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Narrative: Four F-51D Mustangs from the 185th TRS carried out gunnery training passes on three B-36 Peacemakers from 436th BS at an altitude of 20,000 feet. After a series of high side passes, the Mustangs began making high frontal passes when one of them, F-51D 44-84973 (pilot 1st Lt. Fred Black), struck the B-36D 49-2658 (pilot Maj. William J. Apgar) on the top left about nine feet back from the nose and burst into flames after breaking apart, killing the fighter pilot instantly. The bomber porpoised for several seconds and pitched up into a steep climb until falling into a spiral dive to the left. Only one of the gunners had managed to leave the aircraft by parachute before the tail section broke off and threw three more gunners clear of the wreckage. These four men were the only survivors as none of the crewmen in the forward sections were able to escape the falling bomber as it spun to the ground.