ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 202521
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| Date: | Monday 17 January 1944 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Grumman FM-1 Wildcat |
| Owner/operator: | United States Navy (USN) |
| Registration: | 15662 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | off Quepos -
 Costa Rica
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | |
On 11 January 1944 the escort aircraft carrier USS Wake Island (CVE-65) left San Diego, California, to sail to Norfolk, via the Panama Canal. Aboard were the aircraft and men of VC-69, and it now was clear to them that they would fly ASW patrols in the Atlantic Ocean. En-route, VC-69 flew daylight intermediate anti-submarine patrols daily, and some days search missions at a range of 75 or 100 miles.
On 17 January, USS Wake Island was still in the Pacific when two aircraft of VC-69 flying a 75 mile search of night track became lost in high winds. Unable to return to the carrier, they eventually proceed to the nearest land. Ensign Winslow Wright, flying a fighter plane, the FM-1 Wildcat BuNo 15662, could not reach it and ditched off Quepos, Coasta Rica, but was rescued. The other aircraft, the TBM-1C Buno 25468 flown by 22-year-old Ens Robert Seabury Cook, landed at the airport at San Jose, Costa Rica. Ens Wright later joined Cook’s crew at San Jose.
Two days later, on the 19th, with Ensign Cook at the controls and Ensign Wright, RM3c L.H. Remund, AOM3c H.H. Hinson, and AMM2c D.D. Stockmeyer, as passengers the torpedo plane started to take off to return to the ship. But something happened on takeoff and the plane crashed. Ensign Cook was fatally injured and died the same day, Ensign Wright was so seriously injured that he still was hospitalized when the squadron’s history was written in late May 1945 and the three men were so seriously injured that they were hospitalized and did not return to VC-69.
It is unclear how they were able to pack the five men into the aircraft. The Avenger typically had accommodations for three men, pilot, gunner in rear ball turret and radioman/gunner in ventral position. Sometimes a fourth seat was added between the pilot and gunner if the radio equipment was removed. The fifth man aboard the aircraft, which was still carrying the two Mk 47 depth charges he had been loaded with for its patrol, was maybe too much and an explanation for the accident. The five men above are listed in the VC-69 history but the USS Wake Island diary only says that the pilot was killed and three naval personnel injured.
Robert Seabury Cook was buried on 23 January at the Corozal American Cemetery outside Panama City, Panama. He still rests there, in Plot C, Row 10, Grave 15.
Sources:
http://www.ssarkansan.com/home/american-hawaiian-in-wwii/alaskan
USS Wake Island war diary, January 1944 (available online at https://www.fold3.com/image/270944117)
VC-69 War History (available online at https://www.fold3.com/image/302005547)
http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/USN/LLJan44.htm (wrong name for Cook)
https://www.abmc.gov/node/459644#.Vp4aG09kwVc
http://www.maplandia.com/costa-rica/puntarenas/aguirre/quepos/
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 04-Dec-2017 20:33 | Laurent Rizzotti | Added |
| 21-Nov-2019 19:49 | TB | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Other fatalities] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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