To All.
.Good Friday morning April 3, 2026.The weather is great this morning. .This was a bubba Breakfast Friday here in San Diego and we had a good turn out of 26. Prayers go out to the F-15 crew down in Iran.
Warm Regards,
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HAGD
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This day in Naval and Marine Corps History (thanks to NHHC)
Go here to see the director's corner for all 94 H-Grams
Here is a link to the NHHC website: https://www.history.navy.mil/
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April 3
1797 Capt. Thomas Truxtun issues the first known American signal book using a numerary system entitled, Instructions, Signals, and Explanations, ordered for the United States Fleet.
1942 Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, is named Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas (CINCPOA) and also retains the title of Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet (CINCPAC).
1943 USS Haddock (SS 231) sinks Japanese fleet tanker Arima Maru north of Palau, and USS Pickerel (SS 177) sinks Japanese submarine chaser Ch 1.
1944 USS Sanders (DE 40), tank landing ship (LST 127), and two infantry landing crafts occupy Mejit Island, Marshall Islands and defeat Japanese force.
1991 USS America (CV 66), along with USS Normandy (CG 60), and USS William V. Pratt (DDG 44) transit the Suez Canal en route to CONUS after providing support for Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield.
1992 The first five co-ed recruit companies from Recruit Training Command, Naval Training Center, Orlando, Fla., graduate. BRAC recommends closure the following year.
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This day in World History April 3
0628 In Persia, Kavadh sues for peace with the Byzantines.
1367 John of Gaunt and Edward the Black Prince win the Battle of Najera, in Spain.
1559 Philip II of Spain and Henry II of France sign the peace of Cateau-Cambresis, ending a long series of wars between the Hapsburg and Valois dynasties.
1860 The Pony Express connects St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, California.
1862 Slavery is abolished in Washington, D.C.
1865 Union forces occupy the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia.
1882 The American outlaw Jesse James is shot in the back and killed by his cousin, Bob Ford.
1910 Alaska's Mount McKinley, the highest mountain in North America is climbed.
1920 F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre are married at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.
1936 Bruno Hauptmann, killer of the Lindbergh baby, is executed.
1942 The Japanese begin their all-out assault on the U.S. and Filipino troops at Bataan.
1944 The U.S. Supreme Court rules that black citizens are eligible to vote in all elections, including primaries.
1948 President Harry Truman signs Marshall Plan. It will revive war-torn Europe.
1966 Three-thousand South Vietnamese Army troops lead a protest against the Ky regime in Saigon.
1972 Charlie Chaplin returns to the United States after a twenty-year absence.
1984 Coach John Thompson of Georgetown University becomes the first African-American coach to win an NCAA basketball tournament.
More on the Pony Express
1860 – The first Pony Express mail simultaneously leaves St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, carried by Henry Wallace riding west and John Roff riding east. During the 1,800-mile journey, the riders changed horses dozens of times, and on April 13 the westbound packet arrived in Sacramento, beating the eastbound packet's arrival in St. Joseph by two days. Operating on a semiweekly basis for nearly two years, the route followed a pioneer trail across the present-day states of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada to California, carrying mail as well as some small freight for the young Wells Fargo Company. The Pony Express Company, a private enterprise, charged $5 for every half-ounce of mail. Although short-lived and unprofitable, the mail service captivated the American imagination and helped win federal aid for a more economical overland mail service. The Pony Express also contributed to the economy of the towns on its route and served the mail-service needs of the American West in the days before the telegraph or an efficient transcontinental railroad. Pony Express mail service was discontinued in October 1861.
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Rollingthunderremembered.com .
April 3
Hello All,
Thanks to Dan Heller and the Bear
Links to all content can now be found right on the homepage
homepage http://www.rollingthunderremembered.com
.. If you scroll down from the banner and featured content you will find "Today in Rolling Thunder Remembered History" which highlights events in the Vietnam war that occurred on the date the page is visited. Below that are links to browse or search all content. You may search by keyword(s), date, or date range.
