List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft (1935–1939)


This is a list of notable accidents and incidents involving military aircraft grouped by the year in which the accident or incident occurred. Not all of the aircraft were in operation at the time. Combat losses are not included except for a very few cases denoted by singular circumstances.

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, exterior codes in apostrophes, nicknames in quotation marks, flight callsign in italics, and operating units.

1935

;19 January :Chief Warrant Gunner and Naval Aviation Pilot Charles T. Thrun, USCG, Coast Guard Aviator Number 3, is killed when his Grumman JF-2 Duck, 162, c/n 189, crashes into the Delaware Bay at Cape May, New Jersey. CWO Thrun was the first Coast Guard aviator to die in the line of duty. Second crewman on board survives. Joe Baugher states that the airframe was reserialled as V136, even though it was no longer on inventory.
;12 February
;15 February
;25 February
;22 March
;April
;16 April
;17 May
;18 May
;21 May :A U.S. Navy Martin PM-1 is lost off Midway Island with six crew during a mass flight from Hawaii to that island.
;18 June
;20 June
;21 June
;Circa July
;30 July
;19 August : Martin B-12A, 33-167, of the 31st Bomb Squadron, 7th Bomb Group, Hamilton Field, California, piloted by William Ball, receives heavy damage when the landing gear collapses on landing at Medford Airport, Medford, Oregon.
;12 September
;October
;7 October: Lieutenant Colonel James Edward Davis, USMC,, commander of Marine Aircraft Group 2, and his mechanic, Sergeant I. M. Owen, on a flight to NAS San Diego, California, in a Vought SU-2, refuel at Lordsburg, New Mexico, but crash on takeoff, the aircraft bursting into flame. Davis is burned beyond recognition, but Owen is thrown clear of the wreckage and survives. After funeral rites at Coronado, California, on 10 October, Davis is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. His widow, the former Beatrice H. Howe, returns to her native Pensacola, Florida, where the couple met during Davis’ flight training.
;30 October
;13 December
;16 December :"Miami, Dec. 16 – U.P.: Second Lieutenant Robert L. Carver, twenty-eight, Barksdale field , Shreveport, La., was instantly killed today when his 230-mile-an-hour P-26 army pursuit plane crashed in swamps twelve miles south of here. Carver was a former West Point football backfield star. He was attached to the fifty-fifth pursuit squadron that came here last week to participate in the general headquarters air force war games and the All-American air maneuvers." This airframe was P-26A, 33–87, and it came down ½ mi NE of Chapman Field, Florida. The Aviation Archeological Investigation & Research website lists the P-26 as being assigned to the 79th Pursuit Squadron, 20th Pursuit Group, at Barksdale Field, and that the aircraft stalled and spun in with fatal results. It also cites the accident date as 15 December 1935. Carver played for Army in 1929, 1930, and 1931, graduating from the United States Military Academy in 1932. The 20th PG will fly P-26s until January 1938.

