Dauntless belly landing

Air Classics, Jul 2001

Recently, the Lone Star Flight Museum at Galveston entered into an agreement with Todd Hewey for a new ten-episode series for PBS-TV entitled Honor Squadrons International. The series will be filmed over a three-year period and the LSFM's B-25 Mitchell has been contracted as the main camera ship.

On 31 March, Ralph Royce was airborne in the LSFM's Douglas SBD Dauntless with the B-25 in order to test the effectiveness and compatibility of Sony's newest high definition TV gyro-stabilized cameras.

Ralph stated, "I was flying the SBD-- 5 with Sony video cameraman Jeff Cree in the back seat. We were in a Navy bomber three-ship formation (B-- 25 lead, SBD right wing, TBM in trail) at 1200 on the down wind leg after our third pass over the photo line. We had one pass left and then were to go back to Galveston with Jeff filming the B-25 on the way home.

"With no warning, the SBD's engine lost all power. I immediately switched tanks, turned the boost pump on, made the first radio call and started a left turn to the airport - which was at my 7-8 o'clock position. Simultaneous to the power loss, I noticed an odor of fuel - an observation I attached little importance to at that time.

"Several seconds later, the engine had not restarted (as I expected it would) and I rapidly determined there was little chance to make the airport without power. I checked the fuel pressure (zero), verified the boost pump switch was on, looked at the fuel gauge and observed gas in all tanks, noted the speed as somewhere between eight and ten (about 90 knots), switched to the left aux tank, noticed the gas odor was now very strong, and started a scan for an alternate landing site.

"In the next few seconds, without the hint of an engine re-start, things began to get critical. Foremost, we were now being sprinkled with a mist of gas. Secondly, I was now positive that we could not make the field without power (with the fuel pressure still at zero I switched back to the left main, the fuel return tank and fullest tank). Third, I still had no close alternate site.

"Looking back to the right and dumping the nose farther, I spotted a cow pasture with only one or two trees in it. Acquiring this pasture and determining its suitability, as well as the gasoline spray and odor becoming noxious, and the clear realization that we were not going to get an engine re-start (fuel pressure still zero), made the decision to commit to an off field forced landing rather simple - all the other options had run out.

"Once that decision was made, I began setting up the aircraft for a forced landing and my glider flying experience kicked in. I set up the aircraft for the middle of the pasture, told Jeff to get secure (formerly he was a Navy A-6 driver and had already figured out what was happening), locked the canopy in the back position, let the flight lead know of my decision to belly land and, with the field now center-- point, I moved the touchdown target to the one-third point. The wheels up, no flap, landing was rather straightforward with little damage to the occupants and minor damage to the aircraft.

"Lee Pior, the A&P mechanic at the incident site, just called in and reported the main fuel line failed at the carburetor. That would seem to be consistent with the sequence of events." Obviously, Ralph pulled off a very skilled landing in difficult circumstances and we expect the rare SBD to be repaired and back up and flying in the very near future.