pilot successfully bailed out after ordering a gunner who was riding forward to do likewise. This gunner, however, did not or was not able to bail out and was killed in the crash. The tail gunner was struck by a propeller of the DC-3 and was probably killed at that time.
At the moment of impact the DC-3 pilot was thrown against the left side of the cockpit and was temporarily stunned. However he was able to maintain control of the aircraft by gliding steeply and shortly discovered that no power was available inasumuch as the left engine had fallen from the aircraft and the propeller blades had been torn from the right engine. The aircraft continued in a sharp glide toward an open area and was landed with flaps and wheels up in a cotton field. Near the end of the landing run it ground looped about 170° to the right and the right engine fell from the aircraft.
Investigation
Close scrutiny of the wreckage of both aircraft indicated that the planes collided while on approximately right angled flight paths with the A-26 slightly lower than the DC-3 and impact being made from the left of the latter aircraft. The propellers of the A-26, although badly damaged, bore no marks from the collision indicating that the A-26 was a few feet below the DC-3. The high fin and rudder of the A-26 made the initial impact and the nature of the subsequent damage confirms their relative position and flight paths at the time of the accident. The testimony of the pilots, passengers and ground witnesses as to the manner of collision entirely substantiated the results of the investigation.
Analysis of the weather in the vicinity and at the time of the collision indicated that broken clouds existed with bases between 4000
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