-navy-fliers-die-as-bombers-crash-two-reserve-ensigns-killed-when.html
Images:
Crash site photo from Oakland Tribune 20 Oct, 1939
Revision history:
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