Page:CAB Accident Report, Eastern Air Lines Flight 45 - Revised.pdf/2

 designated for military practice. Here its pilot engaged in certain military flight maneuvers which were completed in approximately thirty minutes. He then left the restricted area to return to Florence Army Air Field. When about 15 or 20 miles from the field he started practicing aural null procedures using the Florence radio range station. At approximately 1436, the pilot entered a left turn of 15 to 20 degrees of bank and with an airspeed of 220 mph during which he was listening for the change in signal which would indicate the relative bearing of the station from the aircraft. He estimated that he remained in the turn for one or one and one-half minutes and upon rolling out of the turn he saw the DC-3 almost directly ahead of him.

The captain of the DC-3 first observed the A-26 a very short distance off his left wing in a direction of flight almost at right angles to that of his aircraft and pulled back on his controls in an effort to avoid collision. The A-26 pilot pushed his controls forward attempting to pass under the DC-3. However, approximately one second after each pilot saw the other aircraft the collision occurred.

Initial impact was with the vertical fin of the A-26 against the leading edge of the DC-3's left wing at a point slightly in-board from the landing light. The fin progressed along the leading edge until it struck the left engine nacelle, tearing loose the engine. The left engine then moved sufficiently to the right to allow its still rotating propeller to cut into the fuselage of the DC-3 just behind the baggage compartment door. The top four or five feet of the A-26's fine and rudder were broken off and parts of these also struck the DC-3 fuselage causing other holes. The right propeller of the DC-3 severed the A-26 fuselage forward of the empennage. The A-26 rolled to an inverted position and at an altitude of about 900 feet its