scene but he was informed that pilot Max J. Christensen was not injured. Turner said that he was awaiting a full report on the crash. 15 May A V-2 rocket launched from White Sands Missile Range LC-33, New Mexico, at 16:11 went 40 degrees off course due to a defective fin and crashed six miles east of Alamogordo, New Mexico. 18 May A U.S. Navy pilot and two schoolboys were killed when a Vought F4U Corsair fighter crashed on a school playground in Burlington, Iowa, during an airshow at the Municipal Airport. The fighter, one of 35 aircraft from Lambert Field in St. Louis, performing a mock formation raid before 3,500 spectators to signal the start of National Naval Reserve Week, went into a series of barrel rolls and appeared to go out of control before it crashed on the playground at the Perkins School (where 14 children were playing ball). At least five others were injured, and several homes were struck by debris from the crash. 19 May The crash of Beechcraft C-45F Expeditor 44-87142 of the 4000th AAF Base Unit, two miles south of Windsor, Ontario, killed three officers and two enlisted men from the 4140th Base Unit at Wright Field in Ohio who had left the base at 18:05 on a flight to Selfridge Field in Michigan to prepare air shows throughout the country. The twin-prop, twin-tailed aircraft came down in an open area during a rainstorm at about 21:05, and broke into six pieces. One crew member unsuccessfully attempted to parachute. The plane crashed less than 500 yards from St. Mary's Academy, on the outskirts of Windsor. 22 May The third prototype of three Boeing XC-97 Stratofreighters (43-27472, c/n 8483), on a flight out of Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio, came down in a wheat-stubble field five miles east of Dayton, Ohio and burst into flames. Five of the seven on board were killed. 29 May A captured, modified V-2 rocket, the Hermes B-1, launched from White Sands Proving Grounds LC-33, New Mexico at 20:30 CST, failed to reach its maximum altitude and came down about three minutes later. It crashed in Tepeyac cemetery, about six miles south of Ciudad Juárez. Unburnt fuel exploded, and the blast was felt in Juarez and El Paso, Texas. Lt. Col. Harold R. Turner, commander at White Sands, confirmed by telephone the launch of the rocket but made no further comment.