04/04/1975 C5 Galaxy Crashed 48year Ago

On the afternoon of Friday, 4 April 1975, a C-5A, AF Ser. No. 68-0218, making the first flight of Operation Babylift, departed Tan Son Nhut Air Base for Clark Air Basein the Philippines. This first group of orphans would then transfer to charter flights and be welcomed by President Ford upon arriving in the United States in San Diego, California. At 4:15 p.m. the C-5A was over the South China Sea about 13 nautical miles (24 km) off Vũng Tàu,[4] South Vietnam, flying a heading of 136 degrees and climbing to an altitude of 23,000 ft (7,010 m).

At that moment the locks on the rear loading ramp failed, causing the cargo door to open explosively. This caused explosive decompression, temporarily filling the cabin with a whirlwind of fog and debris. The blowout severed control cables to the tail, causing two of four hydraulic systems to fail, including those for the rudder and elevator,[5] and leaving the flight control with only the use of one aileronspoilers, and power.

The pilot, Captain Dennis “Bud” Traynor (aged 30 at the time of the incident);[6]copilot, Captain Tilford Harp (aged 28 at the time of the incident);[7] and flight engineer, Master Sergeant Allen Engles, attempted to regain control of the airplane, and to perform a 180-degree turn in order to return to Tan Son Nhut.[8] The aircraft began to exhibit phugoid oscillations, but the crew countered them and maintained a controlled descent at about 250 to 260 knots (460 to 480 km/h).

They were able to bring the plane to 4,000 ft (1,220 m) and begin the approach to Tan Son Nhut’s runway 25L. While turning on final approach, the plane’s descent rate suddenly began to increase rapidly. The crew increased power to the engines in an attempt to arrest the descent, but despite their efforts, the plane touched down at 4:45 p.m. in a rice paddy, and skidded for a quarter of a mile (400 m), became airborne again for another half-mile (800 m), crossing the Saigon River, then hit a dike and broke up into four pieces. The fuel caught fire and some of the wreckage was set ablaze.

Survivors struggled to extricate themselves from the wreckage. The crash site was in a muddy rice paddy near the Saigon River, one mile (1.6 km) from the nearest road. Most of the survivors were in the upper deck, while most of the people in the lower deck were killed. Fire engines could not reach the site, and helicopters had to set down some distance from the wreckage. About 100 South Vietnamese soldiers deployed around the site, which was near the site of an engagement with the Viet Cong the previous night. Out of 314 people on board, the death toll included 78 children, 35 Defense Attaché Office employees and 11 U.S. Air Force personnel; there were 176 survivors.All of the surviving orphans were eventually flown to the United States. The dead orphans were cremated and were interred at the cemetery of the St. Nikolaus Catholic Church in Pattaya, Thailand.The accident would also “stand as the single largest loss of life” in the Defense Intelligence Agency’s history until the September 11 attacksbecause among the crash fatalities were five DIA employees.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *