ToquiQuito
Recruit
- 1
- Apr 4, 2012
I believe my parents drove onto this base the day after it happenned. We had some old 8 mm color movies of this. I remember seeing about a third of the hanger caved in.
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My brother's father (My Mom's first husband) was one of the pilots of the plane I believe (James J. Muller). This story had been told to over the years but I never saw pictures or articles. Even though he was not my father, this accident affected my life in many ways. Can you confirm for me that he indeed was one of the pilots? My Mom has passed, and I do not have any other way to confirm. Many thanks.
My dad spent 33 years in the USAF and was stationed at Walker AFB near Roswell NM in 1960. He was working Crash and Rescue on the Flight Line while a Pilot In Training was taking off on a training mission flying a fully loaded KC-135A Tanker with 31k gallons of aviation fuel. The official story:
"The 6th Air Refueling Squadron, flying early-model KC-135A aircraft, was assigned to Walker AFB from 3 January 1958. On 3 February 1960, a "short-tail" (non-hydraulic-power-assisted rudder) KC-135A crashed during takeoff in strong and gusty crosswinds. The pilot failed to maintain directional control, rotated the aircraft 5-10 knots too early and the aircraft settled onto the dirt apron of the runway, shed two engines, plowed through the aircraft parking area and came to rest in an aircraft hangar. This single crash resulted in the destruction of three KC-135 aircraft and the deaths of eight military personnel"
My dad said the Fire Dept of the town of Roswell responded open seeing the smoke as they thought the entire base was on fire. It took both them and the entire Base's Fire Dept to finally put out the fire. There were very little of the planes left. Below are the pics my dad has:
where are the pictures??
My brother's father (My Mom's first husband) was one of the pilots of the plane I believe (James J. Muller). This story had been told to over the years but I never saw pictures or articles. Even though he was not my father, this accident affected my life in many ways. Can you confirm for me that he indeed was one of the pilots? My Mom has passed, and I do not have any other way to confirm. Many thanks.
VB - I too was there as a J-57 Jet Engine mechanic. At the time of the crash I was in a base classroom taking the exams for Aviation Cadet and OCS entry. Yes, the winds on that clear day were gusting to almost 40 knots. When I heard the boom from the JP4 cooking off, i ran outside and looked toward the departure runway. Those KC135's left a lot of black smoke at max power, and I could tell fro teh position of th esmoke above the building tops that teh aircraft had tried to come off too early and stalled. First on the number 4 engine, knocking it off its' mounts, which caused the aircraft to roll left and headed directly for the maintenance hanger where there were approximately 50 of my mates working on engine rebuilds. The aircraft careened and caught the number 1 engine on the ground, broke free and jetted toward one of our mechanics on a tug. When he saw the engine coming at him, he jumped from the tug just in time - the engine hit the tug and exploded. At that same moment the aircraft recovered enough to vere starboard and as it plowed into three other completely loaded KC135's on the Ramp, exploding them as well, the aircraft rammed into the hangr next door (The first picture of your fathers that shows the burning hanger). An ocean wave of burning fuel consumed everything on the ramp (yes there were some individuals in cars on the ramp that died from the burning fuel) the three KC135's, cars, and the hanger where it came to rest. BTW there was a parachute training class of some 15 - 25 men being conducted upstairs. They too perished. Besides the eight flight crew, there were closer to 40 who died that day. The next day I saw where the Major, a navigator had died on the ramp outside our hanger (his major insignia had melted on the ground from his flight suit). Such a terrible disaster. Yes -- I did pass my exams and became an Officer, and a Flight Navigator during my 12 year history with the USAF. Regards, Gary
James J muller is my grandfather. His oldest son James J Muller Jr. Is my father. He passed away about 12 years ago from a heart attack. I am in search to find out any info I can about my family.I am related to James J Muller - his father and my grandfather were brothers. My aunt and mother remember when their cousin Jimmy died and family story is very different from the "official" military version and most likely truer. The official story my family was told is that there were terrible cross winds and several planes awaiting take off. Jim radioed saying that the winds were problematic and that he requested permission to delay take off due to the weather. He was ordered to take off and the wind shear rolled the plane sideways on takeoff and the plane crashed. He left behind a wife and two children. Was your mom Helen? When did she pass away? I saw her at my grandmother's funeral several years ago, I didn't realize she had died. I'm sorry to hear it. Your half brothers and mom lived in Greenfields many years ago and so did my family and there was another family near them that were also cousins of some sort. I'm a genealogy nut which is what led me here today. I actually was at Jim's gravesite just yesterday with my Aunt doing research - he is buried at the New St. Mary's Cemetery in Bellmawr.
