U-2 Crash outside of Abilene 1957

5,547 Views | 10 Replies | Last: 9 yr ago by Joe Schillaci 48
oldarmy1
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AG
So the parents come over for the Easter weekend and they hadn't watched Bridge of Spies, so we que it up. As we're waiting for the rest of the family to gather around my dad starts telling of being the first on the scene at a U-2 crash in 1957 while driving home from Abilene. He said as he was passing close to Ft. Phantom Lake this strange looking plane comes flying over about 100 feet over the road and about 400 yards off the road the plane hits the ground.

He jumps out of the car, jumps a fence and runs to the wreckage. A wing had broken off and the nose had hit into a small gourge and crumpled nearly to the cockpit. He said if the plane had been about 3 feet higher it likely would have simply skidded in the sand dirt. Unfortunately the pilot had died. He walks back to the road and was going to flag down the next car to send word to Ft. Dyess Air Base.

Then here comes 2 trucks full of soldiers, along with several police vehicles. He tells them what he saw, where he spotted the pilots ear that had been torn off and that the pilot was deceased. He said by the time he finished telling them what he had seen they had the entire area taped off, took down his name and contact info and that he needed to leave the area. They said they would get in touch with him, which they never did.

I've checked several sites that list all military flight crashes and found several, including one in 1957 but that one was said to be at Del Rio. I was interested to know if anyone knows other potential records where this crash might be found.

FCBlitz
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I am from Del Rio. My dad lived in Del Rio at that time. U2's were based there at one time.

Currently I am in Vietnam for another 3 weeks. But when I get back I will ask.
Marauder Blue 6
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There were two U-2 crashes that day in Texas. Odd.
Rabid Cougar
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AG
I saw a U-2 take of from Ellington Field in Houston back in the early 90's. It come off the runway and pretty much go straight up at a 70 to 80 degree angle.
CanyonAg77
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I don't have it in front of me, but there were several weird crashes in the Panhandle/Eastern New Mexico. I seem to recall that a couple of U-2s went down one day, then some fighters at Cannon AFB the next. They were beginning to think there was sabotage.

IIRC one U-2 went down near Wayside, Texas (Armstrong County in the Panhandle) And there was a SR-71 crash near Tucumcari, NM some time. I'm trying to recall if that was the midair breakup where one guy was knocked unconcious, and woke up in free fall, having been thrown from the plane.
CanyonAg77
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SR-71A (61-7952 / 2003)
This aircraft disintegrated on 25 January 1966 during a high-speed, high-altitude test flight when it developed a severe case of engine unstart. Lockheed test pilot Bill Weaver survived although his ejection seat never left the plane! Reconnaissance System Officer (RSO) Jim Zwayer died in a high-G bailout. The incident occurred near Tucumcari, New Mexico.

SR-71A (61-7966 / 2017)
This aircraft was lost on the evening of 13 April 1967 after it entered a subsonic, high-speed stall. Pilot Capt. Earle M. Boone and RSO Capt. Richard E. "Butch" Sheffield ejected safely. The incident occurred near Las Vegas, New Mexico.

SR-71A (61-7970 / 2021)
This aircraft was lost on 17 June 1970 following a post-tanking collision with the KC-135Q (59-1474) tanker. Lt. Col. Buddy L. Brown and his RSO Maj. Mortimer J. Jarvis ejected safely although the pilot broke both legs. The SR-71 crashed 20 miles east of El Paso, Texas, but the KC-135 limped back to Beale AFB, California with a damaged refueling boom and aft fuselage.



