ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 255216
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| Date: | Thursday 11 February 1960 |
| Time: | |
| Type: | Martin P5M Marlin |
| Owner/operator: | United States Navy (USN) |
| Registration: | |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 9 / Occupants: 9 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | 11 mi S of Whidbey Island NAS, WA -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | Whidbey Island NAS, WA |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Crashed in Puget Sound on an antisubmarine warfare training flight.
The day in question was a practice rocket firing day---we had 4 or 5 planes up that day and as luck would have it, for the ones that are still with us, all planes decided to shoot at the same smoke light. A smoke light being a floating flare we could drop from the plane. This smoke light was dropped not far from the carrier Coral Sea, and the accident happened to the first plane that made a firing run. The accident was caused by the Naval Station Ordance department. They had decided to place High Explosive nose on the rocket instead of a dummy nose. This would have been fine IF A METAL PLUG HAD BEEN USED TO COVER THE FUSE HOLE. The Warrant Office in Charge of the Ordance shop allowed a CARDBOARD dust cover to be used. Rocket motors burn from the nose to tail, not from the tail to nose, consequently, when the pilot, Rex MacAlister shot the first rocket, the motor burned through the paper dust cover and set the High Explosive nose off causing the wing to fail at the rocket launch rail. A large group of seaman on the Coral Sea saw the results. The Warrant Officer that made the decision was given his choice, either retire of face a court martial-----he retired
Sources:
Toledo Blade 12 February 1960, p1
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 30-Apr-2021 14:45 | TB | Added |
| 30-Jul-2022 14:34 | reenwad | Updated [Narrative] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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