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| Last updated at 9:33 AM on 03/10/07 |
Aviation 
Ellsworth’s B-36
FRANK TIBBO
The Beacon
The Nut Cove and Burgonets Cove area of Trinity Bay would seem to be an unlikely place for an aircraft memorial. A few years ago, the flight engineer section at 103 Search and Rescue Unit in Gander erected a memorial in memory of 23 American airmen, who died there on March 18, 1953.
The B-36 bomber was one of the largest warplanes ever built. Its wings stretched 230 feet wide, longer than a hockey rink. The first versions of the B-36 were powered by six engines (propellers); however, four jet engines were added for extra power and speed. The bombers were built to operate over Germany during the Second World War. The war ended before the aircrafts were ready for action.
On March 14, 1953, 18 BR-36H reconnaissance aircraft, all with 10 engines, left, what was then, Rapid City Air Force Base on a training mission to the Azores. The destination after the Azores was a classified secret. The lead aircraft, registration 51-13721, was flown by the mission commander, Brigadier-General Richard E. Ellsworth, who was the commander of the 28th Reconnaissance Wing at Rapid City Air Force Base.
The secret mission was to return to the United States undetected. The idea was to test the North American defense system. They were to approach the United States from the Atlantic Ocean and attempt to proceed to designated simulated United States targets without being detected. No one except General Ellsworth knew when the mission would leave the Canary Islands (near the north west coast of Africa) for the 23-hour mission, which would take them to the Maine coast and then over several cities in the U.S.
The weather, as is quite often the case, played a significant and tragic role in this story. The intended route for the aircraft, which departed on the night of March 17 at 15-minute intervals, was a direct course to the Maine coast. The altitude of only 500 feet was to avoid radar detection. At the Maine coast, the aircraft would climb to 40,000 feet and proceed with their secret mission.
Navigation would be celestial, getting a shot of the stars by using a sextant, and dead reckoning. Celestial navigation only works when you can see the stars, and dead reckoning means that you have all your money on the weather forecast. The stars were not visible, and the weather forecast was inaccurate. That, combined with the fact that the radar on the lead aircraft was not functioning properly, was indeed a recipe for disaster.
The aircraft was surrounded by cloud all the way across the Atlantic. The only way to get a calculation of their position by using the stars was to climb above the clouds. The commander ordered that the altitude of 500 feet be maintained.
A low-pressure area was in the middle of the Atlantic. It was forecasted to move north. It did not move at the time it was forecasted to move. The navigator in Ellsworth's aircraft ordered a right (north) correction of a few degrees to allow for the forecasted southerly drift, which would be caused by the low pressure area — if the forecast was accurate.
The low-pressure area was, in fact, south of the aircraft's path, which was causing it to drift north instead of south. That meant, of course, that the aircraft should have been correcting its course to the south, but, instead, was drifting farther north. The northern drift, combined with the intentional steering north to correct a supposedly south drift, took the aircraft approximately 400 miles north of course. It was supposed to come in over the Maine coast, yet it came in over Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. The second aircraft came in over Cape Pine near Cape Freels in Trepassey Bay, and narrowly missed disaster. As a matter of fact, it brushed a spruce tree just prior to doing an emergency climb.
General Ellsworth's aircraft flew into a ridge near Nut Cove and Burgoyne’s Cove, killing all 23 airmen on board. All of the remaining 17 aircraft returned safely to base. The weather had gradually improved, and the farther behind an aircraft was, the better the weather.
President Dwight Eisenhower dedicated the base at Rapid City to the honour of General Ellsworth, and the name of the base was changed to Ellsworth Air Force Base.
An air traffic controller who was on duty in the Gander control tower at the time of the incident told me that he had received an alert on the aircraft. That translates to someone notifying air traffic control that the aircraft was overdue at destination.
This story was published in The Best of Aviation by yours truly, and was read by Claude Moore Erving of Bulverde, Texas. On Dec. 16, 1997, he wrote:
Dear Mr. Tibbo:
During 1951 thru 1953, I was the USAF liaison officer to the Canadian D.O.T. and stationed at Gander. My main responsibility was to co-ordinate air space blocs for our numerous military flights across the Atlantic.
I was able to purchase a copy of your book The Best of Aviation and have read your story about the B-36 crash. You did an excellent and accurate job with that tragedy.
I was called that night by the Gander Control Tower, and went over there immediately to learn of the reported crash.
While there, we received confirmation of the crash and an approximate location. I called my headquarters down at Pepperall Air Force Base in St. John's, and told them that due to the raging snowstorm, which included the entire island of Newfoundland, that they would not be able to launch any rescue effort from St. John's or Harmon at Stephenville. I advised that I was ready and able to leave immediately and get as close on one of our speeders on the railroad and get as close as I could and walk to the scene.
I got a couple of my NCOs, some supplies, and we headed out on a speeder. We went to the nearest town to the scene, enlisted the help of a local young man with an automobile and drove to the shore, where he procured a boat and took us across to a shoreline as close to the scene as we believed possible. We then hiked into the hills, and about two in the morning arrived at the scene.
We gathered up all of the classified documents, assembled the 23 bodies, and waited until the weather cleared so the first helicopter could arrive with the rescue personnel.
What a terrible and unnecessary loss. If they had been 10 feet higher, they would have cleared the hilltop.
From the memorial erected at the site:
They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31
Next week: 1950 Gander
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01/10/07
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