1973 plane crash in Albany (station, best, area)

[CuriouserGeorge]

I'm trying to find information regarding the crash of a Navy aircraft from Naval Air Station Albany in/around 1973. The aircraft had taken off from the base en route Key West when an in-flight emergency occured and the crew had to bail out. I believe that there were five or six on board, and all survived except the pilot (the last one to leave the plane).

I've tried searching Google, but can't seem to locate the story surrounding the crash.

Anyone from that area (and era) remember this?

[ToucheGA]

Is this what you are looking for?

[CuriouserGeorge]

Yes, that article helps to refresh my memory.

I was a Navy Corpsman at the time, stationed at the Naval Air Station Albany hospital, and was in the emergency room area as the injured crew began to be brought in. As I recall, the aircraft had not being airborne long enough to gain altitude, and the injuries to the crew members became worse as each bailed out: The first guy was fine, the next guy suffered a sprained ankle, followed by someone with a severe back injury, etc. Entrance and exit from this particular aircraft was via the floor, up near the pilot's station, and it would have been chaotic at best having so many trying to leave at the same time. The pilot, of course, would have been the last person to exit, but by the time he was able to do so the plane was too low and he impacted before his chute fully opened. Initial information about the accident was slow to come in, and up to the moment his body was retrieved we were optimistic that all survived. It was a sad ending to that morning.

An interesting sidepiece to this event was that fifth person to bail out was the hospital's chief surgeon. He wasn't a qualified air crewman, and due to his large size and inexperience may have had difficulty exiting which resulted in the pilot having less time to leave and deploy his own chute. At least, that was one rumor circulating following the accident. In any event, the surgeon was also onboard the U.S.S. Liberty when it was controversially attacked by the Israelis in 1967, and he received the Silver Star for heroism as a result of his treatment of the wounded. His injury on the day of the crash resulted in a severed nerve in his right arm which effectively ended his surgical career.