The quiet corner of Eudora and Bayaud streets in Denver's Hilltop residential district erupted in a blast of flames on Dec. 3, 1951.
A giant B-29 Superfortress bomber - struggling to return to Lowry Air Force Base - plowed into a row of homes, killing eight airmen. Six survived, including the pilot. On the ground, six people were hurt, four houses were destroyed and five others damaged, according to the Bureau of Aircraft Accidents. All the homes were newly built.
As the bomber, which was on a training mission, dipped low over downtown Denver, pedestrians noticed that the propeller on the right outboard engine stopped spinning, according to the Colorado Encyclopedia.
The B-29, piloted by Captain James W. Shanks, 33, sank as other engines conked out, sending it wobbling toward Colorado Boulevard and Cranmer Park.
Shanks radioed Lowry's control tower, which alerted the base's fire department. Crash crews rolled to the end of Lowry's runway, but it was too late for the B-29.
Staff Sgt. William Zippel, 29, the flight engineer, told the Rocky Mountain News from his hospital bed: "About 15 minutes away from Lowry, 1 noticed the green stain ‘of a fuel line leak on the cowling of the No. 4 engine. l notified the pilot and feathered the prop."
"There was no warning before the crash. If I had known how close we were to the ground, I would have taken a chance and brought the No. 4 engine back in use. It might have given us ~ enough power to make the field," Zippel said.
The bomber "sliced through utility poles and newly planted trees" and the tail sheared the peak of the roof of a corner home at 70 South Dahlia Street, the block next to the Eudora crash site, according to the Colorado Encyclopedia.
It's fuel tanks half-full, the B-29 hit the ground, broke apart and erupted in flame. The bomb bay, fortunately, was empty. The row of homes was a few hundred yards short of Lowry's runway threshold, the BAA said.
The time was 11:30 a.m.
Neighbors, including Dominic Lepore, 60, who was driving to home at 230 Eudora Street, raced to the blazing scene.
“I could hear this man - screaming, ‘Help me! Help me, someone!’" Lepore told the News. "I reached up and grabbed this man by the head. I pulled and tugged at him until he finally came loose from the plane. Then I dragged him free of the wreckage and across the street."
Four linemen from the Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph Co. also joined the rescue, freeing a maid trapped and injured in the ruins of a home.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.