BuNos. A9014 (c/n 1631), A9040 (c/n 1649), 9242 (c/n 1758), 9243 (c/n 1759), 9258 (c/n 1774), and 9719 (no c/n – assembled from spares by the U.S. Marine Corps at Marine Corps Base Quantico.) 24 February A Junkers Ju 52/3mge, D-ALUS, c/n 5210, operated by the Reichsluftfahrtministerium, ferrying Condor Legion pilots back from Spain, crashes into the French Alps during a snowstorm, killing all ten passengers and three crew. Wreckage found 4 March 1939. 22 March The sole Seversky AP-4, NX2597, c/n 144, a company-funded development of the Seversky P-35 with a turbocharged R-1830 engine, catches fire in flight while being evaluated at Wright Field, Ohio, forcing Seversky chief test pilot Frank Sinclair to bail out. He was burned and bruised, but survived. Seversky spokesmen said that the ship was valued at $250,000. Impressed with the design's climbing ability, the USAAF had placed an order on 12 March 1939 for 13 service test models of the design as Republic YP-43s. Outcome of the evaluation is that the Curtiss P-40 is ordered in quantity. 1 April During a promotional sales tour of Europe, the Seversky 2PA-202, NX2586, c/n 146, is wrecked after a demonstration in England. 3 April (some sources cite 4 April) Joaquín García Morato, the leading Spanish Nationalist ace of the Spanish Civil War (credited with over 40 victories over Republican aircraft), is killed in the crash of his Fiat CR.32, 3–51, this date while performing aerobatics for newsreel cameras. While flying inverted at low-level over Griñón airfield, his engine fails. He is posthumously awarded the Individual Medal and promoted to substantive major for meritorious war service. 11 April The North American NA-40B, NX14221, 'X14221', is destroyed in a crash during USAAC testing at Wright Field, Ohio, when it loses one engine and spins into the ground, according to some accounts. Editors of Aeroplane state that "By early April, the NA-40B's flight programme was almost complete, when on [this date], the bomber was crash landed whilst being flown on a single engine. Instructions had been issued not to fly the NA-40B until the Hamilton Standard propellers had been fitted [to replace a pair of Curtiss electric propellers] but the Army test pilot at the controls failed to adhere to this. The crew managed to escape the aircraft just before it burst into flames and was completely destroyed. With no contract forthcoming and the competition abandoned followed [sic] the loss