"Scud Running" in bad weather would mean death in a fruit orchard for the three men onboard a Navy R4D transport that was on its way to Alameda Naval Air Station in Northern California. The pilot, LCDR Clinton P. Worthington, age 41 and copilot, Lt.(jg) Roger W. Wesala, age 30 circled above the area for fifty-eight minutes trying to find a hole in the overcast. Apparently none was found, and the craft started a descent through thick clouds, which ended with the crash that also took the life of ACMM Roy G. Heath, age 28.
The aircraft depart NAS Los Alamitos at 18:26 on a contact (VFR) flight plan to NAS Alameda. It was to be a training flight, but was also scheduled to pick up a group of trainees for the return trip. The intended route for the flight was, via Amber 1, to Lebec, Blue 46 to Morgan Hill, Blue 10 to Oakland and then direct to Alameda. The R4D, which is the Navy designation for the Air Force C-47, had six hours of fuel onboard and expected to arrive at NAS Alameda at 20:36 local time.
The pilot was instrument rated, and should have been able to handle the situation without any difficulty. There was no logical reason why this aircraft was flying so low that it hit trees on a ridge and crashed, killing all onboard. There was a heavy rain storm at the time of the crash, but the pilots should have been able to continue the flight without having it end in disaster.
The first radio contact with the aircraft was at 19:35, while it was cruising at 8,500 feet over Coalinga, California. At that point the ground speed was calculated to be 186 MPH. There was no further radio contact with the aircraft after Coalinga.
About five minutes before the crash, Mr. Grabal, who lives only 500 feet from the Airways Beacon southwest of San Jose, heard the aircraft fly over his house at a very low altitude. He was sure it was heading in a southwesterly direction.
A few minutes later, Mr. Rapp, who lives just short of the ridge the aircraft first struck, heard the plane fly over his house at a very low altitude, but this time it was heading in a northeasterly direction. He stated that both engines were running fine at that time. A few seconds later he heard a terrific crash.
The full story of this accident is in the new
book,
"Aircraft Wrecks in The Mountains and Deserts of
California",
(3rd edition), by G. Pat Macha and Don R. Jordan. The book is now
available
from Info Net Publishing, Don
R. Jordan , or any retail book store.