# USAF Boeing KC-135A Stratotanker Emergency Landing Edmonton AB 5 March 1974



## Rifleman62 (6 Jan 2012)

I am attempting to assist a USAF Veteran with a VA claim for the following:

5 March 1974

A USAF Boeing KC-135A Stratotanker of the 7th Air Refuelling Squadron, 7th Bomb Wing, en route from Eielson AFB, Alaska to its homebase at Carswell AFB, Texas, suffered explosive decompression when a small window blew out at 35,000 feet at 1630 hrs. EST about 40 miles SE of Fort Nelson, British Columbia. One passenger of the 25 aboard died from the effects of the rapid decompression; others and eight crew okay. The tanker made an emergency landing at a Canadian Armed Forces Base at Edmonton, Alberta.

The death was a result of the fellow being sucked into the small window. Apparently the casualty plugged the hole somewhat but was "drained".

The aircraft was written off as destroyed. Was it scrapped in Edmonton?

I have requested the accident report from the USAF Safety Center through FOIA.  

Does anyone have info/photos?

Interestingly, the same day at McConnell AFB Kansas, a fully loaded KC-135 crashed and burned on take off killing two of the seven crew.


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## Rifleman62 (6 Jan 2012)

Northwest Florida Daily News
(Playground Daily News)
6 Mar 1974
1A
*
Passenger Sucked Out Of AF Jet*

EDMONTON, ALTA (UPI)  - A small window blew out on a U.S. Air Force KC135 jet tanker flying at high altitude Tuesday, decompressing the huge plane and killing one of the 33 military men on board.
A Canadian Armed Forces spokesman said the plane was flying at an altitude of 35,000 feet about 40 miles southeast of Fort Nelson, B.C., when the incident occurred at 4:30 p.m. EST.
The aircraft was carrying eight crewmembers and 25 passengers, all military personnel from a U.S. air base at Eielson, Alaska, to its home base at Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas. The plane made an emergency landing at the Canadian Armed Forces base here.

Northwest Florida Daily News
(Playground Daily News)
7 Mar 1974
1A

*Pensacola Man Dead In Blow-Out*

EDMUND, Alta. (UPI) - A team of military experts from Texas was dispatched Wednesday to determine why a small window blew out on a U.S. Air Force jet Tuesday, killing one of the 33 military men aboard.
A spokesman for the Canadian Armed Forces base near Edmonton where the plane made an emergency landing said the KC135 jet tanker was flying at 35,000 feet, about 40 miles southeast of Fort Nelson, B.C., when the incident occurred.
The plane was carrying eight crewmembers and 25 passengers, all military personnel from a U.S. Air Force base at Eielson, Alaska, to its home base at Carswell in Fort Worth, Tex.
"The crew immediately passed out oxygen masks and the pilot brought the plane down to 8,000 feet," the spokesman said. "The other members of the crew and the 25 passengers suffered no injuries."
Canadian Armed Forces officials identified the victim as Air Force sergeant Robert Dees, 24, of Pensacola, Fla.
He is survived by a wife and parents in Pensacola.
The spokesman said the cause of death had not been determined but it was "directly attributable" to decompression of the aircraft when the window blew out. The victim was not sucked out the window, he said.
A special military accident investigation team was dispatched to Edmonton from Fort Worth to investigate the incident the spokesman said.


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