Warbird Information Exchange

I meant to post this on Friday, but Saturday morning, we flew the C-123 down to Maryland to perform a fly over at the crash site of the B-52D, call sign Buzz One Four, that crashed while carrying two nuclear bombs after turbulence sheared the vertical stabilizer off. This happened in January, but they decided to do the dedication to the new monument in the summer when people could actually be there.

Of the crew of five, four were able to eject out of the aircraft. However, only two survived the night as it was during a massive snow storm and two died from exposure.

It was an honor for us to be able to do this for the families who lost their loved ones that night and for the families of the two survivors who were all present at the dedication.

http://www.buzzonefour.org

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Tyler Pinkerton
Active Member of Air Heritage Inc. of Beaver Falls, PA.
Aircraft: C47B, C-123K, Fairchild F-24, Funk Model B, L-21B, T-28B, T-34B
Static: F-4C Phantom II, F-15A, T-3 Provost

Even though Maryland is a pretty small state...that is some pretty rugged country out in Garrett County.

I'm glad the citizenry chose to memorialize the site. It is a reminder that there is still sacrifice even during times when our country is not involved in activie hostilities. While the price of freedom is vigilance, that vigilance itself does carry a price.

I am currently working on a similar project in Beallsville, Maryland, about 25 miles northwest of D.C., where a B-57 went down on February 8th, 1955 on a delivery flight, killing the pilot, Captain William S. Todd, and maiming the bombardier/navigator Lt. Matsuru "Dick" Uyehara, who lost one leg on ejection and had to have his second leg amputated. Uyehara went into arrest three times during the initial operation, but he was a fighter and pulled through. Uyehara was the first person to eject from a B-57 and live to tell about it. The ejection seat was of a faulty design, and his feedback likely saved many lives.

Hello Tyler,

I am the grandson of the pilot of flight Buzz One Four and attended the event in Grantsville a few weeks back. First off, thanks so much for volunteering to do that fly-over, it really added some excitement to the event. Secondly, I am a filmmaker currently working on a documentary about the crash of Buzz One Four. I filmed the event and have footage of your flyover, which you can see here: http://vimeo.com/104471271 (your fly over starts about 56 minutes in)

If you are interested in the project I am working on, you can find out more about it here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ma ... z-one-four

Sorry to use this public forum to contact you, but I figured others might be interested in this as well!

take care,
Matt