PRIVACY ACT MATERIAL REMOVED IIT ¢ 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