Date:	Sunday 14 October 1951
Time:
Type:	Boeing B-29A Superfortress
Owner/operator:	345th BSqn /98th BGp USAF
Registration:	44-86273
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 9 / Occupants: 14
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Yokota AB, Fussa, Tama Area, Western Tokyo -   Japan
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Yokota AB, Fussa, Tama Area, Western Tokyo, Japan (RJTY)
Destination airport:	Yokota AB, Fussa, Tama Area, Western Tokyo, Japan (RJTY)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Martin-Omaha B-29-40-MO Superfortress 44-86273: Built under licence by Glenn L. Martin Company, Omaha, Nebraska. Assigned to 345th Bomb Squadron, 98th Bomb Group, Spokane AFB, Washington, named "Lil Darlin". Deployed to Yokota AB, Japan for Korean War Operations.

Written off (destroyed on combat operations): Following a combat mission (leaflet dropping) on the Korean War front, the aircraft was returning to Yokota AFB in Tokyo with one engine inoperative (according to one source "the propeller of the No. 1 engine of the B-29 feathered without warning"). On final approach, the airplane was unstable and the pilot-in-command decided to make a go around when the aircraft stalled and crashed few dozen yards short of runway threshold. The B-29 crashed into bowling alley and laundry (Yokota Bowling Alley and Clothing Sales) on go around.

According to a contemporary newspaper report ("The Texas Spur" October 15, 1951):

"Air Force, Sgt. Joe B. Whitener, 21-year-old San Matean killed Sunday in a B-29 crash in Japan, had been in action in the Korean war since May, his mother, Mrs. C.W. McCormick of 864 Howe St., said today. The young flight engineer on the bomber, which carried eight other crewmen to their deaths when it hit an airport building while attempting a landing in bad weather after returning from a mission in Korea, joined the Air force in 1948, after serving three months in the U.S. Naval Reserve.

Before being sent to the Far East, he had served in Germany at the time of the Berlin air attack. Sgt. Whitener, who was born in Spur, Tex., moved to San Franciso with his family in 1947 and to San Mateo two years later.

He was a member of the First Baptist Church of San Francisco. He had hoped to return home early next year to marry his fiancee, Miss Billie Roykin, a student at Texas Technological College whom he had known since childhood. His stepfather, C.W. McCormick, a Navy warrant officer, is serving aboard the cruiser U.S.S. Los Angeles in Korean waters. In addition to his mother and stepfather, Sgt. Whitener leaves a sister, Mrs. James T. Lingg of San Francisco and a niece, Brunetta Lingg, also of San Francisco."

The aircraft was destroyed upon impact and nine crew members were killed, five others were injured. The crew members were:

Beal, Maj. Lawrence W. - fatality
Borum, 1st Lt. Ralph L. - fatality
Hawkins, Sgt. Albert A. - injured
Hildebrandt, 1st Lt. Warren - fatality
Lewis, Pvt. Elijah - injured
Mantor, Sgt. Philip W. - fatality
Mason, 1st Lt. Kenneth C. - fatality
McNutt, S/Sgt. William H. - fatality
Morris, Sgt. Garnet R. - injured
Oracion, 2nd Lt. Marquis H. - fatality
Stimer, 1st Lt. Richard Roy - injured (died 1 July 2013)
Trautmann, 1st Lt. Arthur Adolph - fatality
Whitener, Sgt. Joe "Jodie" Bailey Jr. - fatality
Winston, 1st Lt. Wesley A. - injured

1. [LINK NOT WORKING ANYMORE:http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1944_6.htm]l
2. http://www.thekwe.org/topics/b29s/p_b29s_losses_damage.htm
3. [LINK NOT WORKING ANYMORE:http://www.baaa-acro.com/1951/archives/crash-of-a-boeing-b-29-40-mo-superfortress-in-yokota-afb-9-killed/]
4. http://www.dpaa.mil/portals/85/Documents/KoreaAccounting/korwald_all.pdf
5. https://airforce.togetherweserved.com/usaf/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=142001
6. http://www.koreanwar-educator.org/topics/b29s/p_b29s_losses_personnel.htm
7. http://www.americanairmuseum.com/person/172838

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
15-Jun-2017 21:15	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Operator, Location, Country, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
15-Jun-2017 21:17	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
31-Jan-2021 16:23	Anon.	Updated [Operator, Operator]