West Palm Beach – Georgetown

On February 9, 1943 at 12:00 AM, West Palm Beach – Georgetown experienced a crash involving Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express, operated by United States Army Air Forces - USAAF, with the event recorded near General Zaragoza Nuevo León.

The flight was categorized as cargo and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

8 people were known to be on board, 2 fatalities were recorded, 6 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 25.0%.

Crew on board: 6, crew fatalities: 2, passengers on board: 2, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. The airplane left West Palm Beach Airport at 0030LT on a cargo flight to Georgetown, Ascension Island. While overflying the Bahamas at the assigned altitude of 9,000 feet about 90 miles east of Florida, the crew encountered an unexpected situation. The airplane became unstable and severe vibrations were noted in the tail, the stabs and the control column. In such situation, the captain decided to return to West Palm Beach but approaching Florida, the on-board situation worsened and the crew decided to abandon the aircraft and bailed out. Six crew were found alive about 10 miles east of Hollywood, Florida, while two other occupants were never found. With the autopilot engaged, the aircraft continued to the west, overflew the Gulf of Mexico for about 2,000 km and eventually came down, short of fuel, on a mountain located near General Zaragoza, Nuevo León. Crew: 1st Lt R. C. Ulmer, 1st Lt C. W. Hauth, 1st Lt R. H. Digby, Pvt K. J. Riddle, Pvt S. Gutowski, 2nd Lt B. A. Brannon. Passengers: 2nd Lt Albert E. Lloyd, 2nd Lt G. P. Knutson.

Aircraft reference details include registration 41-23850, MSN 645, year of manufacture 1941.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 23.8803°, -99.7403°.