| 1943 Liberator crash at Whenuapai | |
| Date: | 2 August 1943 |
| Type: | Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) |
| Occurrence Type: | Accident |
| Site: | New Zealand |
| Aircraft Type: | Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express |
| Operator: | United Airlines |
| Tail Number: | 41-24027 |
| Origin: | Whenuapai Aerodrome |
| Destination: | RAAF Base Amberley |
| Passengers: | 25 |
| Crew: | 5 |
| Fatalities: | 16 |
| Survivors: | 14 |
The 1943 Liberator crash at Whenuapai was an aircraft accident in New Zealand during World War II.[1] [2]
The Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express aircraft, owned by the USAAF and operated using a United Airlines crew, was transferring Japanese men, women, and children of the Consular Corps, to exchange for Allied POWs.[3] On 2 August 1943, it took off from Whenuapai Aerodrome runway 04 at 2:20 am, with rain and fog conditions at minimums for departure, and quickly passed through low stratus. Captain Herschel Laughlin's gyro horizon had inadvertently been left caged - while the instrument displayed level flight, the aircraft entered a steepening bank to the left.[3] The crew detected the problem in a few seconds, but as the aircraft was straightening up and levelling out, it hit the ground at about 322km/h, bounced a few times and exploded. The third bounce threw its first officer, R. John Wisda, out through the canopy; he rolled end over end about 100m (300feet) through mud and reeds.[3] A medic later found him trying to keep warm near a burning tyre. R. John Wisda survived the crash. The major factors of the accident were the lack of a pre-flight checklist, and crew fatigue (126 flying hours in the last 26 days).
The crash killed three of the five crew (United States nationals), and eleven of the twenty-five passengers (eight Japanese and three Thai nationals).[4] Two additional passengers died later from injuries.[3] took the surviving internees from Wellington to Sydney three months later.[5] [6] [7]
TVNZ covered the crash during the programme Secret New Zealand in 2003, and posited the accident was covered up, due to concerns of reprisals against POWs.[8]
The aircraft crashed to the ground 1¼ miles NNE of Whenuapai airfield. [9]