1943 Liberator crash at Whenuapai
File:Consolidated B-24 artificial horizon.jpg
Gyro horizon from a B-24 Liberator
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Accident summary | |
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Date | 2 August 1943 |
Summary | Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) |
Passengers | 25 |
Crew | 5 |
Fatalities | 16 |
Survivors | 14 |
Aircraft type | C-87 Liberator Express |
Operator | United Airlines |
Registration | 41-24027 |
Flight origin | Whenuapai Aerodrome |
The 1943 Liberator crash at Whenuapai was an aircraft accident in New Zealand during World War II.[1][2] TVNZ covered the crash during the program Secret New Zealand in 2003, and posited the accident was covered up, due to concerns of reprisals against POWs.[3]
History
The C-87 Liberator Express aircraft, owned by the USAAF and operated by United Airlines, was transferring Japanese men, women and children of the Consular Corps, to exchange for Allied POWs.[4] On 2 August 1943, it took off from Whenuapai Aerodrome runway 04 at 2:20 am, with rain and fog conditions at minimums for departure, and quickly passed through low stratus. Captain Herschel Laughlin’s gyro horizon had inadvertently been left caged – while the instrument displayed level flight, the aircraft entered a steepening bank to the left.[4] The crew detected the problem in a few seconds, but as the aircraft was straightening up and levelling out, it hit the ground at about 322 km/h (200 mph), bounced a few times and exploded. The third bounce threw its first officer, R. John Wisda, out through the canopy; he rolled end over end about 100 metres (330 ft) through mud and reeds.[4] A medic later found him trying to keep warm near a burning tyre. The major factors of the accident were the lack of a pre-flight checklist, and crew fatigue (126 flying hours in the last 26 days).
The crash killed three of the five crew (United States nationals), and eleven of the twenty-five passengers (eight Japanese and three Thai nationals).[5] Two additional passengers died later from injuries.[4] The TSS Wahine took the surviving internees from Wellington to Sydney three months later.[6][7][8]
References
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- Pages with reference errors
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- New Zealand articles missing geocoordinate data
- 1943 in New Zealand
- Aviation accidents and incidents caused by pilot error
- History of Auckland
- Aviation accidents and incidents in New Zealand
- Aviation accidents and incidents in 1943
- United Airlines accidents and incidents