Posted on 10/05/2020 1:30:45 PM PDT by The_Media_never_lie
One example above...
Indeed!
That’s quite a harrowing story. What a time! Thanks for sharing.
My Dad was born in 1918 and was in CBI Theater of War. Over the Hump, kicked out of the area with Gen. Stillwell, etc.
Wondered what Lou Conter’s “enlisted” patch looked like. It’s elegant in its own way:
That’s a 10 on the puker factor!
I watch lots of the show “Air Disasters”. Accidents are typically human error but a few left me stuned at that $hit happens scenario.
It will be interesting to see the final report in this case. I will refrain from speculation until then.
Very glad all service members survived.
Lou Conter was, on occasion, my Dad’s co-pilot.
Regarding the fire during flight: Lou recounts a “friendlies” harboring on an enemy-held island. Eventual USN rescue was by PT boat.
I used to be a jet mechanic in another life, and I got a chance to read the journals of the day that discussed aviation accidents, and you are correct.
Most accidents are not just one thing like a component failing catastrophically causing a fatal crash.
Most of the time, it may or may not involve a mechanical failure, but the more serious part is often the cascade of human errors that compound the situation and make it worse.
I used to work with radioactive isotopes, so I also have studied nuclear mishaps, and it is much the same, even worse.
I would highly suggest a book titled “Atomic Accidents” by James Mahaffey...very interesting, readable, and even entertaining. (Especially the one where a B-47 dropped a nuclear bomb accidentally over South Caroline (Look up the “Mars Bluff” incident...it is both hilarious and hair-raising at the same time, though technically, they hadn’t loaded the fissile material onto the bomb at that point since they used to insert it right before the bomb was to be dropped in anger)
Wonder why the C-130 landed gear up?
That’s really neat. Yes, elegant. I am a WW II buff and had no idea that existed. Thanks.
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