On November 7, 1945 the Flying Tiger Line experienced its first fatal aircraft accident when one of its initial fleet of Budd RB-1 Conestogas crashed west of Albuquerque, New Mexico killing two of the three crewmembers aboard.
Pilot Richard C. Sawyer was at the controls of a Budd RB-1 Conestoga hauling a load of publications for Newsweek Magazine from Dayton, Ohio to Los Angeles, California. Prescott had previously signed the first long-range contract for FTL calling for two plane shipments per week. Although additional crewmembers were not required by the CAB to fly the Budd in 1945, beside Sawyer as his copilot was Lawrence “Malloy” Feemster. Behind the flight crew was Ronald E. ‘Doc’ Lewis, listed as the flight engineer, a crew position commonly filled by a mechanic with knowledge of the Budd’s many mechanical deficiencies. The flight engineer, if not fixing problems, was also expected to assist in the loading and offloading of freight, and was also expected to throw on a suit and accompany the crew after the flight to hustle up more business to “backhaul” the next day if possible.
On this fateful night, the crew had just refueled the aircraft in Albuquerque and was flying westbound at night along the planned route. After passing over the Acomita intermediate airway in stormy conditions, the aircraft reportedly pitched down into a steep dive and the crew was forced to make a hard belly landing on the rim of San Rafael Mesa, 11km southwest of San Rafael and just south of the modern city of Grants, NM. Both pilots, Sawyer and Feemster, were killed in the impact. However, Lewis was miraculously able to walk off the mountain and obtain help. Presumably the circumstances leading up to the crash came from him, as the survivor, but has remained a mystery to this day.
A truism, very well-known by all historically involved with manned flight, is found in the quote – “Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect.” It would also prove true, almost as a statistical certainty, that most major airlines, past and present, passenger or cargo, would experience a fatal crash at some point in their history.
Flying Tigers first close brush with tragedy, prior to November 1945, was the loss of a Budd Conestoga departing Detroit’s Wayne County Airport with a load of furniture bound for the west coast on August 23, 1945. It was only the fourth revenue flight for the fledgling airline. In fact, this particular aircraft, flown by John Gordon, a recently hired pilot, was documented as the historic maiden flight for National Skyways Freight Corporation, a load of freshly cut flowers flown from Long Beach to Detroit and arranged by Sam Mosher. Gordon had thrown on a suit after the flight, went into town, and was able to successfully fill the aircraft with furniture for the return to Long Beach.
However, for reasons never documented, the aircraft lost power after takeoff and successfully belly landed in a field off the airport. All aboard, including Gordon, were able to walk away from the aircraft which unfortunately caught fire destroying the aircraft and cargo.
On January 1, 1946, two months after the fatal crash in November, a Budd Conestoga flown by Chief Pilot Joe Rosbert was forced down on a golf course in Bluefield, VA during a strong snowstorm after the aircraft lost its radios and was unable to navigate on its flight from Washington, D.C to Atlanta. Luckily, a total of eight crew and passengers were able to escape and walk to the nearby club house where a New Years party was being held.
The Budd Conestoga proved to be a very unreliable aircraft and was soon replaced by surplus C47s.
Unfortunately, fate would find the Flying Tiger Line and the airline would experience eleven additional fatal accidents over its forty-four years in operation. A brief summary of each is listed below.
- January 7, 1953 – Flight 851, a Douglas C54 (N86574) was a MATS ferry flight which departed San Francisco, CA for Boeing Field, WA to pick up military personnel. The crew consisted of Captain Charles Greber, Captain B. Merrill, and Copilot Wayne Lowe. Deadheading passengers included a company flight attendant, in addition to the wife of a company pilot and their two children. During a nighttime instrument approach, the aircraft crashed about 11 miles east of the Seattle at the base of Squak Mountain. The aircraft was demolished by impact and fatal to all seven aboard the aircraft.
- September 24, 1955 – Flight 7413, a Douglas C54 (N90433) was a MAC flight which departed Honolulu for Wake Island and then was to continue to Tokyo. The crew consisted of Captain Anthony Machado, First Officer Warren Gin, Copilot Robert Hightower, and Navigators Richard Olsen and Dominic Ventresca. The crew was forced to ditch the aircraft at night approximately 994 miles west of Honolulu due to loss of power in three engines. The next day, on September 25 the SS Steel Advocate sighted and picked up Captain Machado and Copilot Hightower who were floating in life jackets. The two survivors reported that Navigator Ventresca went down with the aircraft, and that First Officer Gin and Navigator Olsen died while in the water.
- March 15, 1962 – Flight 7816, a Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation (N6911C) was a MATS cargo charter that departed Cold Bay, AK for Adak Island, AK. A multiple crew was carried consisting of Captain Morgan Hughes (pilot in command in the right seat), Captain Thomas Mitchell, Copilot Wayne W. Lowe (sitting in the left seat), Flight Engineer Henry Guttman, Flight Engineer James Johnstone (sitting in the F/E seat), and Navigators Michael Green and Kenneth Drusch. The aircraft crashed hit rocks 328 feet short of the runway threshold during a GSA approach. The main gear was torn off, and the aircraft slid 2,000 feet down the runway where a severe fire developed. Six of the seven crewmembers were able to escape with minor injuries. Unfortunately, Johnstone, the flight engineer on duty at the panel, was trapped in the cockpit and died in the ensuing post-crash fire.
