Date:	Wednesday 17 March 1943
Time:
Type:	Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress
Owner/operator:	331st BSqn /94th BGp USAAF
Registration:	42-23086
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 10
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Rosedale, Louisiana -   United States of America
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Ferry/positioning
Departure airport:	Salinas, Kansas
Destination airport:	Gulfport, Mississippi

Narrative:
In March 1943 the 94th BG was in Salina. The crews had finished training and were waiting for orders to go overseas. Most men heard rumors about the Pacific and prepared accordingly but the official orders, however, revealed that the 94th would be going to Europe. The plan was to fly to Gulfport, Mississippi, and spend the night. The next day the men were to fly a practice mission over the Gulf of Mexico and return to Gulfport. They were then to take the southern route to Europe by the way of Florida, South America, Ascension Island, Africa and then to England. The fledgling navigators were anxious to prove their skill over this long route. At last they were ready to launch upon the greatest adventure of their lives.

On the day of departure, 17 March 1943, things did not go well. Out of 36 planes scheduled, 12 did not get off of the ground because of engine failures. A significant number that did launch experienced similar problems. Many landed at Gulfport with one or more engines shut down and feathered. One aircraft was lost. Lieutenant George W Hendershot and his crew of 331st BS lost all four engines enroute and the crew wisely bailed out from their B-17F 42-23086. Bombardier Lieutenant George H. Hess, Jr., was slightly injured but the others landed safely in a rural area of Mississippi according to the unit's story. The aircraft was reported in the official crash report to have crashed near Rosedale, Louisiana (there are several places called Rosedale in this state).

Crew:
Lt George W Hendershot (pilot)
William J Daly
Lt George H. Hess, Jr. (bombardier)
John M Jensen
Robert J Byrnes
Leslie H Rockwell
Al Justus
Marion M Boren
Keith A Sebring
William E Calloway

In addition, other aircraft landed at various points enroute due to the same problem. Passing over Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Pappy Colby noticed one the groups B-17s sitting on a small municipal field. The usual curious crowd surrounded the airplane. Pappy buzzed the field, determining that all was well except for a couple of feathered engines on the aircraft. While climbing back to altitude, he lost an engine and discovered upon landing that the other three contained less than two gallons of oil.

Major Louis G. Thorup, the experienced Commander of the 333rd BS, recalls the day. Listening to the emergency chatter on the radios, he was quite concerned. His first reaction was that the young crews were somehow not performing up to the standards of their training. Shortly thereafter he lost an engine, and upon entering the traffic pattern, lost another. This revealed a serious problem, and instead of marginal performance the crews had caped with the situation in a superb manner. They had handled a multitude of emergencies in marginal weather. This had been accomplished without serious injury or loss of life, which was a tribute to their professionalism and the quality of their training.

It was determined that the engine failures had been caused by defective metal in the piston rings of the Studebaker built engines. With minimum use the rings gave way causing rapid loss of oil and subsequent engine failure. A contributing factor to the seriousness of the problem, and peculiar to the B-17F, was the lack of a stand-pipe in the oil tanks. The propeller feathering system operated on engine oil. If the oil was lost prior to feathering the propeller, one was faced with a seized engine or a windmilling propeller and fire. Any one of these was a major problem and very hazardous. Another theory on the failures was that the aircraft had been parked at Salina for some time without dust covers installed over the engine air intakes, and that the ingestion of wind blown sand had caused rapid engine wear and failure. The cause mattered little to the crews at the time. All they wanted was assurance that the aircraft were safe to fly to Europe. At departure time this assurance hadn’t been convincing, and every man was a little apprehensive.

It was determined that complete engine changes for all aircraft would be required before the group could proceed. This delayed the deployement of the group by three weeks.

1."Lingering contrails of the big square A: a history of the 94th Bomb Group (H), 1942-1945", by Harry E. Slater.
2.http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/AARmonthly/Mar1943S.htm
3.http://airforcehistoryindex.org/data/000/877/127.xml

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
15-Sep-2017 17:49	Laurent Rizzotti	Updated [Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
22-Mar-2020 09:18	DG333	Updated [Operator, Location, Source, Operator]