Historic Bombers Boeing B-50 Bomber BW.jpg (1/1)

[J.F.]

[Ron Monroe]

Just for the heck of it, ere is some more detail. Based on the fuselage
extension and empty wing pylon, this is a KB-50J aerial tanker, with the
auxiliary jet engines removed.
Ron

"J.F." > wrote in message
. net...

[muff528]

"Ron Monroe" > wrote in message
...
> Just for the heck of it, ere is some more detail. Based on the fuselage
> extension and empty wing pylon, this is a KB-50J aerial tanker, with the
> auxiliary jet engines removed.
> Ron
>
> "J.F." > wrote in message
> . net...
>

I wondered if this was a tanker. A friend of my father was killed in a KB-50
explosion near Bermuda sometime in the late 50's or early 60's.

TP

[[email protected]]

On 25-Oct-2007, "muff528" > wrote:

> I wondered if this was a tanker. A friend of my father was killed in a
> KB-50
> explosion near Bermuda sometime in the late 50's or early 60's.

Tell me more about this. My Dad flew KB-50J Tankers out of England AFB, 622
Tact. Air. Refueling Squadron, in the early 1960s, and did frequent TDYs out
of Bermuda. There were a number of A/C losses at the time, from engine
fires, explosions, etc. before the KB-50s were taken out of service in early
1964, including one flown by a Capt. Pallow that just blew up in mid air,
suspected bomb bay fuel leak or related cause. The KB-50J A/C were old and
very creaky, and downright dangerous to fly.

Brian

[muff528]

> wrote in message
ng.com...
>
> On 25-Oct-2007, "muff528" > wrote:
>
>> I wondered if this was a tanker. A friend of my father was killed in a
>> KB-50
>> explosion near Bermuda sometime in the late 50's or early 60's.
>
> Tell me more about this. My Dad flew KB-50J Tankers out of England AFB,
> 622
> Tact. Air. Refueling Squadron, in the early 1960s, and did frequent TDYs
> out
> of Bermuda. There were a number of A/C losses at the time, from engine
> fires, explosions, etc. before the KB-50s were taken out of service in
> early
> 1964, including one flown by a Capt. Pallow that just blew up in mid air,
> suspected bomb bay fuel leak or related cause. The KB-50J A/C were old
> and
> very creaky, and downright dangerous to fly.
>
> Brian

Capt. Roman Pallow was Dad's friend. I'll have to ask him if he knows any
more details about the incident.
I just did a Google search and found this newsletter which mentions the
explosion on Feb. 9, 1962:

http://www.tactankers.com/december2004.pdf

Scroll down to page 4 in the pdf.

Tony P.

[muff528]

"muff528" > wrote in message
news:OMyUi.371$TO4.280@trnddc07...
>
> > wrote in message
> ng.com...
>>
>> On 25-Oct-2007, "muff528" > wrote:
>>
>>> I wondered if this was a tanker. A friend of my father was killed in a
>>> KB-50
>>> explosion near Bermuda sometime in the late 50's or early 60's.
>>
>> Tell me more about this. My Dad flew KB-50J Tankers out of England AFB,
>> 622
>> Tact. Air. Refueling Squadron, in the early 1960s, and did frequent TDYs
>> out
>> of Bermuda. There were a number of A/C losses at the time, from engine
>> fires, explosions, etc. before the KB-50s were taken out of service in
>> early
>> 1964, including one flown by a Capt. Pallow that just blew up in mid air,
>> suspected bomb bay fuel leak or related cause. The KB-50J A/C were old
>> and
>> very creaky, and downright dangerous to fly.
>>
>> Brian
>
> Capt. Roman Pallow was Dad's friend. I'll have to ask him if he knows any
> more details about the incident.
> I just did a Google search and found this newsletter which mentions the
> explosion on Feb. 9, 1962:
>
> http://www.tactankers.com/december2004.pdf
>
> Scroll down to page 4 in the pdf.
>
> Tony P.
>

I know responding to myself is an indication of something-or-other, but I
spent a little time browsing the site www.tactankers.com and found a lot of
interesting articles, stories, etc. Also, there are a lot of great photos of
Cold War a/c being fueled by various tankers. If anyone's interested.
Haven't found anything new about the Pallow incident yet. The Dec 2004
newletters mentions an incident report that may be worth a look.
TP

[Ron Monroe]

Thanks for the website. However, this is another case of a website with
excellent pictures, that are are way too small. There "full size" pictures,
in the photo library, are only 390X 280 pixels. I don't know if it is a
storage problem, or they want us to pay for a full size print. It sure makes
it hard to see details.

