Chapter2AirForceVersusNavyThisWasNotAGameBothSidesLost

Whistling Past the Runway

Chapter 1 - Prince Galitzine and the German Daedalus

Chapter 2 - Air Force Versus Navy, This Was Not A Game, But Both Sides Lost

Two days ago, someone posted on X/Twitter that it was the 80th anniversary of the first flight of the Lockheed P-2 Neptune. I guess they were using GMT or UTC time because I read the post on the 16th, when the actual anniversary was May 17.

I know I have seen and photographed this plane in at least one airplane museum (so I will have at least a few photos to drop into this article) and the post on X piqued my curiosity, so I did a bit more reading about the plane on some different websites. I was on Wikipedia when I stumbled across this gruesome little snippet of information under the heading "Accidents and incidents":

On 1 February 1958, USAF C-118A 53-3277 (embedded link to Wikipedia article on accidents involving Douglas DC-6) collided in mid-air with a US Navy Lockheed P2V Neptune 127723 over Norwalk, California, killing 47 of 49 on board both aircraft and 1 person on the ground.

Lockheed SP-2H (P2V-7), National Museum of Naval Aviation, Pensacola, Florida, USA

This got my attention because airplane crashes, especially mass casualty ones, are one of my morbid hobbies, and this one also happened practically in my backyard here in Los Angeles County, although it was years before I was born.

I was trying to find out more information about the crash, and one thing I found frustrating is that I couldn't find a list of all the people killed in the crashes. I found a few names but nothing like what I am used to seeing in this type of situation. Maybe there are lists out there but they are on newspaper sites behind paywalls, or something like that. In any event, I have my own ways of getting that kind of information, so I set to work.

I currently have a subscription to Ancestry, which lets you search the California Death Index by specific dates and specific counties. I started with that and got a list of 189 people (at least one person came up twice because they had him listed both under his given name and an initial) who died on that day in Los Angeles County.

I lucked out in that I stumbled on the civilian victim on the ground very early, Edith Hernandez. I found her D/C and then realized she wasn't in Find A Grave, so I added a memorial for her.

The next problem was that a majority of the deaths for that date had nothing to do with the plane collision. However, since these were military planes and not civilian passenger planes, I figured a much higher percentage, possibly all of the victims, would be in an age range of late teens up into their forties. So I simply ignored anyone who was too young (infants and children) or too old (people in their sixties and older).

This proved remarkably effective, and I found existing find a grave memorials for almost all of these people. Some of them were in military cemeteries or had military markers even though they were in civilian cemeteries, making it much more likely that they were victims of the collision.

Just from looking at the FAG memorials I also confirmed some of them were from crash victims, as some had newspaper clippings attached referencing the accident. Others had verbiage in the bio sections of the memorials indicating they had died in the incident, which I took at face value as it was likely these statements were true.

After I had plucked the low hanging fruit, I went to Family Search and started looking for death certificates for the remaining people. I managed to find D/Cs for all but one of the people I was looking at. That one person I did confirm was a victim of the crash, but don't know why there does not appear to be a Los Angeles county D/C for him. During this process I also ruled out about a dozen people or so who died on that day who had no connection whatsoever to the accident.

Unfortunately I couldn't rule out women because at least four of the people aboard the C-118 were women serving in the military, I believe either Air Force or Army, although I will get that nailed down later. No women were aboard the Navy plane.

It got to the point where after looking at a few of the D/Cs connected to the accident that I didn't even need to open up the document full screen, there was a field in the lower right corner of all of the D/Cs labeled "Describe How Injury Occurred" where the text "COLLISION OF MILITARY AIRCRAFT" was typed all caps, just like I rendered it here. I am guessing they did this for over forty D/Cs, if not all of them. I just started looking for that in the preview field for the D/Cs, and that sped things up considerably.

It turned out I already had two of the victims in my database, as they were buried at Forest Lawn cemeteries (one in Glendale and one in Hollywood Hills). I added a keyword to the system and then tagged the two of them with the keyword to make sure I didn't forget about them.

By the way, some of you may have noticed that I have left out a fairly critical piece of information about the crash. We know where and when it happened, what planes were involved, but who was responsible for the accident?

Back in the late 1950s there was only a very rudimentary national air traffic control system, there was traffic control around airports where pilots were expected to be in communication with the control towers and everything was supposed to be kept in order within that tightly controlled airspace. There were corridors of controlled airspace outside airports in high traffic areas. There were also huge chunks of airspace that were uncontrolled and pilots were expected to watch for other aircraft and take evasive action if necessary to avoid near misses or collisions. This led to a number of high profile accidents which took place around that time. Flight paths were filed for planes and they were supposed to have their own headings and altitudes, but incidents happened such as the time a Lockheed Constellation and a Douglas DC-7 collided over the Grand Canyon in 1956, killing over 100 people.

