NEW YORK TIMES

August 19, 1959

2 Killed, 21 Injured In Helicopter Blast On Carrier At Sea

Quonset Point, RI, Aug. 19 Two crewman on the aircraft carrier Wasp were killed and twenty-one were injured in an explosion and fire yesterday afternoon while the ship was on maneuvers in the Atlantic. The carrier docked at the Naval Air Station pier here this morning.

The accident occurred at 3:52 P.M. yesterday while the ship was about 250 miles east of Norfolk, VA. A helicopter engine being tested on a hanger bay "overspeeded" and exploded, the Navy reported.

The Navy identified the dead as Lieut. (j.g.) Jim Frank Hagan of Marianna, Fla., and Airman Apprentice Donald H. Trask of Keene, N.H.

Explodes In Routine Test

Lieutenant Hagan, a pilot, was testing the helicopter. Apprentice Trask was asphyxiated in an elevator pit while fighting the fire.

At a news conference here, Rear Admiral Robert J. Stroh, commander of Carrier Division 14, who uses the Wasp as his flagship, described the accident as follows:

"A helicopter engine ‘ran away’ and exploded while it was being tested in a routine test by a qualified pilot."

"The cause of the runaway is indeterminate at this time and will be investigated. Obviously there was some malfunction or maladjustment of the engine."

"The ‘helicopter was consumed’, as well as two others. The pilot was killed instantly and one enlisted man died fighting the fire."

Admiral Stroh said he had never heard of such a "runaway" engine under hangar deck testing conditions. Runaway engines, he noted, are not uncommon when aircraft are airborne and the governors malfunction.

Admiral Stroh said that all but three of the injured were back on duty today.

Of the twenty-one injured crewman, only one required hospitalization. He is Sidney A. Chaplain of Philadelphia, who suffered a fractured of the left leg and burns.

The exploding helicopter and three others had to be jettisoned. Three others were extensively damaged.

Navy officials said the heavy damage resulted in part from the sea water that poured on the flames from overhead sprinklers and fire hoses. Magneseum, a principal component of helicopters, burns fiercely under water.

As soon as the fire was observed by the task force accompanying the Wasp, four destroyers rushed to her aid --- the McCaffrey, the Lloyd Thomas, the Harwood and the Keppler.

Will Undergo Repairs

Two closed alongside and poured water into the hanger bay. The two others took positions astern of the carrier to aid in possible rescue operations.

Admiral Stroh said the Wasp would remain here for twenty-four to thirty-six hours before being assigned to a shipyard for repairs.

The Wasp, a 35,200 ton vessel, carries a crew of 2,300. Her home port is Boston.

Admiral Stroh praised the Wasp’s crew for confining the fire to Hanger Bay One, the forward compartment of three bays on the hanger deck, below the flight line.

"Had the fire progresses beyond Bay One, we would have been in very serious trouble." He said.