Belchertown, Massachusetts – June 21, 1963
At about 1:00 a.m. in the morning of June 21, 1963, a U.S. Air Force KC-135 Strato-Tanker, (Ser. No. 57-1498), was returning to Westover Air Force Base in Chicopee, Massachusetts, during a heavy rain storm when the aircraft crashed into the Granby side of Turkey Hill in Belchertown. The crash site was in a heavily wooded area about one mile from the Granby/Belchertown town line. The pilot, co-pilot, and navigator all survived the crash, but the (fuel) boom operator, Master Sergeant Daniel F. Donahue, 32, of Rye, New York, was killed.
The plane had been assigned to the 99th Air Refueling Squadron at Westover AFB.
Sources:
Crown Sentinel, (Belchertown, Ma.), “Westover Refueler Crash”, June 28, 1963.
Book, “Voices From An Old Warrior – Why KC-135 Safety Matters”, by Christopher J. B. Hoctor, Mizzou Publishing, University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo., Copyright 2013.
