I interviewed some of the survivors of the aircraft crash for Armed Forces Radio (AFRS KVOH) at Wheelus Field in Libya. I recall that the (C-47?) was returning the baseball team from France late at night, when the plane experienced a total electrical failure. When the plane made landfall the pilot circled the aircraft overland and eventually ordered all passengers and crew to bail out of the crippled plane. All survived the nighttime parachute drop with a few minor injuries. The following morning and Air Force search and rescue SA-16 located the wreckage of the C-47 and was in the process of dropping survival equipment when it experienced an engine failure and crashed killing all 6 crew members.
Entry: 7243
WHEELUS BASEBALL TEAM CRASH 1953
BEVERLY MCNEW wrote on May 27, 2017
Miromar Lakes Fl 33913
Comments:
Trying to get info about my husband Quinton McNew who was on a plane that crashed in desert. 1953 at Wheelus Air Force base. Was a baseball team with no casualties. Hope to hear from someone who remembers. Than you