  • 28 Jun 1957

      2 U-2s crashed in separate incidents; #6699 near Del Rio, TX, USAF Pilot Ford E. Lowcock killed while buzzing his house; USAF Pilot Leo E. Smith was killed in a crash near Abilene, TX(Lack of oxygen)


  • 26 Sep 1957

      U-2 #6694 crashed near Laughlin AFB, TX, USAF Pilot: Jack Nole survived, he bailed out at over 50,000 ft


  • 28 Nov 1957

      U-2A #6704 crashed near Laughlin AFB, TX, killing USAF Pilot: Bennedict A. Lacombe, he caught on speed brake during attempted bailout (AB)

    • 8 Jul 1958

        U-2 #6713 crashed near Wayside, TX; killing RAF Pilot: Christopher H. Walker
    • 9 Jul 1958

        U-2 #6698 crashed SW of Tucumcari, NM; killing USAF Pilot: Alfred Chapin, Jr.
    • 6 Aug 1958

        U-2 #6697 crashed on final approach at Laughlin AFB, TX; killing USAF Pilot Paul L. Haughlan


CanyonAg77
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AG
http://www.laughlinheritagefoundationinc.org/newspaper-reports-of-laughlin-u-2-accidents.html


quote:
SECOND LAFB JET AIRCRAFT IN CRASH AT ABILENE
June 28, 1957
Officials at Laughlin AFB Saturday announced a second jet aircraft from Laughlin had crashed Friday, 10 miles north of Abilene, shortly before noon, killing the pilot, First Lt. Leo E. Smith, sole occupant of the plane.

Lt. Smith is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Smith, who reside in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Cause of the crash, which totally demolished the plane, has not yet been determined.

Friday morning base officials announced that another jet aircraft had crashed near the Municipal airport in Del Rio, killing the pilot, First Lt. Ford E. Lowcock.
LHF Archives
Source:
Del Rio News-Herald Microfilm Archives
Sunday morning, July 30, 1957

The link also has info on the crashes in the Panhandle.

366 56-6699 U-2A USAF
Delivered to the test site in February 1957. Moved to Laughlin AFB in June 1957. Crashed near Abilene, TX,
on June 28, 1957, killing Lt. Leo Smith.


oldarmy1
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AG
Thanks guys. That is definitely the incident. Forwarded your findings to my dad and he sent this in reply:

I walked through the grass and small mesquite passing the tail, Fuselage and around the wing tip to the cockpit.
The nose had hit the three foot bank of a wash which folded the long nose up against the cockpit. The canopy had of course burst open and his helmet cracked causing fatal head injuries. I recall what I thought was his ear in a piece of his earphone from his helmet.

The plane was not totally demolished, just for the record from the first eye witness who saw the last 2000 foot glide and crash.
Joe Schillaci 48
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Canyon, were you a weather troop?

My first assignment in the Air Force was at the WX Relay Center at Tinker in the mid 1960's. I recall getting "WX" information from U2's during that period.


I was a communications person but they had weather people working in the WX Relay with us.

CanyonAg77
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AG
quote:
Canyon, were you a weather troop?
I'm guessing you meant NormanAg. He was the weather guy. Me, just a civilian, an airplane nut, history buff, overly-proud father of an AF pilot.
NormanAg
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I was an AF wx guy. My first assignment as a 2Lt after meteorology training was at Cannon AFB, NM. We had a PMSV radio, short for Pilot to Metro Service, to update pilots on their enroute wx, landing wx at Cannon, etc. We were required to ask for PIREPS (we didn't always get them) on wx conditions at their altitude and were required to transmit certain ones to the AF and civil aviation networks. Mainly these were reports of turbulence, icing, tstms, etc.

One of the required entries was altitude, but U-2s, SR-71s, and WB-57s always reported "classified". The WB-57s, which are still used by NASA out of Ellington Field, were very highly modified B-57s with large engines and huge wings. I'm just guessing, but I don't think the WB-57s were spy planes, but were used to sniff out radioactive materials at very high altitude that had dispersed from nuke bomb tests.

http://jsc-aircraft-ops.jsc.nasa.gov/wb57/
Joe Schillaci 48
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I never saw any SR 71 info but regularly saw U 2 wx data at a very high altitude.

Also never saw any WB 57 info either.

Like I said I was a communications guy and the WX Relay at Tinker was a huge switching center like Suitland MD.
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