Calhoun, LA Navy Plane Crash, Mar 1951

PENSACOLA PLANE CRASHES, KILLS 6.

NAVY CRAFT EXPLODES NEAR CALHOUN, LA.

Calhoun, La. -- (AP) -- Six men were killed near here Saturday in the crash of a twin-engine Navy plane that exploded, hurling one burned body a half mile away.
The plane went down less than five minutes after the pilot radioed civil aeronautics authorities at Monroe, La., 15 miles eastward, that all was well.
State police said flaming wreckage was scattered
"over a square mile" by the explosion.
Brush fires started by the flames had to be beat out by State police before they could reach the charred, twisted remains of the plane, a JRB type.
The craft was on a routine training flight from the Pensacola Naval Air Station to Dallas, Tex.
"The explosion was terrific," said M. A. HEISLER of East Monroe, who apparently was the only eye witness to the pre-dawn crash.
HEISLER said he heard the plane going over his home shortly before 5 a.m. (CST) and it did not attract his attention until he heard the motor sputter.
"Then I looked out the window and saw the plane crash in the woods nearby," he continued. "The plane flashed up just above the tree tops and a second later there was a terrific explosion."
Hours after DR. J. T. FRENCH, Ouachita parish coroner reported five bodies had been found. State police said a sixth body had been located in the rolling hill country a half mile from the wreckage.
Commander J. WALTER WINSLOW of Pensacola Naval Air Station said six men were aboard when the plane left the base at 2:37 a.m. (CST) for Dallas.

Panama City News Herald Florida 1951-03-18

Crewmen of the Navy Trainer, enroute to Dallas, Texas, were listed as:
Lieut. (jg) EMMITT C. BURLESON, Pensacola, the pilot.
Ensign JAMES F. MAHAN, Texarkana, Ark., co-pilot.
ROBERT CRITTENDEN, photographer 1/C, Findlay, Ohio.
BERT THOMAS FOX, photographer 3/C, Fort Worth, Texas.
JOHN F. HANRAHAN, apprentice, Fort Worth, Texas.
HARRY WILLIAM HOBBS, 25, of Frederick, Okla., a naval reservist.

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