James J muller is my grandfather. His oldest son James J Muller Jr. Is my father. He passed away about 12 years ago from a heart attack. I am in search to find out any info I can about my family.
i was in crash rescue and fought that fire what was your fathers name mine is geno marascioI was stationed at Walker in 1960...what was your Dad's name. I was also in Air Rescue.
My dad spent 33 years in the USAF and was stationed at Walker AFB near Roswell NM in 1960. He was working Crash and Rescue on the Flight Line while a Pilot In Training was taking off on a training mission flying a fully loaded KC-135A Tanker with 31k gallons of aviation fuel. The official story:
"The 6th Air Refueling Squadron, flying early-model KC-135A aircraft, was assigned to Walker AFB from 3 January 1958. On 3 February 1960, a "short-tail" (non-hydraulic-power-assisted rudder) KC-135A crashed during takeoff in strong and gusty crosswinds. The pilot failed to maintain directional control, rotated the aircraft 5-10 knots too early and the aircraft settled onto the dirt apron of the runway, shed two engines, plowed through the aircraft parking area and came to rest in an aircraft hangar. This single crash resulted in the destruction of three KC-135 aircraft and the deaths of eight military personnel"
My dad said the Fire Dept of the town of Roswell responded open seeing the smoke as they thought the entire base was on fire. It took both them and the entire Base's Fire Dept to finally put out the fire. There were very little of the planes left. Below are the pics my dad has:
Similar experience. B-47 crashes on base at Pease AFB, 1960-1963, 100th Bomb Wing. We lived at 31 Birch Drive in base housing. On two occasions there were terrible explosions and the night sky lit up. On both occasions my Pop was due home from what they called Reflex Missions to Brize Norton AB, England. They were sent out and came home in a Vee formation of three aircraft. Both times my Mom shot to the phone and called base operations to see who crashed. My Pop wasn't one of them but she would begin to cry because she learned which of her friends lost their husbands. We, as kids (I was 8 years old) learned which of our friends lost their Pops and knew they would move away. My Mom absolutely hated the military never saying one kind word about it. That early jet age killed many of her friend's husbands due to accidents and she lived in constant fear of my Pop being one of the statistics. Twenty years of living in fear like that are seldom chronicled in military journals. Military wives and families are different kinds of veterans, but veterans nonetheless.
There were subsequent investigations of the above crashes, which I learned the results of years later from my Pop, with the key findings that, 1) Fast jet bombers required the skills of fighter pilots with regard to reaction times and keeping their heads out in front of the (high speed) airplanes. Transitioning reciprocating engine pilots should be transitioned in T-33s before moving to the new bombers and, 2) At the time pilots were ordered to follow the commands of tower controllers who were not trained in the controller procedures for that particular high performance jet bomber, their higher approach speeds and slower power (turbine spool up times) recovery for aborting. A controller directed one aircraft onto the "runway" on one fogged-in night. The "runway" was, in reality, the base golf course. IOW, it crashed short of the runway killing all 3 crew members. The investigation determined that due to the conditions of that night the pilot could not have recovered.
I remember seeing the burned out wreckage of one in the base golf course the morning after.