Date:	Tuesday 1 December 1942
Time:	15:00
Type:	Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless
Owner/operator:	VMSB-132 USMC
Registration:	06662
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	near Henderson Field, Guadalcanal -   Solomon Islands
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Henderson Field
Destination airport:

Narrative:
In the afternoon of 1 December 1942, 9 SBD of VMSB-132 and 6 TBF of VMSB-131 were dispatched from Henderson Field, Guadalcanal to attack a light cruiser and two destroyers reported on a bearing of 103° and a distance of 97 miles. A very thorough search of the area was made without any enemy contact being made. The return to base was made after dark and due to lack of experience in flying SBD at night and no flying with one thousand pound bomb, Captain William Franklin Spang of VMSB-132 was crashed his SBD-3 Buno 06662 on approaching the field for a landing. Marines camping in the jungle nearby heard his propeller started clipping the tree tops. He cut the power, came down through trees bringing branches and debris and landed with a thud on a jungle path between a tent area and a galley. He hit a big tree at almost ground level and spun around 180°. The engine was laying to one side with just a flicker of fire. As it was dark a lantern was brought out. Only the fuselage remained in one piece. Marines cut out of the plane the pilot who was completely exposed with nothing in front of him except a few strands of metal and cable. He was then alive, but incoherent and in bad shape. He was put onto a stretcher where the Marine battalion doctor attended him but to no avail, and he died. His gunner escaped without injury (and his name was not recorded). The next day airfield ordinance arrived to salvage the 1,000 lb bomb that had jarred loose but didn't explode.

In 1972 the 1,000 lb bomb was still lying beside the SBD at the wing root beside the fuselage. I was Principal of Betikama Adventist High School at the time and the wreck was in a patch of jungle in a swampy area on our property where it had fallen 30 years prior. I arranged for the local bomb disposal unit to check the bomb out and they planned to explode the bomb where it lay which would have completely demolished the aircraft. After some discussion they pulled the bomb out and dropped it into Iron Bottom Sound. Soon after with the lifting power of about 30 senior students we manhandled the radial engine and the rest if the wreck out of the jungle. The fuselage was broken in two between the seats of the two crew. Apart from the presence of the bomb, the description of the aircraft as described above is as we discovered it. We then set the aircraft up in our developing WW2 museum at Betikame. Unfortunately, none of this discovery and activity was recorded in film.

Marine Air Group 14 Record of Events, October to December 1942 (https://www.fold3.com/image/287109091)
VMSB-132 War Diary, October 1942 to April 1943 (https://www.fold3.com/image/267850450)
VMSB-131 War Diary, September 1942 to February 1943 (https://www.fold3.com/image/269131185)
http://92.53.241.206/listPages/navy/asp/USN_Loss_1942.asp
https://pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/sbd/06662.html
https://pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/sbd/06662/eyewitness.html
https://www.naval-history.net/WW2UScasaaDB-USMCbyNameS.htm
https://fr.findagrave.com/memorial/40279526/william-franklin-spang

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
27-Sep-2021 13:11	Cobar	Updated [Country]
20-Apr-2022 10:40	Laurent Rizzotti	Updated [Date, Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
20-Apr-2022 15:45	Laurent Rizzotti	Updated [Source]
24-Mar-2024 06:41	raysmith	Updated [Time, Narrative]
20-Apr-2024 09:15	Nepa	Updated [Time, Operator, Operator]