An item of importance is the recent incorporation of Task Force Omega (TFO) MIA summaries. There is a link on the homepage and you can also visit directly via https://www.rollingthunderremembered.com/task-force-omega/. There are 60 summaries posted thus far, with about 940 to go (not a typo—TFO has over 1,000 individual case files).
If you have any questions or comments about RTR/TFO, or have a question on my book, you may e-mail me directly at acrossthewing@protonmail.com. Thank you Dan
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Thanks to Micro
From Vietnam Air Losses site for ..April 3 . .
April 3: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=2519
This following work accounts for every fixed wing loss of the Vietnam War and you can use it to read more about the losses in The Bear's Daily account. Even better it allows you to add your updated information to the work to update for history…skip
Vietnam Air Losses
Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady's work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
This is a list of all Helicopter Pilots Who Died in the Vietnam War . Listed by last name and has other info https://www.vhpa.org/KIA/KIAINDEX.HTM
MOAA - Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Service members Killed in the Vietnam War
The site works, find anyone you knew in "search" feature. https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/ )
By: Kipp Hanley
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. . From the List archives
A bit of USMC background
Thanks to Shadow and Lon
Folks,
Got this from Lon Getlin this P.M. Lon and I went through the F-4 RAG together. What I didn't know until recently was he had a "Grunt Tour" in Vietnam like I had, before reporting to Flight Training… and ironically he didn't know I had a Grunt Tour either. I guess we both were so focused on our new world of flying, we didn't notice. Anyway… he was a cool dude and well liked. Lon and I both correspond with Lancer and a short time ago he told me about his brother who was killed up by the DMZ on Operation Prairie III. In another quirk of fate, I was on the same Operation with 1/4 while his brother was in 1/9. Prairie III was multi-battalion operation. And a really tough fight. We were near Gio Linh and 1/9 was west of us near Con Thien. Our first night in the field we took over 500 rounds of incoming artillery from NVA 152 Battery located just north of the DMZ, directly on the border. It was the longest night of my life. Found out what living on a bullseye was like… bad juju! All of our company's were in constant contact with the NVA for over a week. It was tough sledding, lost a lot of fine men on that operation, Lon's brother was one of them.
For those that don't know… the Grunt Marine Corps has a very special symbiotic relationship between our Officers and Enlisted men. Unlike in an aviation squadron, where unless you were assigned to the Maintenance Department as your collateral duty; you had very little interaction between Officers and Enlisted unless they worked for you. You might recognize a face here and there, but seldom knew their names or background. In the Grunts, it was a totally different experience… you ate together, you slept next to each other… hell you even pissed and shit near each other… and you shared the same miserable existence together. You knew everyone's name in your platoon or company. And in the end… we often bled together too.
By tradition… Marine Corps Officers defer to their troops when it comes to chow, mail call and liberty. The men go first, Officers last. Know you Navy guys will find that hard to believe… but thats the way it was in the Grunts. The interaction and relationships were closer and far more personal. The troops relied on the Officers for leadership and the Officers relied on the men to win the fight. And they both risked their lives for each other. Many an Officer owed his life to an Enlisted Marine and Vice Versa. Anyway… you form bonds within the ranks that we seldom did in aviation.
Since leaving the Corps, Lon has devoted much of his life to remembering those who served and retained an unabiding desire to do something for those who served in the lower ranks. He finally set up a Foundation to help those who served and the offspring of the same. Lon is personally successful… his whole motivation is altruistic… this is a real Foundation, engaged in honorable work. I would encourage any of you with the means… to contact Lon and make a donation if you can spare it. I know he would appreciate it… and put it to a good cause.
All the Best, Shadow
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A cute one from the archivers
Thanks to Craig ... and Dr.Rich
To Be 8 again!
SO True!!
A man was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching his wife, who was looking at herself in the mirror. Since her birthday was not far off he asked what she'd like to have for her birthday.
'I'd like to be eight again', she replied, still looking in the mirror ..
