PRIVACY ACT MATERIAL REMOVED
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Neither one of the two pilots could find the control aircraft
or the tankers,
Their APX-6 equipment was not operating and
was unable to pick up the control B-29 beacons.
When he
first contacted the control aircraft, he was dow to 1,000 pounds
of fuel, and should have been taking off for Eniwetok.,
problem was that
|
The big
could not pick up any beacons which
would tell-him what course to set for Eniwetok,
B-29 control tried to direct
Several times the
to a rendezvous with
it but finally instructed him to descend to 20,000 feet altitude
and then orbit.
On several occasions he was given orbit and steer
instructios when theB=29 air controller believed he was in the
vicinity of the tanker aircraft, Meanwhile, the Red 3 pilot picked
up the Eniwetok radio beacon on his radio compass and started for
the island with 600 pounds of fnel.
north of the island,
Shortly,
He was approximately 9% miles
.
reported his radio
compass was working and that he had the beacon from Eniwetok,
The
B-29 controller instructed him to head forthe island. "It was
believed that he had between 100 and 500 pounds of fuel remaining
at that time," the flight safety officer reported later.
Unfortu-
nately, Eniwetok was about 0.70 per cent overcast with rain squalls
in the area at the time, although Red 3 aircraft landed with zero
fuel remaining.
When he received his second steer from Eniwetok,
reported he was at 19,000 feet altitude, his engine still
operating, but his fuel gage indicated empty.
A few minutes later,
a