Investigation Summary
The flight was a Department of Defense charter traveling from McGuire AFB to Frankfurt via Gander. Three hours after departing Gander, a fire warning illuminated for engine No. 3. The crew feathered the propeller and extinguished the fire. During the emergency procedure, Flight Engineer James Garrett mistakenly pulled the firewall shut-off lever for engine No. 1 instead of No. 3. This action cut off fuel and oil to a healthy engine. Although he quickly realized the error and moved the lever back, the lack of lubrication caused engine No. 1 to overspeed, rendering it unusable. The aircraft was forced to continue toward Shannon on only two engines. Later, engine No. 2 began to fail, exhibiting fire warnings and losing power. With only engine No. 4 fully operational, Captain John Murray was forced to ditch in 20 foot swells. The impact tore off the left wing and ruptured fuel tanks. Survival was further complicated by the loss of four out of five life rafts; the left-wing rafts were lost when the wing detached, and the right-wing rafts failed to deploy correctly. 51 people managed to board a single 25-man raft; however, three of them died before the merchant ship Celerina reached the scene six hours later, leaving 48 survivors to be rescued.
Final Conclusions
The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) determined the probable cause was a series of engine failures, one of which was induced by the flight engineer's error in shutting down the wrong engine. The investigation also noted that the captain's decision to ditch into the face of the swells, rather than parallel to them as prescribed by the manual, resulted in higher impact forces that likely caused the structural failure of the left wing and the loss of its life rafts. However, the captain's technique was a recognized method among flying boat pilots to reduce ground speed using headwinds.
Video Analysis
Tragedy and Triumph: the Ditching of Flying Tiger 923 — A detailed look at the engine failures, crew errors, and the harrowing survival story of Flight 923 in the North Atlantic.
If playback is blocked, the owner has disabled embedding — use the link above.
Airframe & Maintenance
Crew Experience
Captain
John D. Murray
First Officer
Robert W. Parker
Flight Engineer
James E. Garrett
Navigator
Samuel T. Nicholson
Systems & Failure Modes
Firewall Shut-off Lever
A safety mechanism designed to cut off all fuel, oil, and hydraulic fluid to an engine to prevent or extinguish a fire.
Propeller Feathering
The process of turning propeller blades parallel to the airflow to reduce drag after an engine failure.
Hydraulic Boost System
A system that assists the pilot in moving large control surfaces; it briefly failed during the final descent but was restored by the flight engineer.
Interesting Facts
- 01The aircraft was a Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation, the pinnacle of piston-engine transport at the time.
- 02Only one of the five available life rafts was successfully used by the survivors.
- 03The ditching occurred in total darkness with waves estimated at 15 to 20 feet high.
- 04The flight engineer's error of pulling the No. 1 firewall lever was immediately recognized but the damage to the engine was irreversible.
- 05The MS Celerina rescued 48 survivors from the single overcrowded life raft.
Safety Actions & Advisories
Raft Deployment Reliability
The investigation highlighted the failure of wing-mounted raft storage during structural breakup, leading to reviews of raft accessibility and deployment mechanisms.
Known Controversies & Unanswered Questions
Ditching Technique Dispute
Reference ↗Investigators criticized Captain Murray for landing into the swells rather than parallel to them. Murray and supporters argued that landing into the wind was necessary to reduce impact speed in the extreme sea conditions.