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A B-52 crashed on July 19, 1969 in a take-off accident in heavy rain
storms from U-Tapao RTAFB, Thailand. The plane was taking off and had
passed the point of no return and tried aborting because of not being
able to see runway markers and crashed just short of the hammer head
road near the north end of runway 36. Both forward landing gears
collapsed and the a/c seemed to break at the front wheel well. The
aircraft caught fire on impact but the B-52 crew of six managed to
escape safely.
Meanwhile, a rescue helicopter (HH-43B Huskie 59-1562) was coming in to
fight the fire. Normally in a
B-52D, the tail gunner blows the turret and exits out the back of the
aircraft. However, either because of the surrounding fuel fire or damage
caused by the impact, he did not/could not blow the turret and instead
went forward and exited out the rear wheel well and was picked up by a
maintenance truck.
Tragically, the HH-43B Huskie crew saw the turret in place and assumed
the tail gunner was still in the aircraft. On approaching the crash site
to locate the gunner, the Huskies would use their rotor down wash to
clear a path through the flames, 7 of the bombs on the B-52D detonated
due to being engulfed in flames and blew the Huskie and crew out of the
sky, killing two and seriously injuring one. The helicopter was
directly over the B-52D when it exploded in a mass detonation and was
thrown about a half mile south of the B-52. It landed upside down in
soaked grass just off the center of the runway. It was reported that
undetonated 500 lbs were found down at the beach 10 miles away.
Pararescueman Harry Cohen died in this search and rescue attempt.
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