Getting back to our current story, the USAF Douglas C-118A departed from Long Beach Municipal Airport at 19:08 (7:08 pm) for a flight to McGuire AFB in New Jersey. Around the same time the USN Lockheed P2V-5F Neptune took off from nearby NAS Los Alamitos for what was recorded as a training flight. Both planes were operating under visual flight rules but should have been extra careful as it would have been well after dark, sunset being around 5:30 pm in the Los Angeles area around that date. Visibility was estimated to be around 15 miles.

The Navy plane had a crew of eight (some accounts list seven but this appears to be in error). There were no "passengers" as such. The USAF C-118 had a passenger count of 35, five crew and one female flight attendant. Some accounts claim there were five other women on the plane but this appears to be in error, I have accounted for all the crash dead and there were only four women aboard the C-118 (including the flight attendant).

Douglas R6D (C-118/DC6), National Museum of Naval Aviation, Pensacola, Florida, USA

Around 7:15 pm or so (the LA Times says exactly 7:13 pm, while death certificates note the actual crash time and time of death of the victims as 7:22 pm, so you can take your pick as to what specific time you prefer) the flight paths of the two planes intersected over Norwalk. Examination of the debris revealed that the left jet engine of the Neptune had clipped one of the rudders of the C-118. I am guessing there was a lot more to the collision than this based on the subsequent behavior of the airframe of the C-118.

The later investigation found both air crews at fault for not seeing and avoiding the other plane, but the crew of the C-118 was assigned more blame as the Neptune was to its right and for some reason (unknown to me) that meant the C-118 had more responsibility.

The C-118 exploded in the air and the fragments of it crashed near the intersection of Firestone and Pioneer in Norwalk, one could say the epicenter of the crash was 11771 East Firestone Boulevard. Large parts of the plane crashed into the parking lot of a sheriff's station there, destroyed a number of vehicles, and ignited a gasoline storage tank. Debris also hit other nearby buildings. The lone civilian victim, Edith Hernandez, died at this location when she went outside her house to find out what was happening and was killed instantly by falling debris.

All of the occupants of the C-118 were either dead before the plane hit or died upon impact. The D/Cs describe quite a horrific litany of injuries.

The Navy P2V was in much better "relative" shape than the C-118 but was no longer airworthy and crashed about a mile from the collision point at a clay pit in Santa Fe Springs. Five of the crew were killed upon impact. One, Raymond Willard McCafferty, was pulled out of the wreckage alive but succumbed to his injuries at a nearby hospital. Electronics technician Leslie Van Dyke, age 23, suffered only minor injuries and was able to stagger away from the crash and yell to firefighters to help his buddies. Aviation Machinist Sanford Lee Fenton (I believe also 23 as I think I have found him on Find A Grave) also miraculously survived the crash of the Neptune.

Lockheed AP-2H, Pima Air Museum, Tucson, Arizona, USA

Van Dyke was interviewed shortly after the crash about the events of that day and spoke freely, but declined to speak about it to reporters in 2008. He was 73 at that time and I have no idea if he is still alive or not in 2025, he would be at least 89 or 90 years old at this point.

At the time I started writing this several hours ago, I had found all but one or two of the crash victims. There was some question about the number of crash victims, as some sources stated there were five victims and two survivors aboard the Neptune, other sources stated there were six victims and two survivors. One set of numbers led to 47 victims (46 from the planes and one on the ground) while the other numbers led to 48 victims (47 from the planes and one on the ground). Since I had already found 46 of the victims, I found another two victims over the last couple of hours, so we can safely say there must have been eight crew aboard the Navy plane, not seven.

There is no moral to this story. There is no silver lining, I am guessing that Van Dyke and Fenton both had PTSD from this for the rest of their lives (if Van Dyke has passed away). There are no clever coincidences here or ghosts of dead mothers saving their sons from dying of exposure. This is just raw heartbreak with virtually no redeeming characteristics.

As I was researching the crash victims, I found Peter Consavage's family on FamilySearch.org. I noticed his father was a merchant seaman during WWII and died in 1943, he is either buried in Tunisia or has a cenotaph there. For his mother to go through losing his father during wartime and then losing her oldest son in the military 15 years later must have been heartbreaking. Peter had two other brothers and at least one of them was also in the military, I can only imagine the sleepless nights that Mary Consavage endured.

Just to prove to us the old adage that "the more things change the more they remain the same", the collision this last January between the Black Hawk helicopter and the Bombardier CRJ700 in Washington DC showed that in spite of all the technological advances in aviation that have happened since 1958, this kind of thing can and does still happen. It's a sobering reminder that for all of us, our next breath could be our last.

