from author and historian Jim Ignasher
On March 23, 1960, Staff Sergeant Joseph G. Pack, 24, of Pembroke, Virginia, was accidentally killed when the 20 mm tail-gun of a B-47 bomber was fired during a gunnery test. The sergeant was assigned to the 100th Bomb Wing at Pease Air Force Base. No further details are known.
Source:
Evening Star, (Washington, D.C.), “Gun Blast Kills GI”, March 24, 1960, pg. C-3
Atlantic Ocean – February 1, 1957
RB-47E Stratojet
U.S. Air Force Photo
On February 1, 1957, a B-47E Stratojet, (#53-6198), took off from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for a routine flight. When the aircraft was about 11 miles off the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts, it caught fire in flight and was seen by fishermen to crash into the ocean. All four crewmen aboard perished.
The dead were identified as:
Pilot: Captain Alexander A. Wawrzynak, 35, of Braddock, Pennsylvania.
Instructor pilot: Captain Orrin W. Snyder III, 31, of Memphis, Tennessee. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/120621985/orrin-william-snyder
Flight Observer: 1st Lieutenant Stanley N. Partridge, 23, of Cleveland, Ohio.
1st Lieutenant Stanley D. Jenkins, Jr., 28, or Pendelton, Oregon. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/66346014/stanley-dale-jenkins
The men had been assigned to the 100th Bomber Wing.
Sources:
The Woonsocket Call, (R.I.), “B47 Jet Bomber Crashes Off Mass, 4 Feared Dead”, February 2, 1957
Fall River Herald News, (Ma.), “Four-Man Crew Feared Dead In Crash Of Big Bomber”, February 2, 1957, pg. 9
The Aviation Safety Network. #236943
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