What happened
On the morning of August 27, 1954, an RB-36H, registration 51-13722, departed from Ellsworth Air Force Base as part of a mission for the 77th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron. After completing a multi-city flight path through Kansas City, Little Rock, and Dallas, the aircraft returned to the base to perform radar bombing practice using Ground Control Approach (GCA) techniques.
During the evening hours, the crew was conducting PPI approaches for Runway 12. At approximately 9:30 P.M., pilots of another aircraft noted that red obstruction lights on hills northwest of the airfield were non-functional following a recent lightning strike. While ground control notified the flight crew of these inoperative lights during their approach sequence, the aircraft continued its descent.
At 10:11 P.M., while flying the approach, the aircraft's left wing collided with one of the unlit obstruction towers. Shortly after, the lower fuselage made contact with the ground approximately 8,777 feet short of the runway centerline. The impact caused the tail section to detach from the main body of the plane. Of the 25 people on board, 24 fatalities occurred; only one crew member survived the accident.
Findings
The investigation identified several technical failures that led to the accident. A primary factor was miscalibrated radar equipment, which caused the GCA system to report the aircraft's position inaccurately by about half a mile, effectively placing the glide slope too low. Furthermore, discrepancies in altimeter readings and local terrain effects contributed to altitude errors, making it difficult for the pilots to maintain the correct flight path.