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This C-54 crashed after skidding off the
north side of the Roi-Namur runway - Shermie Wiehe & Bobbi Gibson last
flight on this aircraft. Shermie Wiehe and Bobbi Gibson were
passengers on this flight to Roi-Namur from Kwajalein to spend the day
working, Shermie at the telemetry site and Bobbi at TRADEX. After departing the flight,
Shermie rode
a vehicle over the road this plane skidded across in view before
dropping into the ocean. It was the "8:30 Turn-A-Round flight" with
few people to Roi and empty returning to Kwaj. After arriving at the telemetry station,
about a 1/4th of a mile in the direction of the tail of the plane,
Shermie learned that the plane had crashed. To this day, Shermie still remembers
the two pilots (Clark B. Gathercole
- senior Captain, ?) by looks that flew the aircraft. They were lucky. Bobbi Gibson also arrived at TRADEX, to
hear the plane took a dump - communication failure between a new & old
pilot then "oops".
Received from
Don Gray
I was on the flight from Kwaj to Roi that morning. I usually walked from
the air terminal and was just passing the ALTAIR radar on my way to
TRADEX when I heard the plane roaring down the runway. Then, all of a
sudden, the roar ended and I knew that the plane was in the drink and it
was just a question of how far the C-54 went before it crashed. As you
know the view of the runway is blocked by the jungle at that point. So I
hustled up the road to get a clear view. I was glad to see that the
plane was nose down at the end of the runway and not floating on the
ocean. Of course the accident was the topic of the day at work. It
was said that Tusi Siose was the first person on the scene
and had tried to break the pilots window to provide an exit for the
crew.
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My father use
to fly DC-54's (actually military - C-54's) and Caribou's on Kwaj and we lived
there from 1968 until 1975. Well, I have been putting together a book
on the DC-4/C-54 for several years now... and there are still some
years yet in it before it's finally done.
Anyway, in doing some research back in 1995, I discovered that one of
the Kwaj DC-4's was still around. So I made arrangements to travel to
Tucson and photograph the old girl. When I finally came face to
face with her, she was still in her Kwaj colors, except for the
insignia and lettering. She looked marvelous for having seen some hard
days since retiring from Paradise some 17 years earlier, but sadly
there was no physical sign of the connection with my home and of
course my father who passed away so long ago. This aircraft, tail
number 0-72617 or as she was called on Kwaj, simply 617, is special to
me because I have a very cherished photograph of my father sitting in
the left seat (shown above) with his arm hanging out of the window
during a quick turn on Roi. This is in fact the only photo I have of
my father as a pilot.
Anyway, feeling somewhat saddened by this lack of a connection, I
wandered over to one of the other C-54's which were parked near by.
Except for 617, the other three C-54's are set up as fire bombers for
fighting forest fires. When I looked up at the tail of tanker 152 I
nearly flipped and I can honestly say that I wiped away more than one
tear. There bleeding through the worn, white paint were the words Kwajalein Missile Range!!!! Yes, there in the desert of Arizona,
parked no farther apart than they would have been all those years ago
on Kwaj were two Kwaj C-54's!!! Tail number 0-17228 and 0-72617 had
been reunited! This indeed turned out to be a fantastic day!!!!
I have included some of the photos I took that day and thought you
might want to put them on you Aviation page. Of course if there is
anyone out there who holds similar memories to myself and would like
to touch the past just drop me a line and I can put you in touch with
the owner.
On to a related subject... there is a photo of the C-54, tail number
72650, which ran off the runway at Roi in 1977. Is there any way to
get a copy of this picture? I have a couple of photos, given to me by
Capt. Clark Gathercole, one of the pilots on that ill-fated flight,
but they are shot from behind with the aircraft still nose down on the
reef. Is there anyone out there who knows what eventually
happened to the aircraft?
Cheers, Bob "Doc" Calladine
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