What happened
On an outbound flight from Hamilton Air Force Base in Novato, California, an aircraft operated by the 26th Division was en route to Spokane, Washington. After departing from runway 30, the crew received clearance to climb at their discretion, initially following a heading of 360 degrees before transitioning to a heading of 340 degrees once reaching 2,600 feet.
Within seconds of this maneuver, the aircraft collided with trees and crashed onto a mountain slope situated approximately eight miles from the airfield. The impact and subsequent fire resulted in the total destruction of the airframe. Among the occupants, there were 13 fatalities and one serious injury. At the time of the accident, meteorological conditions were favorable, characterized by visibility of roughly 8 miles, light winds from 340 degrees at 2 knots, and three distinct cloud layers located at 900, 15,000, and 25,000 feet.
Findings
Investigators were unable to identify a specific reason for the accident. This difficulty was compounded by the fact that a subsequent flight was performed under nearly identical weather conditions just a few hours later without incident.