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A/B-26 Plane Crash on Blue Mountain
Military
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On April 22, 1951, a B-26 twin-engine bomber of the Ohio Air National Guard crashed into fog-shrouded Blue Mountain just north of Linglestown during a routine training flight from Lockbourne Air Force Base near Columbus, Ohio, to New Castle Field, Delaware, killing Lt. William F. Phelan, Staff Sergeant Robert Howman, and Corporal Thomas E. Wilcox. The plane, flying low in rainy, heavily obscured conditions and apparently without radio contact with nearby airfields, struck the mountainside, sheared through trees, cut a wide swath through the woods, and exploded, scattering wreckage over a broad area. Witnesses saw the aircraft pass at very low altitude, turn as if trying to establish its bearings, and then vanish into cloud before a flash and flames marked the impact. Local residents, firefighters, state police, and Air Force personnel reached the remote scene, recovered the crew's remains, and investigated the cause. The official Air Force investigation identified rainy and foggy weather, flight at too low an altitude without landing, and an outdated crystal set in the main radio that prevented normal air-to-ground communication as contributing factors.
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