Accident C-87 Liberator 41-24140

I am looking for the circumstances of the crash of USAAF ATC C-87 Liberator 41-24140 at Accra on 7th September 1943. The Pilot was John Kilby Cummings an American civilian of the Air Transport Auxiliary both he and his fellow nine crew members of the RAF and RCAF were killed. I have all their names from the book 'Ocean Bridge' and it is details of the accident itself that I am interested in - a Google search has revealed nothing.
Chris

I'm sure someone will answer you but if RCAF personell were killed on the aircraft then request their service records from

Personnel Records Unit,
Library and Archives Canada,
395 Wellington Street,
Ottawa,
ON K1A 0N3
(613) 947 8456

I'm at work and don't have my Ocean Bridge to hand. The records of the RCAF men ought to tell you something.

It's listed here
www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/AARmonthly/Sep1943O.htm
so you should be able to get a copy of any existing report from the folks at
afhra.maxwell.af.mil/

Dennis

Hi,

Carl Christie who authored the book "Ocean Bridge" lives in Winnipeg, Canada. He is a professor at the Universtiy of Manitoba. Unfortunately, he is not listed on the university web site. If I knew what faculty he belonged, I could possibly locate him for you. Contact me and I will have a friend assist with locating the author.

I will be visiting the USAF Historical Research and Records Repository at Maxwell AFB, AL in January 2008. Will attempt to locate the accident report and if successful make a copy for you. The last time I visted the facility, both their microfilm copy print machines were U/S. It is a bummer when you travel that distance and have to copy everything by pen and paper.

Norman Malayney
nmalayneyATyahoo.com

Carl Christie is with the University of Manitoba's Centre for Defence and Security Studies.

Few references on 41-24140 elsewhere. Interestingly, the aviationarchaeolgy.com website gives the pilot as Cameron Walker and a/c was operated by Pan American for ATC.

There's also a lab report held by the Univ. of Arkansas of oil/fuel samples "for wrecked C-87 #4140" sent to the CO of 12th Engineer Group on 15 Sep 1943.

Also found that a C-87 "crashed into jungle, 10 killed" on www.centercomp.com/cgi-bin/dc3/gallery?1940 that has a not so detailed list of crashed aircraft a repair crew had to take care of while in the Gold Coast.

Regards,

Leendert

Many thanks to you all for your input. Despite Cameron Walker being mentioned as the Pilot on the aviationarchaeolgy.com website I would be surprised if that was correct but I am looking for confirmation that it was John Kilby Cummings and some basic facts about the accident which according to one source was close to Accra. There were 10 crew members who were all buried in Christiansborg Cemetery.
Chris

I am looking for more information on this crash, there was 8 RCAF members on board and we would like to get some more information on what happened.

So far the website linked below is about all I can find on the crash. This discussion has been quiet for about 10 years, is there any other new information out there? Thanks in advance.

[COLOR=#0000ff]http://www.baaa-acro.com/1943/archives/crash-of-a-consolidated-c-87-cf-liberator-express-in-accra-10-killed/[/COLOR]

Colin

Colin,

Is it possible to supply us the names of the RCAF members which lost their live during the crash ?
This could help in trying to trace more details of the crash.

Many thanks and best regards

Luc

Originally Posted by Luc Vervoort

Colin,

Is it possible to supply us the names of the RCAF members which lost their live during the crash ?
This could help in trying to trace more details of the crash.

Many thanks and best regards

Luc

Definitely. Here is what I was able to find from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website (http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/...WAR%20CEMETERY).

Name	Rank	Service Number	Date of Death	Age	Regiment / Service			Cemetery / Memorial Name
CRAM, JOHN SAMUEL	Pilot Officer	J/27370	07/09/1943	26	Royal Canadian Air Force			CHRISTIANSBORG WAR CEMETERY
DONEN, SAMUEL JACOB	Warrant Officer Class II	R/110578	07/09/1943		Royal Canadian Air Force			CHRISTIANSBORG WAR CEMETERY
GARDNER, WILLIAM ALEXANDER	Pilot Officer	J/26245	07/09/1943		Royal Canadian Air Force			CHRISTIANSBORG WAR CEMETERY
LOUNSBURY, RONALD CYRUS	Pilot Officer	J/29631	07/09/1943		Royal Canadian Air Force			CHRISTIANSBORG WAR CEMETERY
MACLEAN, JOHN SCOTT	Flying Officer	J/10685	07/09/1943	23	Royal Canadian Air Force			CHRISTIANSBORG WAR CEMETERY
MACRAE, JOHN	Warrant Officer Class II	R/71345	07/09/1943		Royal Canadian Air Force			CHRISTIANSBORG WAR CEMETERY
RENNICK, ERLE DONALD	Flight Sergeant	R/138274	07/09/1943	20	Royal Canadian Air Force			CHRISTIANSBORG WAR CEMETERY
SMITH, ERIC OGILVY	Flying Officer	J/26221	07/09/1943		Royal Canadian Air Force			CHRISTIANSBORG WAR CEMETERY

I have just browsed through the eight mens service files on ancestry.com and confirm they were the 8 men killed in the crash of 41-24140.

It is probably due to their being only passengers that there is little if any explanation of the reason for the crash. There is a Form 765 raised for them but at the time it was signed off on 8th September 1943 it simply stated:
"Aircraft took off on return ferry flight from Accra. For some reason not known at present time, aircraft was returning to Accra when crash occured. All personnel aboard were killed."

I think seven of the 8 men have a service photo in their file, I should have just downloaded them!

Each of the men sadly has a rather gruesome burial return form.

Also mentioned on the Form 765 is a

Sergeant D Gale 1028120 - RAF
Civ Captain J R Cummins

All the above are listed as Passengers, not the aircrew of the aircraft.

15 Passengers and Crew?

http://airforcehistoryindex.org/disp...num=877199&p=y


WALKER, CAMERON;
BRUNDAGE, JAMES;
COOPER, BEN;
DEESE, ALFRED E.;
BENNETT, STANLEY;
WRIGHT, HAROLD;
SMITH, E. O.;
MACLEAN, J. S.;
RENNICK, E. D.;
GALE, D.;
GARDNER, W.;
DONEN, S. J.;
MCRAE;
LOUNSBURY, R.;
CUMMINGS, J. R.;
CRAN, J. S.
(44-9-7-506)*


Dennis thanks for link on TOCH!