List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft (1925–1949): Difference between revisions
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[[File:Shenandoah Disaster.jpg|thumb
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This is a '''list of''' notable '''accidents and incidents involving military aircraft''' grouped by the year in which the accident or incident occurred. For more exhaustive lists, see the [http://www.baaa-acro.com Aircraft Crash Record Office] or the [http://aviation-safety.net Air Safety Network]. Combat losses are not included except for a very few cases denoted by singular circumstances.
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==Aircraft terminology==
Information on aircraft gives the type, and if available, the serial number of the operator in italics, the constructors number, also known as the manufacturer's serial number (c/n), exterior codes in apostrophes, nicknames (if any) in quotation marks, flight callsign in italics, and operating units.
==1925==
*31 August - [[U.S. Navy]] [[Naval Aircraft Factory]] [[PN-9]], BuNo ''A-6878'', '1', flying boat disappears on flight from [[San Francisco]] to Hawaii with reported loss of crew.<ref name="Maurer">Maurer Maurer, "Aviation in the U.S. Army, 1919-1939", United States Air Force Historical Research Center, Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C., 1987, ISBN 0-912799-38-2, page 128.</ref> The PN-9 was not actually lost, it was just overdue. After staying in the air for 25 hours and covering 1,841 of the 2,400 miles to Pearl Harbor, it landed safely at sea, the crew under command of Cmdr. John Rogers, Naval Aviator No. 2, rigged sails from fabric from the lower wing and sailed the final 450 miles, reaching [[Kaiui]] on 10 September. This stood as a seaplane distance flight record for several years. Aircraft is repaired and shipped to [[San Diego, California]].<ref name="Bowers, Peter M. 1975, page 52">Bowers, Peter M., "''Sea Wings Pt. I - Curtiss' Beautiful Biplane Boats - From America to PH-3''", Airpower, Granada Hills, California, September 1975, Volume 5, Number 5, page 52.</ref>
*3 September - The {{USS|Shenandoah|ZR-1|6}} [[airship]], ''ZR-1'', crashed after encountering thunderstorms near [[Ava, Ohio]] after an in flight break up due to [[cloud suck]] about 0445 hrs. Fourteen of 43 aboard are killed. The ship's commanding officer, Lt. Cdr. [[Zachery Lansdowne]] is killed on what was to have been his final flight before reassignment to sea duty.<ref name="Vaeth">Vaeth, J. Gordon, "They Sailed the Skies: U.S. Navy Balloons and the Airship Program", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 2005, ISBN 1-59114-914-2, pages 32-33.</ref>
*23 September - The [[U.S. Navy]] flies 23 [[Curtiss CS-1]] floatplanes to [[Bay Shore Park]] on the [[Chesapeake Bay]], 14 miles SE of [[Baltimore, Maryland]], on a Friday with intention of an airshow demonstration before the 1925 [[Schneider Cup]] Race on Saturday, but that night gale force winds break three-inch mooring and anchor ropes on 17 of the biplanes and they are blown onto shore or dashed against seawalls, destroying seven and damaging ten. The next afternoon's ''[[Baltimore Evening Sun]]'' runs headline "Plane Disaster in Harbor Called Hard Blow to Navy" and quotes the ever-outspoken General [[Billy Mitchell|William "Billy" Mitchell]] calling the loss of the CS-1s "staggering", and blaming it on Navy mismanagement of its aviation program.<ref>Gough, Michael, "''Doolittle Wins In Baltimore''", Airpower, November 2005, Volume 35, Number 11, page 50.</ref>
