On 15 February 1958, a United States Air Force
Douglas VC-47A Skytrain,
42-93817, c/n 13771, built as a C-47A-25-DK and upgraded, en route from its home base,
Ramstein-Landstuhl Air Base, Germany, to
Istanbul, departed Capodichino Airport on a flight to
Athens, with 16 servicemen aboard. Following a report 30 minutes after departure when the crew reported en route at 6500 feet and switching to the Rome ATC, nothing further was heard from the flight, which never contacted Rome, nor arrived in Greece. Dense fog over the
Ionian Sea and mountainous southern Italy on 17 February greatly impeded search efforts for the missing aircraft. "U.S. authorities did not exclude the possibility the plane might have been forced down in Communist
Albania." On 19 February 1958, the burned and scattered wreckage was found high on the rugged slope of
Mount Vesuvius at the level, about below the top of the cone of the
volcano. A search plane first spotted the wreckage following "four days of fruitless ground, sea and air search impeded by fog, rain and snow." Patrols of U.S. servicemen, Italian soldiers and
carabinieri reached the crash site four hours after it was found, battling though heavy snow, but reported no survivors amongst the 16 on board. They stated that all had been identified. According to a 1958 Associated Press report, "a surgeon said death apparently was instantaneous." There were 15 Air Force officers and men from Ramstein-Landstuhl Air Base, and one seaman of the
USS Tripoli on board. The report stated that "officials declined to venture a theory on the cause of the crash except that the weather was bad and the pilot, Capt. Martin S. Schwartz of
Ashland, Kentucky, had not previously flown from Capodichino field." On 31 March 1959, a
United States Navy Douglas R4D-8 crashed after takeoff due to engine failure. Three occupants out of 20 on board were killed as well as one ground worker. ==Use by U.S. military forces==