Any wreck chasers out there? I find it fun to locate and visit sites with old military aircraft. There is a B24 on Pueblo Mnt. in SE Oregon. An A6 lies SW of Christmas Valley in central Oregon. You can see some pix in my album.

The A6 site is on a rocky flat that folks with large tires could probably land at, otherwise, there is a road just west of the site, at the bottom of Burma Rim that will accomodate most planes. Although I landed on the road below, I was too lazy to hike up to the plane. There's a rumor that a P38 wreck is located just south. I need to go see if I can find that one.

The B24 is on a meadow that is probably too rock for even the giant tired planes. It is a very stiff hike from the nearest road, but there's lots of stuff to see. All four engines, the main landing gear, melted puddles of aluminum, and some tail feathers.

tom

Tom,

You get over this way give me a shout. Family and I went looking on the Pueblos last summer, with poor directions and couldn't find it.

I've been wanting to check out the Christmas Valley stuff too. Your bird should be able to get into some of those places.

Take care, Bub

I thought you were talking about Lawyers!

Mr. Ed wrote:I thought you were talking about Lawyers!

Nah, you're thinking of ambulance chasing.

tom

BLM Declares Two Military Aircraft Crash Scenes As Historical Sites

Mon, 11 Jun '07

Agency Aims To Educate Public, Preserve Aircraft Remnants

The Bureau of Land Management will officially declare two military aircraft accident scenes as Federal government historical sites during a Flag Day ceremony on June 14. Two plaques will be unveiled depicting the historical significance of each location.

The two debris fields are located within one mile of each other in the Oregon desert, about 25 miles southeast of Christmas Valley. The first debris field contains the remnants of a Lockheed P-38 Lightning that crashed on February 11, 1945 while conducting a World War II gunnery training flight. The pilot, 2nd Lt. Max Clark, age 25, was killed in the crash.

The second contains the remnants of a Navy Grumman A-6 Intruder Bomber which crashed on September 19, 1973 during a low level night training mission. The pilot, Lt. Alan Koehler, age 27, and navigator Lt. Cdr. Philip Duhamel, age 33, were both killed in the crash.

Major components of both aircraft are disbursed across the area and draws frequent visitors.

FlynRftr wrote:BLM Declares Two Military Aircraft Crash Scenes As Historical Sites

Pretty interesting. I was wondering if some of these weren't protected.

tom

Tom,

Do you have coordinates or pretty good locations for the 3 wrecks?

Near Barrett Lake (west of Lake Tahoe), there is an old wreck that I visited about 6 years ago. Only way to get back in there is by Jeep to Barrett Lake then hike another couple miles to the wreck site. I thought I had a link to the history of the wreck but can't find it now.
I was amazed that all these years later you could still see the swath that was carved through the tree tops when the plane went down.

FlynRftr wrote:Tom,

Do you have coordinates or pretty good locations for the 3 wrecks?

The coordinates are in the information section below the picture of the B24 engine and the A6. I don't have coordinates on the P38, but a guy told me that it is about a mile south. I didn't know about it when I went out the last time, so I didn't look for it.

tom

My local paper just printed an article about a guy ( Robert Allen Lloyd) who used his fling wing to go into the Frank Church and salvage out a wrecked plane that crashed 5 years ago. He apparently had nothing to do with the original crash, and is being charged with unlawfull access in a wilderness area and getting the parts with the purpose of selling them. He is in BIG trouble. Its not what you guys are talking about at all, but it seemed relevant to post it. Try the Idaho State Journal or Boise Stateman for the entire story, it was in my paper yesterday or the day before.

courierguy wrote:My local paper just printed an article about a guy ( Robert Allen Lloyd) who used his fling wing to go into the Frank Church and salvage out a wrecked plane that crashed 5 years ago. He apparently had nothing to do with the original crash, and is being charged with unlawfull access in a wilderness area and getting the parts with the purpose of selling them. He is in BIG trouble. Its not what you guys are talking about at all, but it seemed relevant to post it. Try the Idaho State Journal or Boise Stateman for the entire story, it was in my paper yesterday or the day before.

You would think they would be glad to get it out of there. After five years the insurance company has surely written it off. I guess salvage rights are different for aircraft?

Ok,

The beef is with the guy going into the wilderness area. In addition, he did this shortly after the crash and before FAA investigators were able to finish their examination of the wreckage, so it looks like they have a complaint about that also.
More info at: http://www.idahostatesman.com/531/story/111841.html

Just got back from a van-camping trip to Eastern Oregon. On the way back I drove out to the A-6 wreck site SE of Christmas Valley. By road you can get within about 3/4 mile, and a 700' climb up on Burma Rim. I've posted a few pictures in my album.

tom

One of the cooler missions I have done as a military pilot was to fly a recovery team into a remote site to recover the body of a military pilot who crashed a B26(I am not 100% sure that is what it is) in the 1940's. Previously they had thought all the occupants had parachuted out before the crash but they were out doing something to the site and they discovered the body. What was left of it anyway. They determined that he must have jumped out within 2-3 seconds of the aircrafts impact because it landed right on top of him. 2 other people who were on the aircraft are still missing and a 4th survived his parachute ride and actually hiked 140 miles across Alaskan wilderness in the winter with temperatures as low as NEGATIVE 50F, found a remote camp, and lived. Kind of a crazy story.

Flying there was quite a bit of fun as well. The site is up at about 5000 feet on the side of a mountian and we were pretty heavy with all the equipment and personnel.

Mike,

That was a B-24. Interesting story how it came to crash, and as you say, an interesting story of the one guy who survived. He eventually was picked up, and had thought all winter that everyone else was okay.

THere's a second B-24, very identifiable, down on the Tanana Flats, just north of the Wood River Buttes as well.

Several years ago, a friend who's a helo pilot (civilian) landed at that wreck you describe and they found machine guns and ammo left over. Don't know if that stuff got cleaned up or not.

That one spun in, trying (successfully) to replicate the accident scenario that got the one down on the Tanana Flats.

MTV

Most of the ammo was still there when I was there and we think we could identify one hunk of metal as a machine gun but we were really not sure. We were there just about 1 year ago so I assume it is all still the same. It would be fairly difficult to get there without a helicopter so I imagine that has kept people from looting the site.

I have been out to the wood river buttes crash as well. I have some really good pics of it somewhere. I will have to find them.

redlinemike wrote:Most of the ammo was still there when I was there and we think we could identify one hunk of metal as a machine gun but we were really not sure. We were there just about 1 year ago so I assume it is all still the same. It would be fairly difficult to get there without a helicopter so I imagine that has kept people from looting the site.

I have been out to the wood river buttes crash as well. I have some really good pics of it somewhere. I will have to find them.

I'd like to fly over that wood river site...got the coordinates or is it really visible? I've been around the area a bit but haven't noticed anything.

Is that other one up on the hill by Chena Hot Springs?

The one near Wood River Buttes is just to the northeast of the big butte, I recall. It sits in a swampy area, and is pretty visible.

I think the other one, again if memory serves, is further out toward the Forty Mile.

Randy Acord there in FAI can tell you all about both those accidents. He was doing cold weather test for the AAC during that time. He may still spend some time at the museum these days, though he's getting pretty well up in age.

MTV

I believe these are the coordinates for the wood river buttes aircraft.

N64 23'25.3" W 148 06'58.9

It is pretty easy to find though.