Crash C-124 in Tatikawa

A group of military was to fly from Tatikawa to Seoul . These were mainly pilots who, after a five-day rest, returned to South Korea , where military operations were in full swing at that time. For landing, the Douglas C-124A-DL was originally given onboard 51-146, but due to problems with the engine it was replaced on board 51-0137 (factory - 43471). This C-124A-DL with the number 51-0137 belonged to the 374 transport group and was equipped with four Pratt & Whitney R-4360-20WA engine systems. Its crew consisted of 7 people, commanded by Major Herbert G. Voruz Jr. ( born Herbert G. Voruz Jr. ), aged 37 years and having a flight time of over 6000 hours. The second pilot was Major Robert McCorkle, and the third was Major Paul Kennedy. There were 122 passengers on board. The sky at this time was covered with low clouds, and visibility was 2.5 kilometers. After receiving permission to take off, at 16:31 C-124 left the Tatikawa air base ^{[1] [2]} .

But a minute after takeoff, when the plane began to perform a left turn, engine No. 1 (extreme left) caught fire. Commander Voruz informed the ground controller that they had turned off the engine and were returning to Tatikawa. The dispatcher asked if the crew needed radar control over the approach, to which the commander gave a positive answer. Then the dispatcher heard him shout to the flight engineer : Add a mode . Then the dispatcher asked if the crew could maintain a constant height, to which it was answered:Roger . When the dispatcher asked if the crew was declaring a state of emergency, there was no answer, and 3.2 miles east-northeast of the airfield the plane’s mark disappeared from the radar screen ^[1] .

I drove along highway 7 in the direction from Tokyo to the west, the time was 16:33 or so. My wife shouted to me - look, the plane! - he walked from south to north. When I noticed the plane, its nose was down, then the nose began to rise sharply, as if trying to gain height. One could hear the engines roaring, but then the plane immediately landed on the left wing and went into a tailspin. He turned 160 degrees and crashed into the ground. There was a flash, and immediately a fire started. At that moment I was about 150 yards (136 meters), so I stopped the car at the side of the road and ran to the crash site. The Japanese were already at the plane. I went around the fuselage and noticed the bodies, then we, along with a few other guys [inaudible] from the 43rd Engineering began to pull the bodies out of the plane. The plane lay its nose to the south, turning around in the fall. The plane was in an upright position. Fire and explosions did not allow us to pull out more bodies, so the military simply did not let the Japanese get too close to the fire.

Original text

I was driving on route seven coming from Tokyo heading west, the time was about 16:33 or there about. My wife shouted to me to look at the airplane coming from the south heading north. As I noticed the aircraft he was heading nose down, then he abruptly pulled it up as if to gain altitude. There was a loud surge of power heard, then the aircraft stalled out on its left wing in a flat spin. It made a 160 degree turn and settled to the ground. There was a flash and then the fire started. I then was approximately 150 yards away so I pulled over to the side of the road and went to the scene. The Japanese were already at the aircraft. I walked around to the fuselage and noticed bodies, as a few more GI's [words not legible] 43rd Engineers and I started pulling the bodies out of the aircraft. The aircraft was heading south, the opposite direction of when he stalled. The airplane was in an upright position. Fire and explosions kept us from puling any more bodies out so the military personnel there kept the Japanese from getting too close to the fire.

- Robert Wess ( Eng. Robert D. Vess ), Senior Sergeant, US Air Force ^[3]

At 16:34 a plane with its nose bowed 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) from the airfield crashed into a watermelon melon and exploded. According to eyewitnesses, the engines on the right side of the wing (No. 3 and 4) continued to work for some time ^{[1] [2]} .

According to eyewitnesses, the live radio operator John Jordan Jr. was found at the crash site, but he died from his wounds before the doctors arrived. At 16:50, the military command was notified of the disaster, after which the Sikorsky H-19 flew to the crash site under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Tatum Jr. ( Eng. Theodore P. Tatum Jr. ). At 17:13, the helicopter landed 150 feet (45 meters) from the crash site. Inspection confirmed that no one survived the crash. One of the victims, Carl C. Steele , was found in one of the small wing compartments behind engine No. 1, where he was likely to be found during an engine fire test ^[1] . On earth, no one died, only one of the melon workers received hand burns ^[4] .

According to the commission, stalling occurred due to the assumption of a decrease in speed below critical with improper flap control ^[1] .

With 129 dead, this aviation accident was the first in the history of aviation in which more than 100 people died. The incident resonated in the world, but was forgotten over time ^[1] .

At the time of the catastrophe, the catastrophe in Tatikawa was the largest in the world, before the collision of DC-8 and the Locheed Constellation over New York in 1960 (134 dead), with the participation of one aircraft, until the Boeing 707 catastrophe in Paris in 1962 (130 dead), and in Japan , before the crash of Boeing 727 near Tokyo in 1966 (133 dead).

At the site of the fall, local residents erected a small monument ^[1] . Subsequently, it was demolished during the construction of a driving school ^[4] .