Douglas B-26B N9682C

Summary

On 1 November 2025 at about 14:35 local time, a Douglas B-26B registered N9682C, operated by American Airpower Heritage Flying Museum, was involved in an accident near Ponca City, Oklahoma, United States. 5 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

1 November 2025 at 14:35

Classification

Accident

Location

Ponca City, Oklahoma, United States

Nearest airport

Ponca City Rgnl (PNC)

Coordinates

36.7320, -97.0998

Aircraft

Douglas B-26B

Registration

N9682C

Category

Airplane

Year built

1946

Engines

2

Operator

American Airpower Heritage Flying Museum

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Positioning

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → Enid

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN26LA041

Nobody was injured.

Failure of the nose landing gear link which resulted in a loss of directional.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that on the takeoff roll, he detected a vibration that he initially attributed to nosewheel shimmy. The vibration became extreme within a few seconds, and the pilot attempted to abort the takeoff by reducing the engine throttles. During the deceleration, the airplane went to the right which the pilot was unable to correct using differential braking. The airplane went off of the paved runway surface and the nose landing gear collapsed forward. Postaccident inspection revealed that the nose landing gear upper retract link assembly had fractured which allowed the nose landing gear to partially collapse in the forward direction. The engine propellers contacted the ground during the event and the airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.