1942 accident at Curtiss-Wright factory

[TonyM]

This P-40 accident did not make it into my book (FATAL ARMY AIR FORCES AVIATION ACCIDENTS IN THE UNITED STATES, 1941-1945) when it was published in 2006 because the accident was not in the USAAF accident record. I am guessing that the reason it was not in the USAAF accident record is because the pilot was a civilian. I found out about the accident only later on.

There have been civilian-crewed aircraft in the USAAF accident record before--most notably was the Consolidated XB-32 which crashed at the USMC camp at San Diego on 10 May 1943. About 80 US Marines were injured and three killed when the XB-32 crashed into several enlisted barracks after take-off. The Consolidated test pilot was killed in the accident and three Consoldiated employees were seriously injured.