USMC
R4Q Packet BuNo ''131663'' was one of twenty aircraft airlifting 1,600
Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps
The Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) program is a college-based, commissioned officer training program of the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps.
Origins
A pilot Naval Reserve unit was established in September 1 ...
(NROTC) second-class (2/c)
midshipmen between summer aviation training in
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
and
amphibious warfare
Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducte ...
training in Virginia in July 1953. Shortly after midnight, the plane crashed and burned following a refueling stop in
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
.
Background
NROTC midshipmen attend civilian colleges during the fall and spring semesters, and spend part of the summer on active-duty training. The summer between their sophomore and junior years was dedicated to aviation and amphibious-warfare training. Half of the midshipmen started training with aviation and the other half started with amphibious-warfare training. After three weeks, a group of military transport aircraft airlifted the midshipmen to the other training location. Transport had been by train through 1952, and 1953 was the first summer during which midshipmen were airlifted between the training locations.
[Hamilton, Harry D. ''Signal Charley'' (2005) pp.16-18]
Crash
On 17 July 1953, 23 midshipmen from the
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...
, ten from
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...
, two from the
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...
, two from
Oregon State University
Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...
, one from the
University of Oregon
The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...
, one from the
University of Utah
The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...
, and one from the
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...
were flying aboard
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
R4Q Packet BuNo 131663 from
Corpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi (; Ecclesiastical Latin: "'' Body of Christ"'') is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patrici ...
to
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...
. The plane was the second of five transports making a midnight refueling stop at
NAS Whiting Field
Naval Air Station Whiting Field is a United States Navy base located near Milton, Florida, with some outlying fields near Navarre, Florida, in south and central Santa Rosa County, and is one of the Navy's two primary pilot training bases (the ot ...
. The port engine lost power during initial climb following takeoff and the plane hit a clump of trees a mile north of the runway. The plane then destroyed three parked cars and a barn as it crashed and burned. Six injured men were found in the wreckage, but only two midshipmen and one of the 6-man USMC crew survived.
Aftermath
The accident remains the greatest recorded loss of United States midshipmen in a single event.
The crash was the 19th operational loss of a R4Q / C-119 type aircraft. At the time, it was the heaviest loss of life from an accident with that type of aircraft, but two subsequent accidents had higher fatalities. When it occurred, it ranked as the eleventh highest fatality count for an aircraft accident in the United States.
Many of the
Holloway Plan
James Lemuel Holloway Jr. (June 20, 1898 – January 11, 1984) was a four-star admiral in the United States Navy who served as superintendent of the United States Naval Academy from 1947–1950; as Chief of Naval Personnel from 1953–1957; and a ...
midshipmen were engineering students; and surviving midshipmen on other planes recalled one of those killed had completed an evaluation of the R4Q aircraft as an exercise and shared his conclusion that the aircraft could not maintain altitude if one engine failed during takeoff with a full load of fuel and cargo.
Loss of most of the University of Oklahoma NROTC graduating class of 1955 severely disrupted the NROTC program at that school. Students from all NROTC schools were uniformly distributed among transport aircraft in subsequent summer training programs.
See also
* (at "July 17")
References
{{coord missing, Florida
Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 1953
Accidents and incidents involving the Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar
1953 in Florida
Aviation accidents and incidents in Florida
Accidents and incidents involving United States Navy and Marine Corps aircraft
Santa Rosa County, Florida
University of Oklahoma
United States Marine Corps in the 20th century