Fort Rucker L-5's wartime mishap
Sat Oct 03, 2009 11:00 am
I wonder if Ryan has any comments about this. The info came from the Accident Report. Maybe the Rucker aircraft is not the same one. Needs a close look for signs of damage repair.
On May 17, 1944 Stinson L-5 42-99103 was on a cross-country flight from the 9th Air Service Command depot at Grove, Berkshire to RAF Cranage, not far from Manchester, via Kidderminster. After flying around numerous showers, pilot First Lt John Reiter and his observer, First Lt Bruce Fuller, became completely lost. With fuel down to five gallons and surrounded by mountainous terrain, they made a precautionary landing in a cultivated field. Unfortunately, the soil was very soft and the aircraft nosed over. Both men escaped unhurt and learned that they were about one mile west of Dolgellau on the road to Llanelltyd. The site is almost on the west coast of Wales.
An investigation was conducted by Major Ervin Miller from Atcham, the nearest USAAF station. If he followed his usual practice of landing a Piper Cub as near to a crash as possible, he must have picked a more suitable field! His report states, in part: "Lt Reiter, due to poor navigation, became hopelessly lost and due to the locality in which he found himself, became over-anxious. There are very few airdromes south and east from the point where he attempted his landing; however, RAF Llanbedr and RAF Towyn were only 10 or 12 miles distant to the NW and SW.
"Had Lt Reiter been properly instructed in British maps and navigation procedure, this accident would have been avoided. Also, had he carried out precautionary emergency landing procedure and had chosen a more suitable landing field, he would have prevented his aircraft from nosing over."
Its fuselage bent and left wing crumpled, the aircraft was declared a write-off and £2 was claimed by the farmer for damage to his crop of young oats. The story, however, does not end there because the Stinson L-5 on display in the US Army Aviation Museum at Fort Rucker, Alabama, is apparently the very same aircraft! At least it bears the same serial number. The FAA's N-Number site has 42-99103 as becoming N6407C, so maybe it flew again? Did some Sergeant Bilko character ship the wreck back to the States and sell it? Or maybe the initial inspection was over-pessimistic and it was repaired after all?
Note that the Harlech P-38 is only about ten miles from where the L-5 came to grief. Wonder if that will ever get to a musuem
On May 17, 1944 Stinson L-5 42-99103 was on a cross-country flight from the 9th Air Service Command depot at Grove, Berkshire to RAF Cranage, not far from Manchester, via Kidderminster. After flying around numerous showers, pilot First Lt John Reiter and his observer, First Lt Bruce Fuller, became completely lost. With fuel down to five gallons and surrounded by mountainous terrain, they made a precautionary landing in a cultivated field. Unfortunately, the soil was very soft and the aircraft nosed over. Both men escaped unhurt and learned that they were about one mile west of Dolgellau on the road to Llanelltyd. The site is almost on the west coast of Wales.
An investigation was conducted by Major Ervin Miller from Atcham, the nearest USAAF station. If he followed his usual practice of landing a Piper Cub as near to a crash as possible, he must have picked a more suitable field! His report states, in part: "Lt Reiter, due to poor navigation, became hopelessly lost and due to the locality in which he found himself, became over-anxious. There are very few airdromes south and east from the point where he attempted his landing; however, RAF Llanbedr and RAF Towyn were only 10 or 12 miles distant to the NW and SW.
"Had Lt Reiter been properly instructed in British maps and navigation procedure, this accident would have been avoided. Also, had he carried out precautionary emergency landing procedure and had chosen a more suitable landing field, he would have prevented his aircraft from nosing over."
Its fuselage bent and left wing crumpled, the aircraft was declared a write-off and £2 was claimed by the farmer for damage to his crop of young oats. The story, however, does not end there because the Stinson L-5 on display in the US Army Aviation Museum at Fort Rucker, Alabama, is apparently the very same aircraft! At least it bears the same serial number. The FAA's N-Number site has 42-99103 as becoming N6407C, so maybe it flew again? Did some Sergeant Bilko character ship the wreck back to the States and sell it? Or maybe the initial inspection was over-pessimistic and it was repaired after all?