1936

;11 January:Martin B-10, 33-151, c/n 519, of the 32d Bomb Squadron, 19th Bomb Group, is moderately damaged in a belly landing at Rockwell Field, Coronado, California, when the undercarriage fails to extend. The San Bernardino Daily Sun reported that "A big Martin bomber, its landing gear out of commission, was brought safely to earth with three occupants at San Diego yesterday, after one passenger had 'bailed out' over March field. Lieut. Paul B. Balfour, of Coronado, pilot of the ship, was credited with particularly skillful handling in landing it safely at Rockwell field , San Diego. First indication that the craft was in trouble was wirelessed to March field shortly after Lieutenant Balfour, with three passengers, had taken off from the latter base. Circling over the field, the lieutenant gave the occupants their choice of taking to parachutes or staying with the ship in an attempt to land it. Private George L. Brown, of Golden Colo., elected to jump, 'bailing out' over the air field. He received a fractured ankle in landing. The other two, Sgt. Ray Riley, of Holton, La., and Private Robert Hart, of Oakland, decided to remain with the ship. Followed by another bomber, piloted by Capt. R. B. Williams, Lieutenant Balfour turned his plane toward Sanj Diego, where landing facilities at Rockwell field are better than at March field. Aided by a west wind and a high ceiling, he dropped the ship down at 65 miles an hour. It slid along the ground for about 150 feet, spraying sand, but remained upright. The bottom of the fuselage and the propeller tips were slightly damaged. A fire truck, crash truck, ambulances and emergency chews were waiting in readiness as Lieutenant Balfour essayed his hazardous landing. The three were brought back to March field in the other bomber, piloted by Captain Williams, which had followed Lieutenant Balfour's ship to the ground at Rockwell field. Lieutenant Balfour said a cable, connecting with the retractable landing gear, had been broken, making lowering of the gear impossible." With his jump, Private Brown became Caterpillar Club member number 761. Repaired, this B-10 will be surveyed at March Field on 8 September 1937.
;22 January: Air Corps Flying Cadet Frederick G. Huish bails out of Consolidated Y1PT-11B, 32-367, of the 53d School Squadron, 10 miles SE of Randolph Field, San Antonio, Texas, after the plane enters a spin/stall, becoming Caterpillar Club member number 762 in the process.
;24 January
;24 January :Keystone B-4A, 32-118, of the 23d Bomb Squadron, flown by Charles E. Fisher, and B-4A, 32-132, of the 72d Bomb Squadron, piloted by William G. Beard, both assigned to the 19th Bomb Group, collide 1,200 feet over Luke Field, Ford Island, Oahu, H. I., killing six of eight crew aboard the two bombers, described at the time as "the worst air accident in Hawaiian aviation history." Private Thomas E. Lanigan, Air Corps, and 2d Lieutenant Charles E. Fisher, Air Corps Reserve, become Caterpillar Club members 763 and 764, respectively, when they take to their parachutes.
;26 February :Capt. Karl G. E. Gimmler is killed when his Boeing P-26A Peashooter, 33–93, of the 27th Pursuit Squadron, 1st Pursuit Group, Selfridge Field, Michigan, stalls and spins into the ground at Barksdale Field, Louisiana. Airframe dropped from records at Selfridge in June 1936. Some sources also list this accident as occurring 20 February 1936.
;2 March
;8 March :Lt. Robert K. Giovannoli is KWF when the starboard wing detaches from Boeing P-26 Peashooter, 32-414, c/n 1680, of the Materiel Division, Wright Field, Ohio, while "coming out of a glide 500 feet over Logan Field, Baltimore. Giovannoli was awarded a medal recently for his heroism last October in helping to rescue two men from a burning army bomber which had crashed at Dayton, O. His home was in Lexington, Ky." He had been key in pulling Leslie Tower and Ployer Peter Hill from the cockpit of the burning Boeing 299 prototype after it crashed on takeoff on 30 October 1935. Giovannoli received the Soldier's Medal posthumously as he died before the President could make the award.
;23 March
;30 March
;5 April : All five crew perish when Keystone B-6A, 32-173, of the 20th Bomb Squadron, Langley Field, Virginia, off-course at night in a storm, strikes the ridge of Blue Mountain seven miles NE of Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania. "The crash would have been avoided if the plane had been 250 feet higher. A state highway patrolman who saw it said it appeared to be in trouble as it approached the mountain ridge. It tore a wide path through the heavy timber as it struck, then dashed nose first into a steep cliff, where the mountain falls sharply away in a 75-foot drop. Near-by residents heard it, but before they could get to the scene the plane was afire, its front buried in the ground, its tail caught in a tree." Killed were Lt. Stetson Brown, St. Johnsbury, Vermont, pilot; Staff Sgt. Ernest Endy, Oley, Pennsylvania; Pvt. Arthur Metz, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania; Pvt. William Yost, McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania; and Cadet Paul Ampspaugh, Cleveland, Ohio.
