Came across this as I was flying along today... A C-47 on a remote ridge top in the Yukon. You could still see the faded US military insignia on one of the wings. From google... it apparently went down in late January or early February of 1950. This C-47 was on a SAR mission looking for a missing C-54 going from Elemedorf AFB to Great Falls AFB that went missing and was never found. Amazingly all the crew survived this C-47 crash. The pilot actually walked out to the Alaska highway (the crash is about 40 miles north of the highway), flagged down a ride, got help, and led rescuers back to his downed aircraft. All the crew were saved. Amazing.

A little closer picture, there was plenty of wind and hence lots of mechanical turbulence down close to the ridge and I was getting beat up pretty bad so I didn't get too close. If you right click on the picture and open it in a new tab you can zoom in and look at the size of some of the boulders around there, surrounded by 2000' plus drop-offs on both sides of the ridge, its pretty crazy that anyone survived.

I'm gonna say that's some DAMN GOOD piloting to land that plane, in that spot, in that few pieces.
They don't make 'em like they used to!

That's a great story, especially since they all survived. Must have been quite the sight from above!

A German photographer named Dietmar Eckells trekked to several wrecks like this one where everyone survived and made a coffee table book called "Happy Ends." I'm hoping to get a copy soon. Here's one of his pictures of this C-47:



Link to his indiegogo page for the book: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/happy-end-a-photo-book-about-miracles-in-aviation-history

Interesting project. The C 54 wreck shown in that trailer is the one I mentioned on another thread that CamTom posted on a flight across the Yukon Flats. The story of that survival is pretty amazing indeed.

MTV

My friend bought a copy of that book that has the story of that crash and survival in it. Talk about not quitting!