I know, bitch, bitch, bitch.
Ron

"muff528" > wrote in message
news:FhHUi.109$a01.9@trnddc06...
>
> "muff528" > wrote in message
> news:OMyUi.371$TO4.280@trnddc07...
>>
>> > wrote in message
>> ng.com...
>>>
>>> On 25-Oct-2007, "muff528" > wrote:
>>>
>>>> I wondered if this was a tanker. A friend of my father was killed in a
>>>> KB-50
>>>> explosion near Bermuda sometime in the late 50's or early 60's.
>>>
>>> Tell me more about this. My Dad flew KB-50J Tankers out of England AFB,
>>> 622
>>> Tact. Air. Refueling Squadron, in the early 1960s, and did frequent TDYs
>>> out
>>> of Bermuda. There were a number of A/C losses at the time, from engine
>>> fires, explosions, etc. before the KB-50s were taken out of service in
>>> early
>>> 1964, including one flown by a Capt. Pallow that just blew up in mid
>>> air,
>>> suspected bomb bay fuel leak or related cause. The KB-50J A/C were old
>>> and
>>> very creaky, and downright dangerous to fly.
>>>
>>> Brian
>>
>> Capt. Roman Pallow was Dad's friend. I'll have to ask him if he knows any
>> more details about the incident.
>> I just did a Google search and found this newsletter which mentions the
>> explosion on Feb. 9, 1962:
>>
>> http://www.tactankers.com/december2004.pdf
>>
>> Scroll down to page 4 in the pdf.
>>
>> Tony P.
>>
>
> I know responding to myself is an indication of something-or-other, but I
> spent a little time browsing the site www.tactankers.com and found a lot
> of interesting articles, stories, etc. Also, there are a lot of great
> photos of Cold War a/c being fueled by various tankers. If anyone's
> interested. Haven't found anything new about the Pallow incident yet. The
> Dec 2004 newletters mentions an incident report that may be worth a look.
> TP
>

[[email protected]]

As I recall Pallow and Curly Moore were killed within a few months of one
another. My father did not know Pallow that well, but Curly Moore was a
fairly close friend of his. The A/C that Moore was flying was a dog, and it
spooked him so much that he asked my father to switch aircract with him on
the flight back to England AFB in Alexandria, LA. My father hated that A/C
too and refused.

As I understand what happened, the KB-50 developed an out-of-control R-4360
recip engine fire after departing from Bermuda. This was on one of the
inboard engines and the flames were so extreme that they trailed back to the
horizontal stabilizer. Moore sounded the bail-out alarm, and most of the
crew got out, but the tail drogue operator/observer's chute opened
prematurely in the A/C and the lines got hung up somehow on an escape hatch
that had a defective hold-open clip. The crewman's foot was also caught on
the coaming as he attempted to dive out of the hatch. The man was hanging
upside down out of the hatch, and the door kept slamming in the slipstream
against the hatch coamong and his foot. The crewman only fell free of the
airctaft after the door literally amputated his foot, but his chute opened
and he survived. Lucky for him there were no sharks in the immediate area.
The waters around Bermuda are loaded with them.

One of Moore's other crew froze and refused to bail out. Moore wouldn't
leave the A/C without him and rode it down to the crash in the ocean. When
they dove on the sunken aircraft they found Moore's body still strapped to
pilot seat and the other crewman dead in the aircraft.

So one could fairly say Moore died a hero of sorts, in the best Air Force
tradition.

With Pallow it was different, I understand. The aircraft was flying one
moment, then a mess of blown up aerial wreckage the next. There was no time
to react and the whole crew died. I think it was shortly this that after
another aircaft from a KB-50 Squadron stationed at Langley AFB blew up in
the same way, that the KB-50s were then out of service permanently.

Moore's death had a lasting effect on my father. In later years he had a
lot of survivor's guilt because of it.

