ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 166883
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| Date: | Thursday 30 March 1950 |
| Time: | 10:50 |
| Type: |  Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat |
| Owner/operator: | United States Navy (USN) |
| Registration: | 122665 |
| MSN: | D.1218 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Other fatalities: | 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | South China Sea -
 Pacific Ocean
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | USS Boxer |
| USS Boxer | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
The US Navy aircraft carrier USS Boxer and the attendant ships of her carrier task group were exercising in the South China sea.
Four F8F Bearcats of VF-194 took off from Boxer to carry out a practice Combat Air Patrol over the ships. At the completion of the CAP the Bearcats were ordered to join the rest of CAG 19 in a simulated low-level strike on the ships.
The four VF-194 pilots made a head-on run at the USS Helena, proceeding on the port bow of the USS Boxer and about 2,000 yards off. This move potentially brought them into conflict with a flight of Douglas AD-3 Skyraiders of VA-195, also from the Boxer, and making a 90-degree attack on the carrier's starboard side.
The Skyraiders had completed their attacking run at about the same time as the Bearcats completed theirs.
Just after the Bearcats passed the Helena one of them was seen to climb slightly and commence a turn to the left, colliding at about 400 feet with the leader of the four VA-195 Skyraiders in its path. The Bearcat struck the right wing of the Skyraider at a relative angle of about 45-degrees and passed on to the fuselage just aft of the wing. The AD-3 Skyraider, serial no. 122759, was seen to disintegrate and fall into the sea. The F8F-2 Bearcat lost a wing in the impact which occurred at a closing speed of about 400 knots. It tumbled through the air and crashed in the sea about 500 yards from the point of the collision.
LtJG John B. Caskey USN was killed in the accident, as was LtJG Henry Graefe USN, the pilot of the Skyraider.
R.I.P. both.
Sources:
Official US Navy report on the accident.
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 12-Jun-2014 11:28 | angels one five | Added |
| 12-Jun-2014 11:36 | angels one five | Updated [Time, Narrative] |
| 26-Jun-2014 23:29 | angels one five | Updated [Narrative] |
| 12-Jul-2022 20:23 | angels one five | Updated [Time, Phase, Narrative] |
| 07-Oct-2022 16:57 | TB | Updated [Time, Cn, Operator, Location, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
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