Accident Overview
On Friday, March 13, 1987, at 1:20 p.m., a B-52 Stratofortress and a KC-135 Stratotanker took off from Fairchild Air Force Base (AFB) to practice aerial maneuvers for a 15-minute air show scheduled for Sunday, May 17. The show was to be the debut of a new aerobatics team called the Thunderhawks, conceived by General John T. Chain Jr., commander-in-chief of the Strategic Air Command (SAC). The team's purpose was to demonstrate the capabilities of SAC's large aircraft through routines including a low-level refueling simulation, high-bank turns, and flybys.
Aircraft and Crew
The KC-135A-BN Stratotanker, serial number 60-0361, carried three instructor pilots: Lieutenant Colonel Michael W. Cornett, Captain Christopher Chapman, and Captain Frank B. Johnson. However, no one on the ground at Fairchild knew who was in command when it took off. Also aboard were two navigators, Captain James W. Litzinger and First Lieutenant Mark L. Meyers, and refueling-boom operator Staff Sergeant Rodney S. Erks.
The Accident Sequence
After takeoff from runway 23, in tandem with the B-52, the KC-135 executed a steep left-hand turn. The aircraft suddenly rolled from an intended 45-degree bank to almost 90 degrees, stalling the two engines on the left wing. The crew managed to level the aircraft, but it was flying too low and too slow to recover. The plane crash-landed in an open area north of the flightline, behind three large hangars, narrowly missing the base's bombing and refueling squadron offices. It skidded through a security fence and across an access road, striking and killing Senior Master Sergeant Paul W. Hamilton, a Thunderhawks member who was off-duty and sitting in his car watching. The aircraft traveled another 200 yards, then hit an unmanned weather radar tower and burst into flames. During the impact sequence, the tail section separated from the fuselage, as did the wings, engines, and wheels. One wing, torn off by the collision with the radar tower, landed 50 yards beyond the burning wreckage.
Response and Aftermath
Fairchild's crash teams arrived within minutes to fight the fire caused by spilled jet fuel. Spokane International Airport, four miles east, dispatched a crash truck, and the Spokane Fire Department mobilized an entire engine company to assist. Due to toxic fumes and dangerous flare-ups, reporters and photographers were not permitted near the scene. Firefighters took more than three hours to extinguish the flames and hot spots. Searchers found the bodies of five crewmen in the forward section of the blackened fuselage. The body of the sixth crew member was discovered late Friday night, tangled in the cockpit wreckage; recovery teams had been careful to preserve the crew compartment for the Air Force accident investigators.
Fatalities
Those killed were: Captain Christopher L. Chapman, pilot; Lieutenant Colonel Michael W. Cornett, pilot; Staff Sergeant Rodney Scott Erks, refueling-boom operator; Senior Master Sergeant Paul W. Hamilton, refueling-boom operator; Captain Frank B. Johnson, pilot; Captain James W. Litzinger, navigator; and First Lieutenant Mark L. Myers, navigator.
Probable Cause
The official finding attributed the loss of control to wake turbulences.