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

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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.