Boeing KC-97 Stratotanker - Accidents and Incidents Involving The KC-97

Accidents and Incidents Involving The KC-97

• 9 May 1957 - KC-97F-55-BO, 51-0258, c/n 16325, en route from Sidi Slimane Air Base, Morocco, to Lajes AB, Azores, ditches in the Atlantic 550 km (343.8 mls) SE of the Azores Islands following a double engine failure, no fatalities amongst the seven crew. The airplane floated for ten days and was sunk by USS Wisconsin.
• 18 July 1957 - The 380th Bomb Wing suffers its first peacetime major accident when KC-97G-28-BO, 52-2737, c/n 16768, from the 380th Air Refueling Squadron with a crew of eight explodes and crashes into Lake Champlain at 2128 hrs. when 2 of the 4 engines fail 3 minutes after take-off from Plattsburgh AFB, New York. Three survivors.
• 29 October 1957 - KC-97G-27-BO Stratotanker, 52-2711, c/n 16742, of the 509th Bomb Wing, out of Walker AFB, New Mexico, crashes 35 miles north of Flagstaff, Arizona, while on nine-hour low-level survey flight to determine minimum altitude restrictions for B-47 training routes. Aircraft was seen over Gray Mountain, Arizona, at altitude of 60 feet shortly after 0830 hrs., and then heard striking a cloud-shrouded cliff face, killing 16 crew and strewing wreckage for 200 yards along mountainside.
• 14 December 1959 - KC-97G Stratotanker, 53-0231, c/n 17113, of the 384th Air Refueling Squadron, out of Westover AFB, Massachusetts, collides with a B-52 during a refueling mission at an altitude of ~15,000 feet. The aircraft loses the whole left horizontal stabilizer and elevator, the rudder, and the upper quarter of the vertical stabilizer. Crew makes a no-flap, electrical power off landing at night at Dow AFB, Maine, seven crew okay. "Spokesmen at Dow Air Force, Bangor, said the B52 apparently 'crowded too close' and rammed a fuel boom into the tail of a 4 engined KC95 tanker plane." Aircraft stricken as beyond economical repair. Two crew on the B-52 eject, parachute safely, and are recovered by helicopters in a snow-covered wilderness area. The bomber and remaining eight crew members continue to Westover AFB, where a safe landing is made.
• 15 April 1960 - Twenty-four airmen escape with their lives when KC-97G-23-BO Stratotanker, 52-0919, c/n 16612, of the 307th Air Refueling Squadron, 307th Bomb Wing, crashes and burns on take-off from Lincoln AFB, Nebraska, when the undercarriage collapses. The only casualties are two airmen who suffer leg fractures and 5 others who suffer minor cuts and burns.
• 27 June 1960 - A KC-97G-27-BO, 52-2728, of the 380th Air Refueling Squadron, Plattsburgh AFB, New York, suffers failure of lubrication on an engine impeller shaft, during an evening four-hour training mission to refuel a B-47 Stratojet. During rendezvous at 15,500 feet, bomber crew sees the tanker's number one (port outer) powerplant burst into flames. A burning fuel leak threatens the wing integrity. As the bomber moves away from the burning tanker, the crew tries unsuccessfully to put out the blaze. The plane goes into a spin as the wing fails outboard of the engine and crashes on Jonathan Smith Mountain, a hill east of Puzzle Mountain in Newry, Maine. The flash of the fire is seen from as far away as Lewiston and Bridgton, and several people witness the crash, including hundreds of moviegoers at the Rumford Point Drive-In. All five crew are killed - two are found wearing unused parachutes. KWF are Lt. William Burgess, commander, of Indian Lake, New York; Technical Sgt. Robert Costello, boom operator, of Springfield, Illinois; Lt. Raymond Kisonas, navigator, of Waterbury, Connecticut; Lt. Lewis Turner, co-pilot, of Spokane, Washington; and Master Sgt. Harold Young, flight engineer, of Selma, Alabama. Wreckage covers five acres and is still there.
• 17 September 1971 - KC-97G, 4X-FPR / 033, c/n 16714, of the Heyl Ha'Avir (Israeli Air Force), is shot down by Egyptian missiles over Suez, Egypt, 7 of 8 on board killed.