B-29 emergency.
The pilot circled back to Parry and en route to
Eniwetok started losing power too rapidly to make it to either island,
Auto-rotation would have forced him to land in the water, so the pilot
elected to crash-land on an exposed portion of the reef between Parry
and SariIslands.
Flying downwind and lack of power and altitude were
contributing factors to a harder-than—normal landing.
The gear col-
lapsed and the aircraft skidded across the reef, stopping at a fortyfive degree angle, supported by the rotor blade.
stroyed except for the tail boom and rotor.
The aircraft was de-
Fire started on impact.
Personnel aboard the helicopter were unhurt except for two first-aid
injuries.
An F-84 was involved in the second major aircraft accident just
one hour prior to completion of the entire mission.
On the last shot
day the weather had lowered to a precipitation ceiling of 500 feet and
one-half mile, obscured with heavy rain.
controlled approaches (GCA's).
Four F-84's had to make ground
The rain was very hedvy and GCA was
unable to establish proper contact with the fighters. - The AOC aligned
them with the rimway and brought them down on the final approach until
the GCA could control them.
The first two fighters landed safely and
the second pair made a very good touchdown, but approximately 2,000
feet after touchdown the lead aircraft ran through a heavy pool of water
on the rumway, veered to the left out-of-control, and went off the runway, hitting a sand embankment at a slow speed.
The nose gear collapsed
on impact, resulting in major damage to the aircraft but no injury to
the pilot.
A serious B-36 accident was narrowly averted on 7 April when the
left landing gear of the control RB-36 jammed in the canoe door and would
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