NovemberFairey Gannet VR546 crashed on takeoff from Fairey's flight-test airfield in White Waltham, Berkshire, after violent porpoising at uncontrollable speed. Repairs took three months, and test flying did not resume until March 1950. 11 DecemberNorth American F-51D-25-NT Mustang 45-11353 of the 192d Fighter Squadron, Nevada Air National Guard, crashed at Reno Air Force Base in Nevada during a mock dogfight. Reno native 1st Lt. Croston K. Stead was killed, and the base was renamed Stead Air Force Base in January 1951 in his honor. 22 DecemberUSAF Boeing B-50A-30-BO Superfortress 47–110 (c/n 15794) of the 2d Bombardment Group crashed in swampland on the banks of the Savannah River about seven miles above Savannah, Georgia five minutes after taking off (at 21:12) from Chatham AFB, four miles east-northeast of the airfield. The bomber was on a training flight to Biggs AFB in El Paso, Texas. All eleven on board were killed. The crash site was less than two miles from U.S. Highway 17 (which crosses the river just above Savannah), but could only be reached by small boats guided by boatmen who knew the river. The Air Force waited until dawn to send a large crash boat with 20 or more men, armed with shovels and ropes, to try to remove the bodies; they had to transfer to small, flat-bottomed swamp boats to get to the wreckage. Capt. E. S. Harrison, public information officer, said that the wreckage would cover a football field. Salvage workers sank up to their armpits in the mire. The men aboard the plane were identified as Capt. George V. Scaringen, pilot, and aircraft commander, Columbia, South Carolina; Capt. Andrew G. Walker, pilot, Norfolk, Virginia; Lt. Rogers Hornsby Jr., 29, son of Rogers Hornsby of baseball fame; 1st Lt. Robert W. Beckman, bombardier, Birmingham, Alabama; Capt. Anthony C. Colandro, radar navigator, Baltimore, Maryland; 1st Lt. James W. Johnson Jr., flight engineer, Wells, West Virginia; T/Sgt. Leonard B. Hughes, flight engineer, Denison, Texas; S/Sgt. Fred W. Cunningham, radio operator and gunner, New Orleans, Louisiana; S/Sgt. Manson L. Gregg, gunner, Meadow, Texas; S/Sgt. Garnell W. Myers, gunner, Franklin, Indiana; and S/Sgt. Billy C. Bristol, gunner, Tucson, Arizona. See also List of accidents and incidents involving military aircraft Notes References Martin, Bernard. The Viking, Valetta and Varsity. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1975. . External links Aviation Safety Network Aviation Week Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives PlaneCrashInfo.com Scramble Stoffer &