On the morning of her Birthday, he arose early, made her a nice big bowl of Coco Pops, and then took her to Adventure World theme park. What a day! He put her on every ride in the park; the Death Slide, the Wall of Fear, the Screaming Roller Coaster, everything there was.
Five hours later they staggered out of the theme park. Her head was reeling and her stomach felt upside down. He then took her to a McDonald's where he ordered her a Happy Meal with extra fries and a chocolate shake.
Then it was off to a movie, popcorn, a soda pop, and her favorite candy, M&M's. What a fabulous adventure!
Finally she wobbled home with her husband and collapsed into bed exhausted.
He leaned over his wife with a big smile and lovingly asked, 'Well Dear, what was it like being eight again?
Her eyes slowly opened and her expression suddenly changed.
'I meant my dress size, you idiot!!!!'
The moral of the story: Even when a man is listening, he is gonna get it wrong.
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. Thanks to American Facts
. Well I still have nine of these and they still work....skip
What Was The Telephone With A Round Dial Control Called?
Rotary dial phone
Can You Tell What This Was For? 12 Items We No Longer Use!
Little by little, many of the things we used just a few decades ago have been phased out by newer technologies and changing habits. Your relatives no longer invite you over for a family viewing of holiday photos on a slide projector—they share them in the family WhatsApp group. Hardly anyone calls you on a landline anymore—they call your smartphone instead. Take a look at the following 12 things we no longer use. Do you miss any of them?
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Paper road maps
Paper maps—atlases, or topographic maps—are beautiful and there is always room for those as home decorations or teaching geography in schools. But as far as bulky roadmaps on your back pocket go, smartphones with GPS capabilities have made them obsolete.
Bathing machine
Back in the day, modesty was far more strictly enforced than it is today. Forget about simply wearing your beach clothes to the shore—the bathing machine was a device, popular from the 18th century to the early 20th century, that allowed beachgoers to change out of their regular clothes, put on swimwear, and wade into the ocean.
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Public telephones
Before cell phones existed, coin-operated pay phones were the go-to option for contacting someone or leaving a message. Pay phones were everywhere—on street corners, in malls, restaurants, airports, train stations, and hotels, allowing people to make calls in public places.
Teleseme
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, luxury hotels featured an electric signaling device in each room, allowing guests to request goods or services from over 100 options. An attendant in the hotel office would receive the request via a corresponding teleseme and ensure the order was fulfilled.
These devices were eventually replaced by private branch exchange (PBX) telephone systems.
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Slide projectors
As mentioned earlier, slide projectors were once a common household appliance in many homes and a popular form of entertainment. However, they became obsolete as video projectors became more affordable and accessible.
Phonebooks
Imagine a book containing the home phone numbers of everyone in your city. It once existed and was delivered annually to every household with a landline by the telephone company. These hefty directories became obsolete with the rise of online listings and the death of landlines in favor of cell phones.
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Typewriters
Imagine not being able to revise what you're writing without scrapping the whole page. While that situation was a great exercise for your focusing abilities, it was phased out by home computers and word processors, which allowed for infinite rewrites in no time.
Photo Album
Smartphones have made photography more accessible than ever, yet we print fewer photos than before. When photography wasn't digital, people took their film rolls to be developed, returning with 36 crisp pictures—some of which, if deemed worthy, were carefully placed in photo albums.
Cassette tape players
If you're over 40, you've probably owned a cassette player—whether a Walkman, a boombox, or any other model. Cassettes were sturdy, reliable, and easy to use. However, with the arrival of CDs, which offered superior sound quality and the ability to skip tracks at the press of a button, cassettes and their players quickly faded into obscurity.
Encyclopedias
Before the internet, encyclopedias were the primary source of knowledge. These extensive book collections adorned bookshelves in homes and public libraries, offering detailed descriptions of almost any subject imaginable, all listed in alphabetical order.
