Air Force Aircraft 51-8026 Crash - Perry County, Pennsylvania
N 40° 12.998 W 077° 33.449
18T E 282373 N 4454939
This is memorial to a Air Force Aircraft crash that occured in 1956 on Tuscarora State Forest District Lands (Three Square Hollow Road, Toboyne Township, Perry County, Pennsylvania)
Waymark Code: WMFNXG
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 11/10/2012
Views: 6
Air Force Aircraft 51-8026 Crash - Perry County, Pennsylvania
Information on the disaster, as reported exercpted from Wikipedia:
A USAF Fairchild C-119G-FA Flying Boxcar, 51-8026A, c/n 10769, of the 61st Troop Carrier Squadron, 314th Troop Carrier Wing, Tactical Air Command, Sewart Air Force Base, Tennessee, on a cargo airlift mission to Olmsted Air Force Base, Pennsylvania, crashes 7 miles N of Newburg, Pennsylvania at ~1515 hrs. ET, killing four crew. The weather at Olmsted was fluctuating rapidly with rain and fog, and at 1400 hrs. the pilot reported a missed approach to the field. After being cleared to altitude over the Lancaster beacon the conditions at Olmsted improved to above minimums and the pilot requested another approach. At 1506 Eastern he was cleared for a straight-in approach from New Kingston Fan Marker to Olmsted. At 1509 he reported leaving the New Kingston Fan Marker inbound and at 1511 he reported leaving 3,000 feet. The aircraft crashed in mountainous terrain 22.5 nm W of the Kingston Fan Marker. KWF are 1st Lt. Robert Siegfried Hantsch, pilot, Walter Beverly Gordon, Jr., co-pilot, T/Sgt. Marvin W. Seigler, engineer, and 1st Lt. Gracye E. Young, of the 4457th USAF Hospital, Sewart AFB.
Information for the monument:
The monument was placed here by DCNR employees a few years ago with assistance from a local retired veteran, who served in the Air Force. The aircraft was actually recovered from then DER Personnel and photos of the aircraft was later published in nearby Blain Borough's centennial program