I'm going to insert a table here with some basic information about the crash victims, and also Sanford Fenton, who gets an honorary mention as well as an "attaboy" for surviving the collision. There will be a link below the table where you can find more information on each of the victims.

I only have a few notes in the table now but will add more as I find out more information about the victims.

Name	Birthday	Cemetery	City	County	State	Country	Notes
Andre, Kenneth Charles	3/17/1929	Beverly National Cemetery	Beverly	Burlington	New Jersey	USA
Augustenborg, Jorgen M	5/26/1921	Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery	San Diego	San Diego	California	USA
Bol, Peter	3/8/1909	Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery	San Diego	San Diego	California	USA	The memorial plaque that the American Legion installed has his last name rendered as a much longer name (starting with "Bol") but I cannot read it. I have found no other reference to the alternate surname
Brown, Bobbie Earl	12/11/1931	Golden Gate National Cemetery	San Bruno	San Mateo	California	USA
Brown, George William	2/12/1938	Resurrection Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleums AKA Resurrection Cemetery	Justice	Cook	Illinois	USA
Buntin, Billie V	1/12/1932	Forest Lawn Memorial Park	Glendale	Los Angeles	California	USA
Caplan, Irvin L	8/13/1931	Beth Israel Cemetery AKA Roanoke Community Jewish Cemetery	Roanoke	Roanoke City	Virginia	USA
Carr, Carl Junior	7/21/1927	Hillcrest Cemetery	White Sulphur Springs	Greenbrier	West Virginia	USA
Cash, Vernon Ellsworth	6/30/1930	Woodlawn Cemetery	Westbrook	Cumberland	Maine	USA
Consavage, Peter Paul	4/11/1938	Holy Trinity Lithuanian Cemetery	Bear Creek	Luzerne	Pennsylvania	USA	His Find A Grave memorial has the wrong death date and year
Crawford, Olen	12/13/1938	Crawford Cemetery	Hazard	Perry	Kentucky	USA
Cross, Thomas	10/16/1937	Valhalla Memorial Park	Milwaukee	Milwaukee	Wisconsin	USA
Dennis, Lawrence Edward	1/2/1938	Not Known					Remains sent to Accomack County VA for burial. Created a burial unknown memorial on Find A Grave as there was not enough information to determine which specific cemetery he was sent to.
Edenhart, Frank Leroi	3/23/1924	Union Dale Cemetery	Pittsburgh	Allegheny	Pennsylvania	USA
Ellis, Edward Sam	7/18/1931	Knoxville National Cemetery	Knoxville	Knox	Tennessee	USA
Ellis, Thelma Fay	2/27/1934	Myrtle Hill Memorial Park	Tampa	Hillsborough	Florida	USA
Evans, Ronald Robert	5/3/1935	Beverly National Cemetery	Beverly	Burlington	New Jersey	USA	The death records reversed his first and middle names and have no information about his birth. I was able to piece that information together from other sources.
Fenton, Sanford Lee	3/20/1934	Jacksonville National Cemetery	Jacksonville	Duval	Florida	USA	Survived the collision, died 55 years later on 9/15/2013
Fisher, Roger Bruce	12/29/1939	Saint Joseph Cemetery	Palm Bay	Brevard	Florida	USA	Death records list him as Rodger Fisher
Gantt, William H.	5/16/1936	Liberty Memorial Gardens AKA Gantt Memorial Park	Liberty	Pickens	South Carolina	USA
Graves, James Ora	10/30/1929	Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery	San Diego	San Diego	California	USA
Hernandez, Edith Rachel	4/9/1932	All Souls Cemetery	Long Beach	Los Angeles	California	USA	The only civilian victim on the ground, died outside her house when she was instantly killed by falling debris
Holden, Roy Henderson	2/22/1936	Georgetown Holden Cemetery	Supply	Brunswick	North Carolina	USA	Death records list him as Ray Henderson
Hubenette, Robert Myron	7/8/1924	Acacia Park Cemetery	Mendota Heights	Dakota	Minnesota	USA
Idso, Ivan D	12/20/1917	Forest Lawn Memorial Park	Los Angeles	Los Angeles	California	USA
Jennings, David R	8/6/1936	Jacksonville Cemetery	Jacksonville	Jackson	Oregon	USA
Johnson, Martin Lee	6/4/1932	Bellefontaine Cemetery	Saint Louis	St. Louis City	Missouri	USA
Johnson, Peggy Deloris	1/1/1935	Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery	San Diego	San Diego	California	USA
Klein, Robert Nicholas	8/4/1934	Osage Cemetery	Osage	Mitchell	Iowa	USA
Mainen, Ned Allen	10/20/1937	Hebrew Friendship Cemetery	Baltimore	Baltimore City	Maryland	USA
Malchow, Howard Leroy	7/29/1919	Westville Cemetery	Westville	La Porte	Indiana	USA
Marcum, William Henry	11/26/1939	Sandoval Cemetery	Sandoval	Marion	Illinois	USA
Martin, Donna Jane	6/5/1937	Slippery Rock Cemetery	Slippery Rock	Butler	Pennsylvania	USA
McCafferty, Raymond Willard	10/8/1936	Rose Hills Memorial Park	Whittier	Los Angeles	California	USA
Medlin, Billy Wesley	9/2/1939	Shiloh Cemetery	Camden	Benton	Tennessee	USA
Moore, James D.	10/12/1936	Forest Hill Cemetery	Birmingham	Jefferson	Alabama	USA
Nash, Norman David	2/9/1934	Rose Hills Memorial Park	Whittier	Los Angeles	California	USA
Penley, Robert Douglas	1/27/1939	Dunagan Cemetery	Rocky Face	Whitfield	Georgia	USA	Death records list him as Robert Pendley
Phernetton, Allen L	6/15/1937	Jackson Cemetery	Webster	Burnett	Wisconsin	USA
Pirkle, William Webb	11/5/1934	Ebenezer Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery	Sandy Springs	Fulton	Georgia	USA
Sandquist, Alvar Bernhard	12/9/1914	Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery	San Diego	San Diego	California	USA	Also known as Alvar Sanquist
Schenk, David	5/26/1939	Elmwood Hill Cemetery	Troy	Rensselaer	New York	USA
Shoaf, James Ellis	1/24/1938	Fairlawn Cemetery	Kentland	Newton	Indiana	USA
Smith, Vincent Ecker	9/30/1913	Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery	San Diego	San Diego	California	USA
Starr, Dillard Olan	6/26/1935	Rose Hills Memorial Park	Whittier	Los Angeles	California	USA
Summey, Benny Sloan	1/25/1940	Gaston Memorial Park	Gastonia	Gaston	North Carolina	USA
Vicario, Donald Charles	9/18/1936	Saint Joseph Cemetery	Lockbourne	Franklin	Ohio	USA
Votava, Robert Joseph	3/1/1931	North Cemetery	Amherst	Hampshire	Massachusetts	USA
Wormeley, Elizabeth DuVal	10/15/1906	Arlington National Cemetery	Fort Myer	Arlington	Virginia	USA