Fax machines
By today's standards, sending and receiving faxes wasn't particularly fast, but at the time, it was a game-changer. The fax machine digitized documents with a scanner and transmitted printed pages over telephone lines. However, it became obsolete with the rise of email, scanners, and smartphones.
VHS tapes and VCRs
Being able to see any movie you want at home feels ordinary today, but, in the early 80s, it was a dream come true. And this dream was made possible by VCRs and VHS tapes. These bulky devices were eventually replaced by DVD players, which offered superior image quality and eliminated the need to rewind the tape.
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Thanks to Mugs
. US F-15E jet confirmed shot down over Iran as Tehran releases wreckage images
Dan Sabbagh in Jerusalem and Hugo Lowell in Washington
Fri, April 3, 2026 at 9:28 AM CDT
A US air force F-15E aircraft, the same model that has been brought down over Iran.Photograph: US Air Force/Reuters
A US F-15E fighter has been shot down over Iran, prompting a frantic US search and rescue effort for its two-strong crew, in the first such incident since the start of the war.
Iranian state media released images of a tail fin and other debris early on Friday accompanied by an initial claim that a US F-35 had been hit by a new air defence system over central Iran and the pilot probably killed.
Related: Middle East crisis live: US launches rescue mission as official says Iran has shot down fighter jet
Aviation experts said the wreckage pictured was in fact from a F-15E, from the US air force's 494th squadron, based at RAF Lakenheath in the UK, though it could not at first be confirmed when and where the pictures were taken.
US officials familiar with the situation later confirmed off the record that an F-15E had been brought down and the Pentagon was scrambling to find the crew. There was no official comment from the US military about the incident.
Subsequent footage filmed in Iran showed a US C-130 Hercules and HH-60 Pavehawk helicopters flying low and at one point refuelling together, amid fresh Iranian speculation that the plane crew may have ejected and survived.
Justin Bronk, an aviation expert from the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), said the use of the specialist helicopters "suggested a combat search and rescue mission is under way to locate and extract the two aircrew from the F-15E".
A social media account claiming to be linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards posted a picture of an ejector seat in a desert landscape, which appeared to be consistent with the ACES II type used in F-15Es. Bronk said: "If genuine, it would suggest that at least one of the two aircrew did eject safely."
The presenter on an Iranian TV channel urged residents to hand over any "enemy pilot" to police and promised a reward for anyone who did.
Iran's Tasnim news agency reported that the pilot of the jet – still incorrectly describing it as an F-35 – had been taken into custody, contradicting Tehran's initial claim that the pilot had probably died in the incident.
Overnight, the US Central Command, which is leading the attack on Iran, had denied Iranian claims that another F-35 jet had been downed over Qeshm Island in the strait of Hormuz. "All US fighter aircraft are accounted for," it said at the time.
Up to now no US fighter jets had been lost over Iran during the five-week-long conflict, though three F-15Es were shot down by a Kuwaiti air defence system in a friendly fire incident on 1 March.
An F-35 fighter reportedly had to make an emergency landing at a US airbase in the Middle East after sustaining damage from the ground. A US E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control system aircraft was destroyed at the Prince Sultan airbase in Saudi Arabia on 27 March in an Iranian strike.
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An epic tale from the archives
Thanks to Barrel I lived on a couple of bases that had the B-36. Like Loring in Maine. They made a certain sound that was unmistakable with 6 turning and 4 burning and you did not even have to look up to know what it was. On open house days my buddies and I would always get there as soon as we could and head to the B-36. We would climb in and start cranking each other from the front to the back gunner station on the little track with what was like one of those things that mechanics have to roll under cars on their backs. It would not take to long before someone would come along kick us out. But what fun Then we would head to the fighters. F-102, F-86D, F-89 etc skip
B-36 Ride to Hell....
Ah, back when engines were engines...Except for the four jets.
Aircraft Commander 1st Lt. Oliver Hildebrandt, Pilot 1st Lt. Walter Ross, and Co-pilot Captain Wilbur Evans, and a crew of thirteen took off from Carswell AFB in B-36B, 44-92035 of the 26th Bomb Squadron of the 7th Bomb Wing at 5:05 A.M. on November 22,1950. The planned 30-hour training mission consisted of air-to-air gunnery, bombing, simulated radar bombing, and navigational training.