*24 September - During the 1925 [[Schneider Trophy]] race, British entry [[Supermarine S.4]] loses control, is seen to side-slip, then pancakes into the [[Chesapeake Bay]], landing on the front of its [[Floatplane|floats]] and overturning. Pilot Henri Biard swims free of airframe and is rescued. British officials intimate that the pilot banked too steeply and stalled, but designer [[R.J. Mitchell]] suspected that the [[cantilever wing]] design may have been partially at fault. Another British entry, [[Gloster III|Gloster IIIA]], suffers broken strut between float and fuselage during taxi after landing from first run which allows nose to drop, propeller cuts into [[duralumin]] float, making airframe unable to compete. Lt. [[Jimmy Doolittle]] in [[U.S. Army]] [[Curtiss R3C-2]], BuNo ''A6979'', '3', wins competition with top speed of 233 miles per hour.<ref>Gough, Michael, "''Doolittle Wins In Baltimore''", Airpower, November 2005, Volume 35, Number 11, pages 50-56.</ref>
==1926==
*22 March - On its seventh test flight during tests at Taura Beach, Yokosuka, Japan, the Kaibo Gikai KB experimental flying boat is seen in a glide with both engines stopped, which steepens until it strikes the water in a near-vertical attitude, killing all four crew. Cause attributed to a malfunction of the flight control system.<ref name="Mikesh">Mikesh, Robert C., and Abe, Shorzoe, "Japanese Aircraft 1910-1941", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 1990, ISBN 1-55750-563-2, page 59.</ref>
*May 10 - Maj. [[Harold Geiger|Harold C. Geiger]] is slightly injured in a collision between two planes at [[Langley Field]], near [[Hampton, Virginia]]. While attending the [[Air Corps Tactical School]] at Langley Field, his [[Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5|Eberhart S.E.5e]], ''22-317'', collides in mid-air during a flight formation with fellow student, [[Horace Meek Hickam]]'s [[Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a]], ''SO-8044''. Hickam parachutes to safety, and narrowly escapes death. Hickam is initiated into the famed [[Caterpillar Club]], a fraternal order with membership based on surviving an emergency parachute jump.<ref>[http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/hmhickam.htm Horace Meek Hickam, Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army Air Corps<!-- bot-generated title -->] at www.arlingtoncemetery.net</ref> Geiger was also a member of the [[Caterpillar Club]].
*11 August - Second Lieutenant [[Eugene Hoy Barksdale]] is killed when the [[Douglas O-2]] observation plane, ''25-350'', McCook Field project number P-441, he was testing went into an uncontrollable spin over [[McCook Field]], [[Dayton, Ohio]]. His parachute snagged on the wingstruts, preventing escape from the aircraft. [[Barksdale Field]], later [[Barksdale Air Force Base]], is named for him upon establishment at the Military Reservation, [[Bossier Parish]], [[Louisiana]] on 2 February 1933.<ref name="Mueller">Mueller, Robert, "Air Force Bases Volume 1: Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982", United States Air Force Historical Research Center, Office of Air Force History, Washington, D.C., 1989, ISBN 0-912799-53-6, page 15.</ref>
==1927==
*19 January - Second of two [[Naval Aircraft Factory PN-7]] flying boats, BuNo ''A-6617'', delivered 6 June 1924, is wrecked this date at [[San Diego, California]], with total flight time of 423:32 hours.<ref
*February - [[RAF]] [[Cierva C.6]]J [[autogyro]], ''J8068'', based on an [[Avro 504K]] fuselage, constructed by [[A.V. Roe and Company|A.V. Roe]] at [[Hamble-le-Rice|Hamble, Hampshire]], flown by test pilot Frank T. Courtney, suffers spectacular crash at Hamble in which two opposing rotor blades come loose in flight after failure of tubular rivet fitted in the rotor blade spar root, coming down adjacent to rail line crossing the airfield. Pilot survives.
*13 March - First of two [[Naval Aircraft Factory PN-8]] flying boats, BuNo ''A-6799'', delivered 8 May 1925, intended for a flight by the Navy from [[San Francisco]] to Hawaii, is wrecked while being transported fully assembled on the deck of the [[USS West Virginia]]. Hit by heavy seas, the plane is lifted against its tie-down cables, which cut through the hull, airframe written off with 32:48 flying hours.<ref>Bowers, Peter M., "''Sea Wings - Pt. I - Curtiss' Beautiful Biplane Boats - From America to PH-3''", Airpower, Granada Hills, California, September 1975, Volume 5, Number 5, page 51.</ref>
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