Denver, CO Bomber Crashes Into Homes, Dec 1951

I was a student at Graland Country Day School and saw this crash from my class room window. It was truly frightening to see. I will never forget it!

I would like a printable copy of the newspaper article, if at all possible.

Thank you.

if you send me an email .. I will send you a copy of the article on an attachment ..
Stu

Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!

My dad was a staff sergeant in the Air Force and was sitting in the navagator's seat of this plane when it crashed. He told me that the nose of the plane next to where he was seated just opened up and he walked out almost unharmed. He went back into the burning plane and rescued the crew chief. The chief then went back in and pulled out the pilot and copilot, but they both died. The tailgunner was the only other airman who survived the crash and this took an adrenaline enhanced effort by someone on the grond who broke through the reinforced glass at the back of the plane with a pipewrench and pulled him to safety.

My dad never told me the details of how horrific this crash really was. It's a miracle anybody survived. My dad passed away last week and we buried him yesterday with military honors. I know he felt guilty that he did not go back into the burning plane and help the crew chief, but given the terror he no doubt felt, I think he did okay under the circumstances.

My Father was stationed at Lowry AFB in 1951 and was originally scheduled as the Tailgunner for this B-29 flight in December. At the last minute, he was removed from Tailgunner duty and given a new assignment as B-29 Gunnery School Instructor. I believe he has always wondered what would have happened had this last minute assignment change not occured. The new assignment allowed him to attend school in Los Angeles, where he married his high school sweetheart on December 20, before moving on to the Atomic Bomb Wing in Mountain Home, Idaho where he instructed airmen on the plane's gun systems for the remainder of his 4 year hitch. The word he received was the surviving Tailgunner was burned over 90% of his body following the accident. Unfortunately, the Tailgunner section of the plane was also home to a large gasoline drum to be used for an emergency generator in the event of electrical power loss during bombing missions. Almost every section of this state-of-the-art bomber depended on electrical power, and without an emergency generator the plane was virtually a sitting duck if hit in the right spot. I was told he was soaked with the gasoline from this drum and was protected from the flames, while in this section of the plane. He knew he had to get out of the plane somehow, so himself and others on the ground finally managed his escape from the pod. Unfortunately, when finally got out of the plane the flames outside the pod inginited his gasoline soaked body. It is obvious my Father thinks about his replacement on that day quite a bit, especially now at the end of his life. He is 76 years old now and has been married to his sweetheart (and my Mother) ever since their marriage only days after this tragic accident occurred. It seems to me he is on a personal quest to find out as much as he can about this day in the twilight of his life. He has asked me to find a copy of the Denver Post article which includes the details of this event. But any paper would be fine, I'm sure. So if anyone out there happens to have a copy of any account of this tragic day, can you please let me know. Thank you.

I was a student gunner on that crew in 1951. This was a student training flight, composed, alphbetically, of r's and s's. The names ot the students were, Snyder, Sylvia, Surber, Rutledge, Snyder, Allen, Ablondi, I can't remember all. There were two James Snyder's, one from Alabama, and one from Loveland. Ohio. Myself and James Snyder from Ohio, were removed from this flight to attend training in the altitude chamber that day. We were replaced by Allen and Ablondi. Ablondi was killed, but Allen survived. He was severly burned, and recieved treatment for years at Military burn centers. I saw him many times during the next 4 years. 1/Lt. Bob Snure was the co-pilot on the plane. He married a girl from Alpine, Tx, where I grew up, and I knew him personnsly. He was severly injured, and never got over it. His wife had to leave him because of the kids.

Mr. Rutledge comments are interesting. My father, Jack Stanley, was a high altitude chamber instructor. He was not part of this crew and was just along for the ride. I'm not sure why. Perhaps he took the flight because of the opening created on the plane when Mr. Rutledge and Mr. Snyder attended the class that day.

We lived at 511 Dexter Street, about 6 blocks from the crash. I was very young, but I remember my dad piling us in the car and driving up to where the street was blocked. He left Mom and me in the car, but the vivid memory I have is one of the engines suspended from a giant crane illuminated by spotlights which had been set up to allow work at night. The other thing I remember is the house across the street whose roof had been hit by one of the landing gear. It tore a small section out of the roof, but the rest of the house was intact. The roof was repaired, but for years you could see the scar on the roof because the shingles were a different color/age.

I have some amateur footage of this plane crash shot on 16mm color film immediately after the crash. In searching around online I also found a small bit of a professional black and white newsreel that also covered the crash. You can view the newsreel on this page:

http://www.buyoutfootage.com/pages/titles/pd_nr_209.html