;19 May: "A March field flying cadet, Douglas W. Smith, 23, parachuted to safety yesterday a few moments before his plane crashed and burned four miles south of Riverside. The ship, a Boeing P-12 pursuit, crashed near the entrance of shaft No. 4 of the Metropolitan water district's Val Verde tunnel. Smith, who had leaped from the cockpit of the speedy ship at 1,500 feet elevation, landed uninjured 75 feet from the wreckage. Smith, attached to the Thirty-fourth Army attack squadron at March field, was flying in close formation fighting maneuvers with another ship at 3,000 feet when his ship went into a power dive. He failed to bring it out, and instead it started to spin. He jumped when he saw it was certain to crash. The youth, son of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur W. Smith, of Mill Valley, graduated from Stanford university in 1933. He was transferred to March field from Langley field , in Virginia, two weeks ago. Brig-Gen. Henry Black Clagett, commander at March field, ordered a three-man board of inquiry to investigate the mishap." He was flying P-12C, 31-147, of the 34th Attack Squadron. This was the first production P-12C of 96 built. With this jump, Smith became Caterpillar Club member number 797.
;25 May
;3 June
;6 June : Martin B-10B, 34–89, c/n 620, of the 1st Bomb Squadron, 9th Bomb Group, based at Mitchel Field, Hempstead, Long Island, New York, piloted by Darlene E. Bailey, gets into an irrecoverable spin, crew bails out, plane comes down in a field at Syosset, L.I., New York. Written off.
;9 June :Sole Kellett YG-1 gyrocopter, 35-278, of the Material Division, Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, acquired by the U.S. Army Air Corps for evaluation, is moderately damaged in a takeoff accident at Pope Army Airfield, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Pilot was Erickson Nichols. Repaired.
;10 June
;22 June: A Blackburn Baffin, S5162 of A Flight, RAF Gosport, flown by Lt. Guy Kennedy Horsey on torpedo-dropping practice, buzzed S.S. Normandie a mile off Ryde Pier and collided with a derrick which was transferring a motor car belonging to Arthur Evans, MP, onto a barge alongside the ship. The aircraft crashed onto Normandies bow. The pilot was taken off by tender, but the wreckage of the aircraft remained on board Normandie as she had to sail due to the tide. It was carried to Le Havre, France. A salvage team from the Royal Air Force later removed the wreckage. The pilot was Court-martialled and found guilty on two charges. Evans' car was wrecked in the accident, which was brought up in Parliament.
;17 July
;20 July :The Spanish Civil War begins on 17 July 1936, but the Nationalists are handicapped almost immediately by the death of Lieutenant General José Sanjurjo, the senior leader, at Estoril, on this date in a plane crash. A plot against him by Francisco Franco is suggested but nothing is ever proven. Pilot Juan Antonio Ansaldo survives the crash of the biplane, which was overloaded with Sanjurjo’s baggage.
;21 July
;30 July:Secrecy about Italy’s involvement in the nascent Spanish Civil War is lost when two Savoia-Marchetti SM.81s of the Regia Aeronautica crashland in French Moroccan territory in North Africa, adjacent to Spanish Morocco. On 6 August, French officials in Paris announce that they agree unanimously that their investigation has determined that the planes were units of the Italian Air Force and were piloted by regular officers and were part of a regular squadron. The Italian airmen had insisted that the planes were sent by a private Italian company.
;6 August :”RENNES, France, Aug. 6. - Four army fliers were killed today near here when their plane broke in two during maneuvers. The pilot was catapulted from the crushed fuselage and three others were burned to death when the plane crashed at the Gael military air camp and burst into flames.”
;13 August :Martin B-10B, 34-106, of the 96th Bomb Squadron, Langley Field, Virginia, crashes five miles W of West Point, Virginia, killing three of four crew. “WEST POINT, Va. - Three army flyers, trapped in a flaming bombing plane, were burned to death as the ship plummeted to earth early today. The radio operator parachuted to safety. The dead: Second Lieut. Willis S. Marvin, Riverside, Calif., pilot; Pvt. John J. Maher, McKeesport, Pa., and Pvt. James E. Crittenden, Richmond, Va. Norbert G. Flynn, McDuffy, O. , radio operator, jumped in a parachute and landed in a tree, suffering only a cut lip. The bomber plunged a thousand feet to earth about midnight. ‘There was a fire and I was given the order to jump,’ Flynn told H. W. Williamson of the Virginia state police. The radio operator was caught in a tree with his parachute and his shouts brought aid. He rode in the front seat of an ambulance that took him to Langley field. The bodies of his three companions were in the back of the ambulance. Williamson said Flynn was unable to tell just what happened except ‘there was some sort of a fire.’ Several persons who saw the bomber as it made a training flight from Langley field, heard a muffled explosion. Light flared in the plane, the motor coughed and the bomber fell.”
;14 August :”WASHINGTON, Aug. 14. - The navy department announced that Lieut. Lawrence W. Curtin of Greenwich, Conn., was killed today in the wreckage of his navy plane which crashed into the Panama canal one mile northeast of the Pedro Miguel lock, the department was informed.”
;20 August
;11 September
;October
;25 October
;26 October
;7 November
;10 November
;7 December
;18 December
;Post-21 December

