Diego. Crewmen of the escort carrier USS Bairoko reported seeing the Hellcat hit the water. 7 January USAF Douglas C-54G-5-DO Skymaster 45-0543 (c/n 35996) of the 14th Troop Carrier Squadron, 61st Troop Carrier Group, en route to RAF Burtonwood from Rhein-Main Air Base for a 200-hour inspection, crashed at about 16:45 in bad weather at Stake House Fell, Lancashire, England. All six aboard were killed: pilot 1st Lt. Richard M. Wurgel, co-pilot 1st Lt. Lowell A. Wheaton Jr., engineer Sgt. Bernard J. Watkins, radio operator Cpl. Norbert H. Theis, and passengers Capt. W. A. Rathgeber and Pvt. Ronald E. Stone. An investigation showed that a commercial radio signal north of Burtonwood interfered with aircraft's radio compass, giving a false reading. 9 January A Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star fell out of formation during a pass by spectators at the All-American Air Maneuvers in Miami, crashed and exploded. 12 January During the Berlin Airlift, the crash of Douglas C-54D-5-DC Skymaster 42-72629 (c/n 10734) on approach to Rhein-Main Air Base in Germany killed three crew: 1st Lt. Ralph H. Boyd, 1st Lt. Craig B. Ladd, and T/Sgt. Charles L. Putnam. 19 January The first flight of a Martin XSSM-A-1 Matador test vehicle from White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, ended in a crash. 3 February The Lavochkin I-176, powered by a Klimov VK-1 engine (the first Soviet aircraft to break Mach 1, in a shallow dive), was lost in a crash which killed test pilot Oleg V. Sokolovsky. Authorities selected the Mikoyan MiG-15 fighter, also powered by the VK-1, for production. 10 February USAF Douglas A-26B-66-DL Invader 44-34719 out of Greenville AFB in South Carolina, piloted by Robert L. Kenyon, crashed in Waples Pond, Delaware. Four were killed. 2 March Two USMC Reserve Grumman F6F-5N Hellcats, BuNo. 94202 (c/n A-11954, WF 9) and BuNo. 94182 (WF 14) out of MCAS El Toro, crashed at the 9,500-foot level of the south slope of Mt. Baldy, California. The wreckage was discovered on 6 March. Also on this date, Vought F4U-4B Corsair BuNo 97448 (AB 16) was reported missing since 14:30; its last report was that it was near Santa Cruz Island. Its wreckage and the body of its pilot were found on the island on 5 March. 15 March The second prototype of three Vought XF7U-1 Cutlass twin-tailed fighters, BuNo 122473, was lost on a test flight over Chesapeake Bay from NAS Patuxent River in