1967 tragedy b-25 / 16 parachutists die over lake erie

[tom d. friedman]

this is a real horrific story. i'm hoping wixer woodsyfield will chime in on this post. if you do, thanks leon. august 1967..... a b-25 w/ 18 parachutists aboard departs wakeman ohio from the ortner airport. (5 minutes from my house) the weather is overcast, raining, cloud deck 6000 feet. the chutists are in the rear cabin sitting on bench seats, some are in the bomb bay. destination to jump... at the ortner airport, wakeman ohio. attached to the flight is a cessna 180 that was to film the drop at 12000 feet. parachute altitude was 20,000 feet. the faa air traffic controller at one of the major air traffic control centers in oberlin ohio is monitoring the the drop. for some reason the cessna 180 is all he picks up on his radar screen while the b-25 is heading out to lake erie unknowingly roughly 12 miles from wakeman. the b-25 is roughly 4 miles north of the shore out over the lake between huron & vermilion ohio. the b-25 pilot calls to the air traffic controller twice to varify his position for the jump point. unknowingly again the b-25 does not appear on his screen, but the 180 does. the 25 is mistaken for the cessna 180 on his radar screen assuming he is over the wakeman / ortner airport. the atc gives his approval for the jump. pilot opens bomb bay doors as chutists are in near darkness prior to jump. the sudden light blinds them momentarily, disorients the jumpers w/ the sudden burst of light & they have no clue they are jumping into clouds, let alone lake erie. long story short.... all 18 jump, 16 die, & it took a week to find the casualties. story as related by the 2 survivors & testimony that dragged into 1975 for relatives of the deceased pursuing lawsuits against the faa.

[The Inspector]

Another creepy coincidence! Back about 26 or so years ago +/-, a local guy named Jim Landry (who owned F4U BIG HOG) backed into a corn field near Snohomish WA. with 14 of 16 skydivers still aboard in a LOCKHEED C-60. They had all moved to the back for a jump and the CG went away aft given that long aft fuselage and only two or three jumpers got away from it the rest were found inside, all piled on top of each other as none could climb the now vertical floor to restore cg and it literally backed into the ground under full power, an acquaintance who was fishing heard it said it was the most eerie sound he'd ever heard.

[tom d. friedman]

cruising through google today while at work....(don't tell!!) i saw some simular crash scenarios re: my post & yours herr inshpector!! i even hit on a google saying that the b-25 chute disaster was haunted. so much for the lore........

[Woodsy Airfield]

You pretty well covered the event Tom....I got a first hand report about the 2 chutist that were recovered by the fisherman that rescued them. He said the Lake was very rough that day and only saw one other boat out....low clouds...suddenly he was surrounded by the parachutists landing in the water. With all the gear worn by them, they were being pulled down....he managed to reach 2 of them pulling them out, but either the others were too far away to be reached or they were already under....As I recall, the B-25 was N3443G, I believe it wound up on the east coast, but don't know its fate.....Leon

[JohnB]

According to Scott Thompson's B-25 Mitchell in Civil Service, the aircraft (44-30470) crashed on Aug 9, 1970 in Orange, Mass.

[p51]

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3518992

[SuperGuppy]

Another creepy coincidence! Back about 26 or so years ago +/-, a local guy named Jim Landry (who owned F4U BIG HOG) backed into a corn field near Snohomish WA. with 14 of 16 skydivers still aboard in a LOCKHEED C-60. They had all moved to the back for a jump and the CG went away aft given that long aft fuselage and only two or three jumpers got away from it the rest were found inside, all piled on top of each other as none could climb the now vertical floor to restore cg and it literally backed into the ground under full power, an acquaintance who was fishing heard it said it was the most eerie sound he'd ever heard.

The Lodestar stalled, rolled over and went in nose first... There was a picture in Parachutist magazine, I believe, of the Lodestar, nose down, just prior to impact...

- Reformed Jumper Dumper

[Speedy]

Another creepy coincidence! Back about 26 or so years ago +/-, a local guy named Jim Landry (who owned F4U BIG HOG) backed into a corn field near Snohomish WA. with 14 of 16 skydivers still aboard in a LOCKHEED C-60. They had all moved to the back for a jump and the CG went away aft given that long aft fuselage and only two or three jumpers got away from it the rest were found inside, all piled on top of each other as none could climb the now vertical floor to restore cg and it literally backed into the ground under full power, an acquaintance who was fishing heard it said it was the most eerie sound he'd ever heard.

Interestingly enough, I was at KPAE the weekend before that accident and on a whim had snapped a photo of that Lodestar sitting on the ramp. White with blue trim, if I recall correctly. I had that photo published in the Air Classics Warbird Report on the accident. Shame, Jim was a funny guy. He owned Sky Nursery in Seattle and was business partners with Pat Palmer. Pat had the racing T-6 "Gotcha!!", and Jim had a racing T-6 "Hrududu!!!". Jim's Corsair "Big Hog" was originally going to be an Unlimited racer (I think it was going to be called "Really GOTCHA!!", but ended up going the warbird route instead.

[The Inspector]

Another creepy coincidence! Back about 26 or so years ago +/-, a local guy named Jim Landry (who owned F4U BIG HOG) backed into a corn field near Snohomish WA. with 14 of 16 skydivers still aboard in a LOCKHEED C-60. They had all moved to the back for a jump and the CG went away aft given that long aft fuselage and only two or three jumpers got away from it the rest were found inside, all piled on top of each other as none could climb the now vertical floor to restore cg and it literally backed into the ground under full power, an acquaintance who was fishing heard it said it was the most eerie sound he'd ever heard.

Interestingly enough, I was at KPAE the weekend before that accident and on a whim had snapped a photo of that Lodestar sitting on the ramp. White with blue trim, if I recall correctly. I had that photo published in the Air Classics Warbird Report on the accident. Shame, Jim was a funny guy. He owned Sky Nursery in Seattle and was business partners with Pat Palmer. Pat had the racing T-6 "Gotcha!!", and Jim had a racing T-6 "Hrududu!!!". Jim's Corsair "Big Hog" was originally going to be an Unlimited racer (I think it was going to be called "Really GOTCHA!!", but ended up going the warbird route instead.

Wasn't there some grand plan to return an old CORSAIR racer back to stock and modify what became The Hog into a RENO bird? I remember seeing GOTCHA! @ Renton once. Any idea who wound up with BIG HOG?