Naples – Bovingdon

On November 1, 1946 at 12:00 AM, Naples – Bovingdon experienced a crash involving Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, operated by United States Army Air Forces - USAAF, with the event recorded near Aiguille des Glaciers Haute-Savoie.

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

8 people were known to be on board, 8 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 8, crew fatalities: 8, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is weather. The aircraft left Naples-Capodichino Airport at 0054LT bound for RAF Bovingdon with an overflight of Bastia, Istres, Lyon and Paris. As the aircraft failed to arrive at destination, SAR operations were conducted but eventually suspended 18 days later as no trace of the aircraft nor the crew was found. On July 25, 1947, mountaineers of the 99th French Alpine Infantry Battalion found the wreckage on the slope of the Aiguille des Glaciers (3,750 meters high), about 8 km southwest of the Mont-Blanc. Crew: Col Ford L. Fair, pilot, Col Hudson H. Upham, pilot, Maj Lawrence L. Cobb, copilot, 2nd Lt Alfred D. Ramirez, navigator, Sgt John E. Gilbert, flight engineer, S/Sgt William A. Hilton, assistant to flight engineer, S/Sgt Zoltan J. Dobovich, radio operator, T/Sgt William S. Cassell, assistant to radio operator.

Aircraft reference details include registration 43-39338, MSN 10316, year of manufacture 1943.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 45.7784°, 6.8026°.