Lockheed Marietta B-47E BuNo 52-205 lost November 3rd 1959

[michael barnette]

Any chance anyone has the official incident/accident report for the subject aircraft? I have several newspaper articles and other information, but have been waiting for 5+ months on the official report from USAF FOIA people...
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Cheers,
Mike

[Elwyn]

That's not the one that shed a wing over Tulsa is it? Nope. Just checked. March '58. One fatality, 2 got out.

[JohnB]

According to the book Headquarters SAC Analysis of B-47 Accidents...
In short, #6 engine of the MacDill-based 52-0205 (a slight correction to your thread title, AF aircraft don't have a BuNo...that's Navy talk ) blew during a refueling from a KC-97.
The one page report mentions the navigator being rescued, no mention of the other crew members...there was a fourth man on board.
Primary causes
1. Material failure resulting in an uncontrollable fire in the vicinity of the #6 engine. Source unknown.
2. Although not conclusive, the most probable cause was turbine wheel failure, possibly induced by a prolonged compressor stall.
3. Another possible cause was the induction of raw fuel into compressor section from a fuel leak.

[michael barnette]

Thanks! Any chance they included an approximate latitude/longitude of the incident?
Cheers,
Mike

[JohnB]

Nope, just mentions "at sea." The navigator ejected at 9000 feet so he came down a way from the crash site, I'd expect.
The report does say the aircraft crashed 3 minutes after the fire was detected.