1937

;1 January
;28 January
;27 February :Two Air Corps Reserve officers are killed in crash of North American BT-9A, 36–118, '3', of the Air Detachment, 6th Corps Area, near the SE corner of Chicago Municipal Airport, during a blind-flying flight. Pilot under the hood was 2d Lt. John P. Spake, 29, of Berwyn, Illinois, with 2d Lt. Clyde H. Wood, Jr., 26, of Chicago, in the rear cockpit. The plane came down in a field at Marquette Road and the Belt Railway of Chicago after 40 minutes in the air. Circling at 500 feet, the plane was seen to waver, then dive into the ground. "Both were co-pilots for the United Airlines, and had been flying since 1931 and were graduates of the army training service."
;Late April
;19 May :Prototype Sud-Est LeO H-47 flying boat sustains fatigue failure damage to hull bottom on take-off and, upon landing at Antibes at, took in water that displaced the centre of gravity, sinking the aircraft.
;3 June
;3 June: Nationalist leader General Emilio Mola is killed when the Airspeed Envoy in which he is travelling flies into the side of a mountain in bad weather while returning to Vitoria, Spain. The deaths of Sanjurjo, Mola and Goded leave Francisco Franco as the pre-eminent leader of the Nationalist cause. Although there have always been accusations that Franco arranged the deaths of his two rivals, so far no evidence has been produced.
;Early July
;23 July – 1 August
;18 August
;19 September
;October
;24 October
;December
;December
;9 December
;11 December

1938

;6 January
;2 February
;6 February
;30 March : Two U. S. Navy Consolidated patrol bombers crash off Oahu, H. I., in separate accidents. Five are killed in the first crash, six in the second. PBY-1 Catalina, BuNo 0142, of VP-4, crashes and sinks ~200 yards offshore at Kaena Point at ~0405 hrs., while en route to scouting station, operating with Fleet Problem #19. Crash believed to be due to low visibility and darkness. Killed are Lt. Leo O. Crane, USN, pilot; Aviation Cadet William Howard Lear, USNR; Vernon August Luciana, R.M. 2c, USN; Garland Harold O'Neal, A.C.M.M., USN; and Bluitt Iven Windham, A.O.M. 1c, USN. Injured are Herbert Fred Bartz, A.M.M. 1c, USN; and George Joseph Nilles, R.M. 3c, USN. On 31 March, small seaplane tender USS Avocet salvages the wreckage and recovers the body of a radioman.
;April
;4 April
;4 April :Bellanca C-27C Airbus, 32-399, c/n 705, ex-NC18797, of the 2d Transport Squadron, 10th Transport Group, out of Middletown Air Depot, Pennsylvania, suffers forced landing at Kylertown, Pennsylvania, after engine failure, suffering moderate damage. Pilot was Isaac W. Ott. Dropped from records at Middletown in February 1939.
;11 April :The sole Grumman XF4F-2, Model G-18, BuNo 0383, first flown 2 September 1937, and delivered to NAS Anacostia, Washington, D.C., on 23 December for testing, was plagued by engine overheating and crankshaft failures. Deck handling and catapult trials began at the Naval Aircraft Factory, Philadelphia, on 6 April. An engine stoppage during a simulated deck landing on 11 April led to a rough deadstick forced landing in a Campbell Soup Company farm field, across the Delaware River from Mustin Field, that flipped the aircraft over onto its back. The test pilot, Navy Lieutenant Gurney, was not seriously hurt, but the machine was badly damaged and had to be sent back to the factory for repairs. Grumman built a revised airframe using the damaged prototype as a basis, with improvements, designated the XF4F-3.
;14 May
;28 May
;2 July
;24 July
;September
;21 September :Following the conclusion of its test program, the Hall XPTBH-2, BuNo 9721, was used for experimental duties at the Naval Torpedo Station in Newport, Rhode Island, participating in trials of aerial torpedoes. Its service at Newport came to an end on this date, when the XPTBH-2 was destroyed during the Great New England Hurricane. This was the last design by Hall Aluminum, which was bought out by Consolidated Aircraft in 1940.
;21 September
;22 September
;5 October
;11 October :Dornier Do 217 V1, first prototype, first flown 4 October 1938, crashes one week into test programme during a single-engine test, killing both crew members, pilot Rolf Koeppe, a flight commander at Rechlin, and Dornier mechanic, Eugen Bausenhart.
;22 October
;Late October
;8 November
;14 November :Private Ben Fliegelman, U.S. Army Air Corps mechanic, of Brooklyn, New York, "borrows" an Air Corps Douglas B-18 Bolo bomber at Honolulu, and takes it on an unauthorized five mile flight before it makes a forced landing in a cane field. Fliegelman is slightly injured. On 31 January 1939, he will be found guilty at court martial of "misappropriating and causing to be damaged a B-18 airplane", and receives a dishonorable discharge and a five year sentence at hard labor at Governor's Island, New York.
;18 November :Douglas B-18A Bolo, 37-468, of the 99th Bomb Squadron, on a flight from Mitchel Field, Hempstead, Long Island, New York, to Maxwell Field, Alabama, crashes 7 miles NE of Lagrange, Georgia, in a night accident in rainy weather that blanketed most of the Southeast. Five of six crew, and two military passengers, were killed when the plane struck trees, possibly due to a downdraft. A dying member of the crew provided details of the crash before he expired. Pvt. Joseph Nanartowich said "We were flying low to get under the ceiling. It was raining. Suddenly we hit a rough spot and bounced. Next thing I knew we were plowing through the trees. There were no mechanical defects so far as I could tell." When rescuers reached the burning wreckage, they found Nanartowich and Lt. John D. Madre alive. Madre was still clinging to life, but unconscious the following day. Killed were pilot Robert K. Black, of Meridian, Georgia, Lt. Robert R. McKechnie, of Cleveland, Ohio, Lt. Allen M. Howery, of Russellville, Tennessee, and Sgt. Harry T. Jones, of Hempstead, New York. The passengers were Lt. James W. Stewart, of East Orange, New Jersey, who was returning to his station at Randolph Field, Texas, and Corp. J. E. Galloway, of Sulphur Springs, Texas, who was returning to his station in Dallas. The bomber had been heard circling Lagrange about 2300 hrs. and it was thought that the pilot was seeking an emergency landing field. "Nearly two hours later a colored share cropper made his way through the mud into town and told of the crash near his home.
;Post-November
;8 December