- March 16, 1962 – Flight 739, a Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation (N6921C) was a MATS passenger charter transporting ninety-six military passengers from Anderson Air Force Base in Guam to Tan Son Nhut Airport in Saigon, with a stopover at Clark Air Base in the Philippines. The flight crew consisted of Captain Gregory Thomas, First Officer Robert Wish and Robbie Gazzaway, Flight Engineers, George Nau and Clayton McClellan and Navigators William Kennedy and Grady Burt, Jr. Also aboard were four cabin crew members consisting of Senior Flight Attendant Barbara Walmsley, Hildegard Muller, Christel Reiter, and Patricia Wassum. The aircraft mysteriously disappeared while enroute for a stopover at Clark Air Base in the Philippines launching the largest search ever made at the time in the Pacific Ocean. After eight days, no wreckage was sighted or recovered and all 107 aboard were declared and presumed dead. Since the disappearance, there has been much speculation from airline officials, press, and family that sabotage was a probable cause of the disappearance as the Vietnam conflict heightened.
- September 23, 1962 – Flight 923, a Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation (N6923C) was a MATS charter transporting seventy-six military passengers from Gander, Newfoundland to Frankfurt, Germany. The flight crew consisted of Captain John Murray, First Officer Robert Parker, Flight Engineer James Garret and Navigator Sam Nicholson. Also aboard were four cabin crew members consisting of Betty Sims, Ruth Mudd, Jacqueline Brotman, and Carol Ann Gould. The aircraft was forced to ditch in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 560 miles from Shanon, Ireland due to loss of power in multiple engines. Miraculously, 48 of the 76 souls on board survived the ditching and exposure to a long stormy night at sea in life rafts before rescue by the Swiss freighter Celerina and safe transport to Antwerp in Belgium. The survivors included Captain Murray, Navigator Nicholson, and Flight Attendant Gould, along with 48 passengers. The 28 who lost their lives that day were 17 members of the military, five crew members, and six family members, including two children who died with their mother on their way to join their father and husband, who was stationed in Germany.
- December 14, 1962 – Flight 183, a Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation (N6913C) was a regular cargo flight from Chicago-O’Hare, IL to Lockheed Air Terminal, Burbank, CA. The flight crew consisted of Captain Karl Rader, First Officer David Crapo, and Flight Engineer Jack Grey. In addition, there were two non-revenue passengers aboard who boarded in Chicago. The aircraft crashed in a residential area 1.25 miles west of the airport during an ILS approach to Burbank-Lockheed runway 07 in low visibility conditions due to fog. All five occupants on the aircraft died in addition to three persons in their homes on the ground.
- December 24, 1964 – Flight 282, a Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation (N6913C) was a regular cargo flight from San Francisco International Airport to JFK Airport. The crews consisted of Captain Jabez Richards, First Officer Daniel Hennessy, and Flight Engineer Paul Entz. The aircraft crashed in the early morning hours after takeoff in heavy fog and rain impacting the top of the Sweeny Ridge in San Bruno killing all three crewmembers aboard.
- December 15, 1965 – Flight 914, a Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation (N6914C) was a regular cargo flight from Los Angeles to Chicago. The crews consisted of Captain Ed “Pete” Reed, First Officer Thomas Hunt and Flight Engineer Brian Ferris. The aircraft crashed at night into the south face of California Peak, about 21 miles northeast of Alamosa, Colorado at 13,000 feet killing all three crewmembers aboard.
- December 24, 1966 – A Canadair CL-44 (N228SW, leased from Seaboard World) was a military contract cargo flight from Tachikawa Air Force Base in Japan to Da Nang Airport, Soth Vietnam. The crew consisted of Captain Frank Hawkins, First Officer Michael Jackson, Flight Engineer Lloyd Moore, and Navigator C. G. Tune. On approach to Da Nang in rain and foggy conditions the aircraft struck an obstacle, stalled, and crashed into Binh Thai, a thatched roof village, killing all four crew members and 107 people on the ground. An additional 50 people on the ground were injured, 19 of them seriously. This was the first fatal accident for the CL-44 and the deadliest as well.
- July 27, 1970 – Flight 45, a Douglas DC-8-63F (N785FT) was a regularly scheduled cargo flight from Haneda Airport, Japan to Naha Air Force Base, Okinawa. The crews consisted of Captain Monte Treft, First Officer Robert Foley, Flight Engineer William George, and Navigator Walter Roberts. The aircraft was making its final approach to Naha Runway 18 using precision radar approach when the aircraft’s rate of descent increased and subsequently crashed 2,000 feet short of the runway. Tragically, the copilot and flight engineer survived the impact into relatively shallow water. Although the cockpit section of the aircraft had detached and was inverted, they were able to communicate with a fishing boat crew through a small hole torn in the underside of the fuselage. Unfortunately, they drowned as the tide rose and airport emergency equipment was unable to extract them in time.
- February 19, 1989 – Flight 066, a Boeing 747-200 (N807FT) was a regularly scheduled cargo flight which departed in the morning from Singapore Changi Airport for Kuala Lumpar International Airport, Malaysia. The flight crew consisted of Captain Francis “Frank” Halpin, First Officer John “Jack” Robinson, and Second Officer Ronald Penton. Also onboard was Maintenance Representative Leonard Sulewski. The aircraft impacted a hillside 6.5 miles from the airport during an NDB approach, destroying the aircraft and fatal to all four onboard.
Note: Although Federal Express had technically purchased the Flying Tiger Line in 1988, the flight operations, aircraft, and flight crews of both airlines had not been integrated yet.