Immediately after take-off, the #4 alternator would not stay in parallel with the other three alternators, so it was taken off-line and de-excited three minutes into the flight. About one minute after the #4 alternator was shut down, flames 8 to 12 feet long erupted from around the air plug of the number-one engine. The left scanner reported the flames to the pilot. Six minutes after take-off, the flight engineer shut down the number-one engine, feathered its propeller, and expended one of its Methyl bromide fire extinguishing bottles.
The mission continued on the power of the remaining five engines. 44-92035 cruised to the gunnery range on Matagorda Island at an altitude of 5,000 feet. It arrived at 7:00 A.M. and the gunners began practicing. Radar Observer S/Sgt. Ray Earl manned the tail turret. The charger for the right gun burned out, so he expended just half of his ammunition. Then the APG-3 radar for the tail turret started acting up, so S/Sgt. Earl secured the set.
Aircraft Commander 1st Lt. Oliver Hildebrandt noted that the vibration from firing the 20 mm cannons increased significantly during the fourth gunnery pass. Immediately afterward, radar operator Captain James Yeingst notified Hildebrandt that the APQ-24 radar set blew up and was smoking. Vibration from the firing of the guns was causing shorting between the internal components of the radar. Then the liaison transmitter failed as well.
The cannons in the left forward upper turret and the left rear upper turret stopped firing. The gunners attempted to retract the gun turrets, but the failed turrets would not retract. Gunner S/Sgt. Fred Boyd entered the turret bay, but other problems began to take precedence over the stuck turrets. Boyd was called out of the bay before he could manually crank the turret down.
At 7:31 A.M. the number-three engine suffered an internal failure. The torque pressure fell to zero. The manifold pressure dropped to atmospheric pressure. The fuel flow dropped off, and the flight engineer could not stabilize the engine speed. The pilot shut down the number-three engine and feathered its propeller. The B-36B had only one operating engine on the left wing, so the pilot aborted the remainder of the training mission and set course for Kelly Air Force Base.
Flight engineer Captain Samuel Baker retarded the spark, set the mixture controls to "normal", and set the engine RPM's to 2,500 to increase the power from the remaining engines. Unknown to Captain Baker, the vibration from the guns had disabled the electrical systems controlling the spark settings and fuel mixture. He immediately discovered that the turbo control knobs no longer affected the manifold pressure.
The B-36B could not maintain its airspeed on the power of the four remaining engines. It descended about 1,000 feet and its airspeed bled off to 135 miles per hour. The pilot called for more power. The flight engineer attempted to increase engine speed to 2,650 RPM and enrich the fuel mixture, but got no response from the engines except for severe backfiring. The fuel mixture indicators for all of the engines indicated lean. The second flight engineer, M/Sgt. Edward Farcas, checked the electrical fuse panel. Although the fuses appeared to be intact, he replaced the master turbo fuse and all of the individual turbo fuses. He noticed that the turbo-amplifiers and mixture amplifiers were all cooler than normal. He climbed into the bomb bay to check the aircraft power panels and fuses, but could not find any problem there.
Kelly Air Force Base had a cloud overcast at just 300 feet and the visibility was restricted to two miles. The weather at Bergstrom Air Force Base not as bad, with scattered clouds at 1,000 feet, broken clouds at 2,000 feet and 10 miles visibility. Carswell Air Force Base was clear with 10 miles visibility, but it was 155 miles farther away than Bergstrom. Air traffic control cleared all airspace below 4,000 feet ahead of the crippled B-36B. Aircraft Commander Hildebrandt was flying on instruments in thick clouds.