1939

;1939
;17 January
;19 January
;23 January
;11 February
;20 February
;24 February :A Junkers Ju 52/3mge, D-ALUS, c/n 5210, operated by the Reichsluftfahrtministerium, ferrying Condor Legion pilots back from Spain, crashes into the French Alps during a snowstorm, killing all ten passengers and three crew. Wreckage found 4 March 1939.
;22 March :The sole Seversky AP-4, NX2597, c/n 144,http://www.aerofiles.com/_sev.html a company-funded development of the Seversky P-35 with a turbocharged R-1830 engine, catches fire in flight while being evaluated at Wright Field, Ohio, forcing Seversky chief test pilot Frank Sinclair to bail out. He was burned and bruised, but survived. Seversky spokesmen said that the ship was valued at $250,000. Impressed with the design's climbing ability, the USAAF had placed an order on 12 March 1939 for 13 service test models of the design as Republic YP-43s. Outcome of the evaluation is that the Curtiss P-40 is ordered in quantity.
;1 April
;3 April
;11 April
;29 April
;14 May
;25 May
;9 June
;11 August :Nine Army Air Corps crew are killed in the takeoff crash of Douglas B-18A Bolo, 37-488, of the 21st Reconnaissance Squadron, at Langley Field, Virginia. An engine fails on liftoff and though the pilot tries to glide for the Back River, he stalls, falls short, crashes and burns,
;11 August :Two U.S. Navy aviators are killed in the crash of their bomber during gunnery practice at Miramar Field, north of San Diego. Killed when the plane crashes and burns are Ens. T. R. Wood, USNR, 28, of Tacoma, Washington, and Radioman V. P. Armstrong, 33, of Bristol, Pennsylvania. Wood's widow lives in Coronado, California, and his father, J. W. Wood Sr., in Tacoma. "The navy plane was attached to bombing squadron 3 of the navy aircraft carrier Saratoga." Curtiss SBC-3 Helldiver, BuNo 0541, crashed this date; SOC on 30 September 1939.
;15 August
;1 September
;4 September
;12 September
;16 September
;17 September
;25 September
;Post 31 October
;Circa 30 November
;10 December