Naval Air Station Pensacola - Incidents and Accidents

Incidents and Accidents

On 20 February 1939, a squadron of twelve U.S. Navy aircraft, types not identified, but described as "fast combat ships", returning to NAS Pensacola, Florida, from a routine training trip on a Monday night, found the Gulf Coast socked in by a fog described as one of the heaviest ever witnessed in the region, and eight planes were lost with two pilots killed. Three aircraft piloted by instructors, and one other plane, are diverted by radio and outrun the fogbank to land safely at Atmore and Greenville, Alabama. "Six of the Navy's flying students bailed out in the darkness and reached ground safely in their first parachute jumps. Their planes were wrecked beyond repair. Lt. G. F. Presser, Brazilian Navy flyer, in training at the Naval Air Station, crashed and was killed at Corry Field. His plane burned. The fog was so dense that the intense glow of the burning plane could not be seen by attendents on the field. Lt. N. M. Ostergren, U. S. Navy, was found dead at his crashed plane near McDavid the next morning. Both men were married. Officers said the wreckage of the eight planes - they declined to estimate their worth, but aviation circles here said the fast combat ships would cost from $18,000 to $20,000 each - was the air station's second heaviest loss. In 1926 a hurricane wrecked planes on the ground, hangars and other equipment for a total damage of about $1,000,000."