31 March The U.S. Navy reported on 1 April that Douglas R4D-6 Skytrain (BuNo 39100, c/n 32796/16048), assigned to the USMC Marine Air Wing 2 (MAW-2), Marine Air Group 25 (MAG-25), squadron VMJ-253, was missing on a routine flight in bad weather between Noumea, New Caledonia and Guadalcanal. The plane's wreckage was discovered on a mountain near Touho, New Caledonia. April–June 1946 2 April The Eleventh Naval District announced that U.S. Navy Ryan FR-1 Fireball (BuNo 39699) crashed in the Pacific about 40 miles off San Diego at 14:10, with the probable loss of pilot Ens. R. F. Krieger, of Coronado. The plane hit gunnery sleeve and crashed near Los Coronados Island. 4 April "Washington, April 5 (AP) - Nine Navy men were killed in the Caribbean area yesterday when a bomb dropped in practice accidentally hit an observation tower, the Navy said today. The tower was located at the edge of an airfield on Culebra island, 16 miles off Puerto Rico. 5 April A Fleet Air Arm Vickers Wellington (HE274) crashed into a residential area in Rabat, Malta during a training exercise, killing all four crew members and 16 civilians on the ground. 6 April "Los Angeles, April 6 (AP) - Two Navy fliers were killed tonight when their two-engine dive bomber crashed in rain and heavy fog in the Palos Verdes hills. The bodies were burned." The loss of a 100-piece Marine Corps art collection slated to become part of the permanent war record in a plane crash in New Mexico was announced in San Francisco. The exhibit, composed of battle drawings by Corps artists, was being flown to Philadelphia for exhibition with other war pictures. The plane crash killed eleven occupants, and destroyed all cargo. 8 April Beechcraft C-45F Expeditor 44-8706 of the United States Army Air Forces 33d Army Air Field Base Unit, piloted by Woodrow W. Davis, crashed into Mount Diablo, California, killing both crew members. An Army search plane spotted the wreckage of the flight, which departed Oakland Airport at 11:05 for Los Angeles. "Lt. Stephen W. Cummings reported there was no sign of life, and that only the tail of the plane was visible in a ravine on the northwest slope of Mt. Diablo, [a] 3,849-foot peak 10 miles east of Oakland. The Army said only two officers were aboard when the ship took off in 'very soupy weather. 15 April Consolidated TBY-2