Date:	Wednesday 16 November 1949
Time:	10:51
Type:	Boeing B-29 Superfortress
Owner/operator:	2nd BSqn /27th BGp USAF
Registration:	42-65289
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 20
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Atlantic Ocean, 385 miles North East of Hamilton, Bermuda -   Atlantic Ocean
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	March AFB, Moreno Valley, Riverside County, California
Destination airport:	RAF Sculthorpe, Norfolk, UK

Narrative:
Boeing B-29-25-MO Superfortress 42-65289: Built under licence by Glenn L. Martin Company, Omaha, Nebraska. Delivered to the USAAF 28 December 1944. Assigned to 301st Bomb Group. With 313th Bomb Wing, 504th Bomb Group, named "Dina Might" during WW 2. Re-assigned to the 22nd Bomb Group, 2nd Bomb Squadron, March AFB, postwar.

Written off (destroyed) 16 November 1949: The crew was performing a flight from Riverside, California, to the UK. En route over the Atlantic Ocean, the crew encountered engine problems and the captain decided to ditch the aircraft 385 miles northeast of Bermuda. Following the accident, 18 crewmen took refuge in dinghies while two others were drowned.

About two days later, the crew of a USAF B-17 spotted the survivors who were eventually rescued and evacuated by the crew of the Canadian destroyer HMCS 'Haida' 76 hours after the accident. The aircraft was lost. According to the following contemporary newspaper report (see link #7):

"SUPERFORT DOWN AT SEA, 20 ABOARD
No Details Reported By Bermuda Air Base

Air force headquarters reported today that Kindley Air Base, Bermuda, had messaged that a B-29 Superfortress had gone down at sea at 10:51 a.m. EST. The message did not give the position of the accident or any other details. Hamilton, Bermuda,

Nov. 16 (UP). A U.S. air force Superfortress with 20 men aboard disappeared over the Atlantic near Bermuda today after radioing that its fuel was running out and it was ditching in the sea. The big B-29 bomber was one of 16 flying from March Field Air Base, Riverside, Calif., to England. It was near the end of 3,500-mile non-stop flight from California to Bermuda. The air force reported that the Superforts were on the way to England for 60 to 90 days for training under the rotation plan, which has been in effect since American planes were sent back to England after the war.

Strategic air command headquarters at Omaha reported that it had ordered the 307th bomb group from MacDill Field, Tampa, Fla., and the second bomb group at Chatham Air Force Base, Savannah, Ga., to search the seas off Bermuda.

Headquarters said five planes already were searching, four coast guard PBM's and an air rescue service B-17. The last message from the imperiled bomber was sent at 11:45 a.m. (10:45 a.m. EST). The four motored bomber was three hours and 35 minutes overdue at Kindley Field, U.S. air force base in Bermuda, when the message was received.

Four search planes took off from Kindley Field to search for the missing bomber as soon as its message was received. They shuttled through the skies over quadrants northwest and southeast of Bermuda. The bomber was attached to the Second Squadron, 27th Bombardment Group, 15th air force, stationed at Riverside, Calif. It took off last night at 7:40 (Bermuda time, 6:40 p.m., EST) for the non-stop flight to Bermuda. It was on the way to England with other planes of the same group. Fifteen other B-29s arrived this morning. They were standing by to join in the search.

The U.S. coast guard at. New York said four PBM amphibious planes took off from mainland bases shortly afternoon, EST, to search the area near Bermuda where the plane was believed down. Four more search planes were alerted pending further developments, the coast guard said. "As communications are difficult," the coast guard said, "details are sparse and somewhat confused, but the weak SOS's heard are believed to be from the overdue air force B-29."

NOTE: The location of "385 miles North-East of Bermuda" is the location of where the 18 surviving crew were picked up and not necessarily where the B-29 went down.

1. El Tiempo 17 November 1949, page 8.
2. El Tiempo 20 November 1949, pages 1+2
3. El Tiempo 21 November 1949, page 1
4. El Litoral 20 November 1949, page 2.
5. Milwaukee Sentintnel November 20 1949
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bermuda_Triangle_incidents#Aircraft_incidents
7. Santa Cruz Sentinel from Santa Cruz, California November 16, 1949 Page 1 at https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/57418642/
8. http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/dbahb.asp?HB=af&offset=27800
9. http://jproc.ca/haida/madgwick.html

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
22-Mar-2009 04:17	Certosino	Added
09-May-2014 18:07	TB	Updated [Date, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative]
31-Jan-2015 19:09	TB	Updated [Source, Narrative]
04-Jun-2016 13:02	Noman	Updated [Source]
22-Jun-2017 22:07	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
22-Jun-2017 22:09	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
22-Jun-2017 22:46	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
06-Apr-2020 14:29	Reno Raines	Updated [Operator, Operator]
14-May-2022 04:05	Ron Averes	Updated [Country]