Incident Overview
A United States Army Air Forces heavy bomber and a United States Marine Corps fighter aircraft collided in mid-air approximately 30 miles west of Oceanside, California. Both aircraft crashed into the Pacific Ocean following the collision.
Aircraft Involved
The bomber was a Boeing B-29 Superfortress operating from March Air Force Base on a training sortie. The fighter was a Vought F4U-4 Corsair, registration 81218, assigned to Marine Fighter Squadron 251 (VMA-251) and flying from Marine Corps Air Station El Toro.
Flight Details
The Corsair was part of a four-plane formation conducting a Ground Controlled Intercept (GCI) and camera gunnery flight. According to accounts, the B-29 crew requested the Corsair formation to make head-on gunnery passes. The first three Corsairs executed these passes, but the fourth aircraft, piloted by Second Lieutenant Joe K. Jensen, did not.
Collision and Rescue
In circumstances that remain unclear, the B-29 and Lieutenant Jensen's Corsair collided. Following the crash into the ocean, rescue operations recovered six crew members from the Superfortress. The pilot of the Corsair and eleven crew members aboard the B-29 were killed.