The poor weather at Kelly Air Force Base convinced Hildebrandt to change course from Kelly to Carswell Air Force Base, passing by Bergstrom Air Force Base on the way in case the airplane could not make it to Carswell. Bombardier Captain Robert Nelson made two attempts to salvo the 1,500 pounds of practice bombs in the rear bomb bay, but the bomb bay doors would not open by automatic or manual control, or emergency procedure.
There was no way to dump fuel to reduce the weight of the B-36B. The flight engineers resorted to holding down the switches used to prime the fuel system in an attempt to increase fuel flow to the engines. M/Sgt. Edward Farcas held down the prime switches for the number-two and number-four engines while Captain Baker held down the prime switch for the number-five engine and operated the flight engineer's panel. The configuration of the switches did not allow them to prime the number-five engine and the number-six engine at the same time.
The high power demand coupled with the lean fuel mixture made the cylinder head temperatures of the engines climb to 295 degrees C. Flight engineer Baker jockeyed the throttles, decreasing the throttle setting of the engine with the highest cylinder head temperature until another engine grew even hotter. The high temperature caused the gasoline/air mixture in the cylinders to detonate before the pistons reached top dead center, diminishing power and damaging the engines.
Despite the critical situation with the engines, Aircraft Commander Hildebrandt decided to continue past Bergstrom Air Force Base to Carswell. Bergstrom was overcast and its runway was only 6,000 feet long. Carswell offered a much longer runway. By the time the B-36B reached Cleburne , the backfiring on all engines increased in violence. The number-2, number-5, and number-6 engines were running at 70% power and the number-4 engine was producing only 20% power. The airspeed had dropped off to 130 miles per hour.
Aircraft Commander Hildebrandt attempted to restart the number-one engine, the one that had spouted flames on take-off, but fuel was not getting to its induction system. He tried to restart the number-three engine, but could not unfeather the propeller on that engine. As the bomber passed to the west of Cleburne , the right scanner reported dense white smoke, oil, and metal particles coming from the number-five engine.
After a short while the number-five engine lost power, and Aircraft Commander Hildebrandt feathered the propeller on that engine while still twenty-one miles from Carswell Air Force Base. The B-36B could not stay airborne on the power of the three remaining failing engines. It was flying at just 125 miles per hour, seven miles per hour above the stall speed, losing both altitude and airspeed. Howard McCullough and W. Boeten were flying Civil Aeronautics Authority DC-3 N342 near Cleburne . They were notified by Meacham Tower to be on the lookout for 44-92035. They spotted it about five miles south of Cleburne . They observed that the number-one and number-three propellers were feathered and the number-five engine was on fire. They turned to follow the descending bomber. Aircraft Commander Hildebrandt ordered the crew to bail out of the stricken bomber.
Bombardier Captain Robert Nelson had bailed out of airplanes on two previous occasions. He had crash landed twice and ditched once. He was the first man to bail out from the forward crew compartment. He suffered contusions of his lower spine when he landed.
Radar Operator Captain James Yeingst responded to stress with laughter and jokes. He was a bit giddy before the bailout. He was the second man to exit from the forward crew compartment. His parachute streamed after he pulled the rip cord. He passed Captain Nelson going down. Captain Yeingst's parachute mushroomed open just before he hit the ground, but he suffered fatal injuries.
Co-pilot Captain Wilbur Evans was the third man to exit from the forward crew compartment. He had bailed out of airplanes twice before and crash landed several times during WW-II. This time he broke both bones in his lower right leg when he landed.
Navigator Captain Horace Stewart had previously tried to get off flying status because he felt that the B-36 was too dangerous. It is reported that during the hour before bailout, he was tense, nervous, and chain-smoking. He was the fourth man to bail out from the forward crew compartment. He pulled his rip cord right as he exited the forward escape hatch on the left side of the fuselage. His parachute opened and pulled him toward the number three propeller. His head hit the downward pointing blade of the propeller, killing him instantly.
Radio Operator Cpl. Paul Myers followed Captain Stewart out the escape hatch. Myers landed with minor injuries. Flight Engineer M/Sgt. Edward Farcas jumped head first through the exit hatch of the forward crew compartment right after Cpl. Myers. His parachute did not open when he pulled the rip cord. He pulled the parachute out of its pack with his hands and landed with only minor injuries.
Radar Mechanic Robert Gianerakis and Flight Engineer Captain Samuel Baker were the next to escape from the forward compartment. Both landed with only minor injuries. Radio Operator Sgt. Armando Villareal bailed out after Captain Baker. Villareal did not trust his parachute to open, so he pulled the rip cord while he was still in the forward crew compartment. He held his parachute in his arms as he jumped feet first through the escape hatch. Despite his unorthodox method of escape, he landed with only minor injuries.
Pilot 1st Lt. Walter Ross was the next to last to leave the forward compartment. He landed with only minor injuries. Gunner S/Sgt. Andrew Byrne and Radar Observer S/Sgt. Ray Earl were the first two crew members to bail out of the rear crew compartment. Both landed with only minor injuries. Gunner Cpl. Calvin Martin was the third man to exit the rear crew compartment. He was swinging under his parachute as he hit the ground. He broke his right ankle as he landed. He fell backward onto a rock, fracturing his third lumbar vertebra and compressing his tailbone. Gunner S/Sgt. Ronald Williams followed Cpl. Martin out the rear escape hatch. He landed with only minor injuries. Gunner S/Sgt. Fred Boyd was the last man to exit the rear crew compartment. He called to Aircraft Commander Hildebrandt over the intercom to let him know that everyone had escaped from the aft compartment. When he turned back to the exit hatch, it had fallen shut. He had to open the hatch again to make his escape. He broke the fibula of his left leg when he landed farther to the north than the other crew members.
After S/Sgt. Boyd reported that all other crew members had bailed out of the rear compartment, Aircraft Commander Hildebrandt set the autopilot and jumped clear when the bomber was less than 1,000 feet above the ground. He and nine other crew members escaped from the B-36B with only minor injuries. When McCullough and Boeten in DC-3, N342 saw the parachutes of the escaping crew members, they announced the bail-out on the emergency frequency of 121.25 megacycles.
Each report of Emergency Parachute Jump indicates that the incident occurred 20 miles south southeast of Carswell Air Force Base. The descent of the B-36B was witnessed by Mr. Buck Bell and his wife, who lived about 5 to 7 miles southwest of Crowley, Texas. Mr. Bell saw the crew members parachuting from the bomber, but did not see it hit the ground about one mile north of his house. Mr. James Bandy and his wife were on the road to Cleburne about 4 miles from their house on Route 1 near Joshua when they spotted the B-36B trailing smoke, flying in a nose-high attitude. They saw it hit the ground in a level attitude, raising a cloud of dust.
The B-36B descended straight ahead in a nose-high attitude for a mile after Aircraft Commander Hildebrandt bailed out. It stalled, pitched nose down, and impacted in a terraced field on Les Armstrong's Dairy, 14 miles south of Carswell Air Force Base, 2 miles west of the South leg FTW range, and six miles west of Crowley at 9:50 in the morning. The forward crew compartment separated and folded underneath the rest of the fuselage. The tail section broke off, and the rear crew compartment came away from the mid-fuselage as the wreckage slid 850 feet along the ground and twisted to the right.
The rear sections of the airplane remained largely intact. The elevation at the crash site was approximately 700 feet. Mr. W. Doggett witnessed the bail-out and crash from his home on Route 1 near Joshua. The B-36B impacted about 2-1/2 miles north of his house. He drove to the crash site in his pickup truck and helped the surviving crew members to regroup.
Four minutes after the crash, McCullough and Boeten in DC-3, N342 reported that two Navy aircraft were circling the wreckage. The wreckage smoldered for about eight minutes before a fire broke out in the number-six engine. The 15,000 gallons of remaining fuel consumed the forward fuselage and wings. The civilians and crew members were driven away from the crash site by exploding ammunition and the knowledge of the presence of 1,500 pounds of bombs aboard the airplane.
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