Date:	Thursday 14 October 1943
Time:	18:27
Type:	Grumman FM-1 Wildcat
Owner/operator:	VC-33, US Navy
Registration:	15312
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Off the California coast -   United States of America
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Ferry/positioning
Departure airport:	USS Coral Sea
Destination airport:	North Island

Narrative:
On 8 October 1943 the new American escort carrier CVE-57 Coral Sea (that was renamed in Anzio in September 1944) arrived at San Diego, California, and loaded the aircraft and men of VC-33, then sailed in the evening for several days of flight operations off the California coast.
On the 14th, flight operations commenced at 0845 hrs. In the morning one TBF crashed into the port catwalk on recovery and was damaged but there was no injury. Flight operations coninued without incident during the remainder of the day until in late afternoon 11 fighters and 4 TBF were to be launched to fly in to North Island airfield. Four fighters were successfully catapulted but the fifth, piloted by Ensign E N Sevadzian, dribbled off the bow when the catapult failed to operate. The plane, FM-1 Buno 15312, crashed into the sea att 1827 hrs and sank but the pilot was picked up some minutes later by the destroyer USS WIlluiamson that was escorting Coral Sea and serving as plane guard. Approximate position of the crash was 32° N 118° 30' W (from the positions logged in the ships' diaries for 2000 hrs).

http://accident-report.com/USN/aircraft.html
War Diary of CVE-57 Coral Sea, October 1943 (https://www.fold3.com/image/270528991)
War Diary of VC-33, October 1943 (https://www.fold3.com/image/274228973)
War Diary of DD-244 Williamson, October 1943 (https://www.fold3.com/image/270595672)
https://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=32.000000&lon=-118.500000&z=8

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
15-Oct-2021 06:15	Laurent Rizzotti	Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Country, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category]