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Lt. Anderson stated that he clearly understood his responsibility and believed he had maintained a careful lookout for other air traffic. In his testimony he recalled stopping the turn about 180 degrees to clear the area, particularly in the direction he intended to continue. He testified that during the last 30 seconds he scanned the left quadrant, then straight ahead, and then the right quadrant Lt. Anderson stated that at the same time he scanned he also checked Captain Meckem's position. He stated that when he returned his vision forward he saw an aircraft immediately in front of him and made a Violent pullup to avoid it. He said it all occurred so quickly he had no time to warn Captain Meckem or even to identify the plane. Lt. Anderson said, in retrospect, he believed that he had scanned for other aircraft in a normal manner and was sure he looked in the area where the Beech was located.but had not seen it. He further indicated that except for brief altitude, airspeed, and heading checks there wore no duties or occurrences which required his attention within the cockpit.
Captain Meckem testified that his attention was concentrated on the formation formup and thereafter on holding close position. He was generally aware that heading, Speed, and altitude were as Lt. Anderson described them. He was also of the opinion that these factors were constant for at least the final 30 seconds before collision. He said that so far as the collision itself was concerned he recalled a flash on his windscreen an instant before impact. He did not recognise the Bonanza, in fact, assumed he had collided with the T-33 which had been overheard in the traffic pattern.
A concentration of small fuselage pieces of the Beechcraft and its mutilated empennage were found 4.5 miles south—southwest of the southern boundary of the air— port. This wreckage marked the approximate location over which the collision occurred. The F-86L crashed about 1.5 miles southeast and the Beechcraft about one-half mile South of this location.
Examination of the Beechcraft showed the aircraft struck the ground 40 degrees nosedown on a southerly heading. The wings were attached to the cabin; however, the structure from the aft cabin rearward Was destroyed. The powerplant was torn out.
Examination of the Beechcraft structure provided clear information relative to the inflight impact sequence. It showed that the F-86L nose and fuselage structure above the wing penetrated the right aide of the Bonanza fuselage at about station 141.0, a location just aft of the rear cabin window. The window frame remained attached to the cabin; the structure aft of the location was destroyed On the opposite Side of the Bonanza fuselage most of the rear cabin window and all structure rearward of station 121.0 were destroyed. Between the left and right locations there was a clear line of destruction which formed an angle of approximately 110 degrees through the fuselage measured clockwise from the nose relative to the fuselage centerline of the Beechcraft. The manner in which the structure was affected showed that the line of shearing was from right to left; however, there was no discernible evidence of vertical forces.
The fact that the Beechcraft wings showed no inflight contact damage indicated that the right wing of the F-86L passed below the plane of the Bonanza wing Because the F-86L was nearly straight and level at impact, this fact further shows the Bonanza was also nearly straight and level. Finally, calculations based on heading and speed of the F-86L, the approximate speed of the C-35, and the 110-. degree line of structural shearing through the Beachcraft fuselage show a resulting
