ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 98446
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| Date: | Sunday 17 September 1944 |
| Time: | 21:50 |
| Type: |  Boeing B-29 Superfortress |
| Owner/operator: | 883rd BSqn /500th BGp USAAF |
| Registration: | 42-6379 |
| MSN: | 3513 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 10 / Occupants: 10 |
| Other fatalities: | 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Ora Hatfield's Farm, 1 mile South of Copeland, Kansas -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | Walker AAF, Victoria, Kansas |
B-29-15-BW 42-6379: Delivered to the USAAF 26 February 1944. Assigned to 792nd Bomb Squadron, 468th Bomb Group, USAAF, Kharagpur, India. Returned to CONUS (the Continental USA) as "War Weary" and reassigned to the 883rd Bomb Squadron, 500th Bomb Group.
Written off (destroyed) when crashed 17 September 1944 near Copeland, Kansas. On a training flight out of Walker AAF, either the pilot or the co-pilot had worked on a farm in Copeland and deviated from their approved flight path to buzz the town. Plane hit the ground and cartwheeled through the farm of Ora Hatfield, killing Hatfield and his infant grandson Jay Settles and severely burning Hatfield's wife and daughter Ruth Settles. Entire crew of 42-6379 killed.
Partial List Of Crew Victims:
Second Lieutenant LAWRENCE H. ESLINGER, 26, 1642 Fairchild, Manhattan, Kan., co-pilot.
Staff Sgt. CLARENCE A. BOSTON, 26, son of Mrs. Sadie Boston, Council Grove, Kan.
Lieutenant KENNETH O. WEST, 22, husband of Mrs. Barbara Jean West of Washburn, Wis.
Corporal JOHN F. KELLEY, 19, son of Mrs. Angela H. Kelley, Springville, Iowa.
Claims for damages and loss-of-life initially denied by the USAAF because the training flight was off-course and therefore not on official USAAF business. Claims by Hatfield family finally granted by Act of Congress in 1947.
Sources:
1. http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/dbaloc.asp?offset=8225 .
2. http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1942_1.html
3. http://usafunithistory.com/PDF/0800/883%20BOMB%20SQ.pdf
4. https://www.gendisasters.com/kansas/13927/copeland-ks-bomber-crashes-home-sep-1944
5. Hutchinson News Herald, Kansas, September 18, 1944 at http://www.hutchnews.com/b4edfd1b-57af-5cc2-9178-50a6a18ab7f5.html
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 21-May-2013 23:16 | hardinx3 | Updated [Time, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Departure airport, Narrative] |
| 08-Jun-2017 21:46 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Cn, Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 10-Jun-2017 18:05 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Total fatalities, Source] |
| 23-Mar-2020 15:59 | DG333 | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
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