Anyone recall this......

[Chief71]

I apologize for this being off topic but....

does anyone recall hearing about a C-130 crash near Imlay City in June of 1975? The plane was from SANGB and flown by the 63rd ALW (now an ARW). Reports say that part of a prop broke off the engine and damaged another engine, forcing it to crash land. The entire 6 man crew was killed.

[bigbluemsp]

Not me cause you and I aint that old :P

I can ask around though someone here between your area and mine will remember.

Heck ask the Chief in Imlay he's like 200 years old between working in the D for 70 years and 80 years at Imlay lol j/k.

[Chief71]

Originally Posted by bigbluemsp

Not me cause you and I aint that old :P

I can ask around though someone here between your area and mine will remember.

Heck ask the Chief in Imlay he's like 200 years old between working in the D for 70 years and 80 years at Imlay lol j/k.

Thats a good idea. This whole thing up when I was working in the lock-up yesterday. A few of the old timers were telling us about some of the wild things that happened in the "good old days" and the crash came up.

[firephotographer50]

I don't know if the National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) would investigate military aircraft crashes, but I did a search on their website with the information you listed and nothing came up. I also widened the search to all fatal crashes with any aircraft type in Michigan from 1970-1980 just in case someone got the year wrong and I don't think anything came back. There were a lot of incidents that came back so I may have missed it. Maybe you can do your own search with better information:

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/query.asp

[MetroMike]

The only ones I've heard about are two KC-153 crashes up north. One near Hubbard Lake and the other at Wurtsmith (Oscoda). Then again, I'm not a military aviation expert or history buff so I'm sure there are others. I don't recall the one in Hubbard Lake (before my time); I was just old enough to hear of the one in Oscoda.

[yooper927]

Found this site with some info:

http://planecrashinfo.com/cgi-bin/ps...1=michigan=and

- ACCIDENT DETAILS

Date: July 26, 1975
Time: 20:30
Location: Imlay City, Michigan
Operator: Military - U.S. Air Force
Flight #: ?
Route: Exercise
AC Type: Lockheed C-130A Hercules
Registration: 57-0454
cn / ln: 3161
Aboard: 6 (passengers:0 crew:6)
Fatalities: 6 (passengers:0 crew:6)
Ground: 0
Summary: Crashed while flying low in an exercise in formation. Propeller separation.

[Chief71]

Thanks for your help everyone, I think I'll make a trip to the library to examine the newspaper microfilms.

The story I was told by the Dep. is pretty interesting. The C-130 was flying around Imlay City and started circling around fields after it lost an engine. The a/c came down over a field, almost hitting a farmer on his tractor, belly landed into some trees and exploded. They think that the pilot tried to knock to wings off the body (since the wings have the fuel) because he landed between 2 large oak trees. It exploded after they hit the trees. The Dep. said that when he was at the scene, the trees were completely uprooted.

The Dep's brother (a Sgt at the time) was first on scene and secured the crash site. Some State Troopers showed up and went into the a/c wreck after they were told not to. The Troops ended up pulling 3 bodies out of the a/c and this hindered the military investigation. The bodies were taken to the hospital in Lapeer and were examined by Doctors from SANGB.

[bigbluemsp]

Hindered the investigation?

If there is bodies and they believe and can articulate those bodies are alive then they can go in and get them so that they can receive medical aid.

chief there was a troop that retired in somewhere between 2002-2004 that was working at the #38 at the time of the crash.

PM ME and I will give you that troops name. He might have been one of the first on location.

[KMTC]

There's a nice mermorial on base dedicated to the crew of this accident. I wanted to get a picture of it but forgot.