Pallow's death had a significant inpact on me as a military kid in 9th
Grade. Pallow had a son, and though we weren't particularly close, I did
spend some time with him before the family moved off the base to a new life
as civilians. Somehow or other Mrs. Pallow wound up driving her son and me
someplace, and I think she sent the boy into a convenience store to buy some
milk while I was waiting with her in the car. The car radio was playing and
I will never forget Roy Orbison's "Sweet Dreams Baby"
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YoBKW3uhL0) coming on and recently-widowed
Mrs. Pallow starting to sing along in a low voice.

As an a 13-year-old I wasn't much of a grown up at that point, just a kid on
the cusp of adult sensibility. But this was an incident that left a mark;
it was obvious even to me how long Mrs. Pallow knew she would be dreaming.

So sometimes the pictures posted here are about more than aircraft.

What's your family's last name? Maybe we knew of you back then. My family
name's O'Neill, and I'd be interested in any other recollections your father
has of this long-ago event.

Brian

[muff528]

> wrote in message
g.com...
> As I recall Pallow and Curly Moore were killed within a few months of one
> another. My father did not know Pallow that well, but Curly Moore was a
> fairly close friend of his. The A/C that Moore was flying was a dog, and
> it
> spooked him so much that he asked my father to switch aircract with him on
> the flight back to England AFB in Alexandria, LA. My father hated that
> A/C
> too and refused.
>
> As I understand what happened, the KB-50 developed an out-of-control
> R-4360
> recip engine fire after departing from Bermuda. This was on one of the
> inboard engines and the flames were so extreme that they trailed back to
> the
> horizontal stabilizer. Moore sounded the bail-out alarm, and most of the
> crew got out, but the tail drogue operator/observer's chute opened
> prematurely in the A/C and the lines got hung up somehow on an escape
> hatch
> that had a defective hold-open clip. The crewman's foot was also caught
> on
> the coaming as he attempted to dive out of the hatch. The man was hanging
> upside down out of the hatch, and the door kept slamming in the slipstream
> against the hatch coamong and his foot. The crewman only fell free of the
> airctaft after the door literally amputated his foot, but his chute opened
> and he survived. Lucky for him there were no sharks in the immediate
> area.
> The waters around Bermuda are loaded with them.
>
> One of Moore's other crew froze and refused to bail out. Moore wouldn't
> leave the A/C without him and rode it down to the crash in the ocean.
> When
> they dove on the sunken aircraft they found Moore's body still strapped to
> pilot seat and the other crewman dead in the aircraft.
>
> So one could fairly say Moore died a hero of sorts, in the best Air Force
> tradition.
>
> With Pallow it was different, I understand. The aircraft was flying one
> moment, then a mess of blown up aerial wreckage the next. There was no
> time
> to react and the whole crew died. I think it was shortly this that after
> another aircaft from a KB-50 Squadron stationed at Langley AFB blew up in
> the same way, that the KB-50s were then out of service permanently.
>
> Moore's death had a lasting effect on my father. In later years he had a
> lot of survivor's guilt because of it.
>
> Pallow's death had a significant inpact on me as a military kid in 9th
> Grade. Pallow had a son, and though we weren't particularly close, I did
> spend some time with him before the family moved off the base to a new
> life
> as civilians. Somehow or other Mrs. Pallow wound up driving her son and
> me
> someplace, and I think she sent the boy into a convenience store to buy
> some
> milk while I was waiting with her in the car. The car radio was playing
> and
> I will never forget Roy Orbison's "Sweet Dreams Baby"
> (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YoBKW3uhL0) coming on and
> recently-widowed
> Mrs. Pallow starting to sing along in a low voice.
>
> As an a 13-year-old I wasn't much of a grown up at that point, just a kid
> on
> the cusp of adult sensibility. But this was an incident that left a mark;
> it was obvious even to me how long Mrs. Pallow knew she would be dreaming.
>
> So sometimes the pictures posted here are about more than aircraft.
>
> What's your family's last name? Maybe we knew of you back then. My
> family
> name's O'Neill, and I'd be interested in any other recollections your
> father
> has of this long-ago event.
>
> Brian
>
>

Thanks for all the detail. The Pallows were very close friends of my parents
and I'm forwarding this to Dad. Dad met Pallow in Primary Cadet School at
Ryan Field in Tucson during 1942 & 43. He did not know his associates at
England AFB. Dad gave me some detail about our families' relationship with
each other until Mrs. Pallow informed my parents of the accident. I'm
sending you an email with a brief summary of Dad's recollections. He now
knows more about the explosion than he did during the last 45 years! So,
thanks again.

Tony P.