Have lately been researching local air crashes, and become increasingly curious about military aircraft incidents. (Have found a couple, including a B-17 crash in Garner in 1944.) Let’s get more exhaustive via this database of Air Force Accident Reports from the Aviation Archaeological Investigation & Research.

They’ve indexed USAAF and USAF reports from 1918 to 1955, though with gaps in 1948-49, and 1952-55. Their database contains (by my count) 1,725 records where State = North Carolina. From those, fifty-one took place in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area. (That’s by eyeballing the results.)

They also sell copies of the reports, which can be ordered from their site. Might have look into that! (They’re also looking for volunteers, to read microfilm and enter data.) See the table below.

Notes:

• After September 18, 1947, the Air Force split from the Army. Thus the records after that date are non-Army, and thus the January 2, 1953, crash of an Army transport plane in Morrisville isn’t listed.
• Known fatal accidents in bold.