Note that the Harlech P-38 is only about ten miles from where the L-5 came to grief. Wonder if that will ever get to a musuem
Sat Oct 03, 2009 7:46 pm
Interesting story! I'm forwarding the link to Mr. Gray to see what he can add to the discussion.
Ryan
Ryan
Sun Oct 04, 2009 6:30 am
Thanks Ryan. I forgot to mention that the L-5 pilot was from the 14th Liaison Sqdn and must have been collecting a new aircraft.
Sun Oct 04, 2009 8:13 am
Dave Smith wrote:Thanks Ryan. I forgot to mention that the L-5 pilot was from the 14th Liaison Sqdn and must have been collecting a new aircraft.
In that case, Forgotten Fields (aka John) might have some information...
Ryan
42-99103
Tue Oct 13, 2009 1:12 pm
Yes, I've noticed this before but until now haven't bothered to look into it. According to the USAAF record card the plane must have been repaired because it went on to end the war in Germany with the 9th Air Force, presumably with the 14th LS. It was on loan to Army Ground Forces from 1946 until it was permanently transferred to the AGF in 1948.
This explains how it probably got back to the States. While the Air Force pretty much dumped all their L-5's by 1948, when the remaining liaison squadrons were all deactivated, the AGF retained a large portion of theirs until they were replaced by newer models (L-19) and helicopters in the 1950's. Of the few L-5's still in existence in the USA today that saw overseas duty, nearly all of them were returned in the hands of the AGF or the USMC.
As far as I can determine, the only ones that came back in the hands of the Air Force were probably never uncrated in Europe since they arrived so close to the end of the war in Europe, or shortly thereafter, that there was no longer any real need for them there. I have seen instances on several record cards where these late arrivals were shipped back to the US from Europe and arrived in San Francisco, indicatng they were enroute to the Far East via the Canal Zone on VJ day.
This explains how it probably got back to the States. While the Air Force pretty much dumped all their L-5's by 1948, when the remaining liaison squadrons were all deactivated, the AGF retained a large portion of theirs until they were replaced by newer models (L-19) and helicopters in the 1950's. Of the few L-5's still in existence in the USA today that saw overseas duty, nearly all of them were returned in the hands of the AGF or the USMC.
As far as I can determine, the only ones that came back in the hands of the Air Force were probably never uncrated in Europe since they arrived so close to the end of the war in Europe, or shortly thereafter, that there was no longer any real need for them there. I have seen instances on several record cards where these late arrivals were shipped back to the US from Europe and arrived in San Francisco, indicatng they were enroute to the Far East via the Canal Zone on VJ day.
42-99103
Tue Oct 13, 2009 1:41 pm
P.S. I have left a message with Harry Weeks of the 14th LS to see if he recalls the incident. The 14th arrived in the UK on Easter Sunday, 1944 and spent most of their time up to D-Day flying courier missions all over southern and western England, and apparently Wales. Harry believes it wasn't so much a need for their servces as it was for the pilots to get valuable flying experience before going into combat.
BTW, the squadron was moved from Aldersly Edge, Cranage, to Knutsford, Cheshire on 11 May. It is unlikely Reiter would have been picking up the aircraft freshly assembled from the Air Depot because the 14th planes all arrived in the UK at Bristol on April 5th and the squadron hustory says they were at "full strength" at that time they arrived in Knutsford.
BTW, the squadron was moved from Aldersly Edge, Cranage, to Knutsford, Cheshire on 11 May. It is unlikely Reiter would have been picking up the aircraft freshly assembled from the Air Depot because the 14th planes all arrived in the UK at Bristol on April 5th and the squadron hustory says they were at "full strength" at that time they arrived in Knutsford.
Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:40 pm
Thanks for all the information, Mr Gray and to Ryan for contacting you. I had assumed. incorrectly, that they were picking up a new aircraft from Grove. It must have been a courier flight, maybe to pick up spare parts. It's great to get so much more of the story!