The link below runs a query on the SQL genealogy database I have set up which will give you a list of the people with more information and clickable links to the different records. You can open the link in a different tab or window.

Query results: Collision between USAF C-118 (DC-6) & USN P2V Neptune over Norwalk, California

In 1964 the American Legion put up a marker at the crash site of the C-118 in Norwalk. Unfortunately the marker was later stolen, apparently by people selling the metal as scrap. My understanding is that the marker was later replaced, and the next time I find myself in Norwalk I am going to look for it. There is a Goodwill store now where the Sheriff's Station used to be, so if there is a marker it should be close to that store. The address of the Goodwill store is 12827 Pioneer Boulevard. It doesn't look like the same address as 11771 East Firestone Boulevard but it is, the address is at the intersection of both streets and could be listed as being on either street, which it has been.

The plaque the American Legion put up lists all the names except for Edith Hernandez, I guess because she wasn't in the service. A disappointing decision, but I wasn't around to weigh in on it, so all I can do is make sure she was listed in this article, which I have done.

Photo notes: The Lockheed SP-2H at the NMNA has an entry on their website here.

The R6D (Navy version of the C-118) at the NMNA had a 32 year career with the US Navy. There is an article on the complete history of the aircraft here at the Aerial Visuals Airframe Dossier website.

The AP-2H at the Pima Air Museum is a later version of the P2V/P-2. This particular plane apparently saw service in Vietnam. There is an article on it here at the Pima Air Museum website.

Sources:

Air collision rained debris on Norwalk, Los Angeles Times, Jan. 27, 2008
Woman Killed by Falling Metal from Mid-Air Collision over Norwalk - February 1, 1958, Wikimapia
Crash of a Douglas C-118A Liftmaster in Norwalk: 42 killed, Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives
Lockheed P2V-5/Douglas C-118A mid-air 2/1/58, Aircraft Wrecks in the Mountains and Deserts of the American West
Saturday 1 February 1958 Douglas C-118A (DC-6), Aviation Safety Network
Saturday 1 February 1958 Lockheed P2V-5F Neptune, Aviation Safety Network
California Death Index 1940-1997, Ancestry.com (subscription required)
California, County Birth and Death Records, 1800-1994, FamilySearch.org (registration required, free to use but email address needed to register)
FindAGrave.com (free to view or browse, free registration required to edit or add records, email address needed to register)

Chapter 3 - The Need, the Need For Speed

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