were rescued by Eglin crash boats and helicopters. The airframe crashed two miles south of the base, in Choctawhatchee Bay. Sgt. Vernon B. Palmer, 20, and M/Sgt. Victor C. Riberdy, 30, who lived at Auxiliary Field 5 but was from Hartford, Connecticut, were killed. 8 or 11 December (sources differ) US Navy Douglas R5D-3 Skymaster BuNo 56502 (c/n 10643), returning from the Berlin Airlift, crashed in the Taunus mountains near Frankfurt-am-Main south of Königstein im Taunus. One crew of the six aboard was killed: AMM3 Harry R. Crites Jr. 13 December A blade on the starboard rotor of the second prototype Bratukhin B-11 Soviet twin-rotor helicopter failed, and the crash killed the two crew. 28 December The pilot was killed when his Lockheed F-80A-1-LO Shooting Star 44-85282 crashed in the village of Jeddo, Michigan. Papers on his body identified him as Lt. Joseph R. Thomis of Paducah, Kentucky, assigned to Selfridge Field in Michigan. Michigan Air National Guard Douglas B-26B-30-DL Invader 41-39350, on "a routine navigational flight from McDill [sic] field, Fla.", crashed three miles east of Willow Run Airport near Ypsilanti, Michigan, killing four crew and (possibly) two civilian passengers picked up at MacDill Field. Col. Donald W. Armstrong, commander of the Michigan air wing, said that he "believed" that passengers were aboard. The names of the victims were not immediately released. January–June 1949 4 January Douglas VC-47D Skytrain 43-48405 (c/n 25666/14221) crashed and burned in a night accident, coming down in mountainous terrain about eight miles northeast of Colfax, California. The Placer County coroner said that there were seven fatalities. The flight was believed to be between Reno and McClellan Air Force Base in California. The crash site is near the American River and highway U.S. 40. 5 January As five U.S. Navy Grumman F8F Bearcats made firing runs on a gunnery target sleeve towed by another aircraft, two fighters collided at 7,000 feet and plunged into the Pacific Ocean off San Francisco. Both pilots, Ens. Peter J. McHugh of Alameda and Lt. William R. Cecil of Oakland, were feared lost. Later that day, a Douglas AD Skyraider expected to return to NAS Alameda at 11:50 after a routine two-hour flight was declared missing shortly before 14:00 (when its fuel would have been exhausted. 6 January The pilot of a Grumman F6F Hellcat was feared lost after his fighter went into the sea 20 miles west of San