Warbird Information Exchange

Has anyone got photos or first hand accounts of any P-38 wreck sites in Oregon, Idaho, or Washington?

On the same note, were any photos ever published of the P-38 found during mountain highway construction in Oregon in the mid-sixties? it was fairly intact and had the pilot's remains still in the cockpit. I believe it was destroyed by an Oregon government office after the pilot's proper burial. What was the exact location, model, and serial of that one?

L. Thompson

still around in Idaho?

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One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, And in the darkness bind them

Why some many crashes?

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The conquest of space is worth the risk of life. - Gus Grissom

Thank you RER for that list!

Also, Thank you Tom for your PM.

Now, can anyone shed any light on two P-38H models, 42-66708 & 42-66803 lost in Orgon on 11 March 45? Both apparently based at Santa Maria AAF, CA. 708 piloted by William T. Ryan and 803 flown by Burt W. Lutz, Jr.

No more solid information known but I do have some puzzle pieces starting to fit...

I also would like to know more about this one in Idaho:

P-38L-1-LO
(I assume converted to a F-5E-4-LO)
44-24596
crash date: October 4, 1944
home base: Ephrata AAF, WA
Pilot: Paul M. Hansen

Talk about a bringing back an old post!

Picked up a couple of photo's that I believe are of P-38L-1-LO 44-24596.
Kind of hard to make out the serial number but I think that is what it is. I used a 10X Loupe and I've used my computer to try and make them out.






Mike

you can dig for data on crashes here

http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/ ... &offset=25

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Aviation Illustration Website
http://shepartstudio.com/illustration/

in the mountains above santa maria calif. on a private ranch....food for thought

WOW!!!

I was just researching this airplane (for the first time in over 3 years) just now, and decided to pause and go get a WIX fix. Great minds thinking alike?

Joseph F. Baugher's serial listing says this about the P-38 I just discovered this evening:

245967 [sic] (c/n 422-5600, 430th BU) w/o when aircraft crashlanded Oct 4, 1944 in a weather-related accident at Sand Point, ID.

I don't live too far from Sandpoint so this may be something I can pursue through their library or other means...

The air base at Mountain Home got some P-38s and P-63s for training purposes in January 1945 according to a few web sites. Were any of these lost over Idaho?


Another unrelated Idaho P-38 question: Ronald Laddie Campbell (3/17/1918-2/2/2006) of Boise, bought a P-38 after the war from a scrapyard in Arkansas or Oklahoma. He ferried it to Boise but after re-considering the fuel bills he had, he quickly sold it. I talked to him about this at his home in 1993. He didn't have any photos or other documentation, but he still had a P-38 drop tank in his driveway at the time (and an Aeronca L-3 in the garage). Does anyone have a possible I.D. on this Lightning?

Baugher's list also showed this about the sister-ship to 44-24596:

44-24597 (c/n 422-5601, 464 CCTS) w/o Sep 24, 1945 when aircraft crashlanded after engine failure 9 mi S of Tacoma, WA. Pilot killed.

A P-38 that crashed in the desert between Wendell and Gooding Idaho. My grandfather was there after the crash and was given a belt of .50 rounds. I'll have to ask him for more information about the crash.

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One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, And in the darkness bind them

As I recall, there was one that crashed in the Bull Run watershed in OR, which was found years later. The pilot's remains were recovered, as were the guns, then an explosive charge was set off in the cockpit and the plane forgotten again until the late 70's or early 80's. The former Evergreen Squadron of the CAF was allowed to recover the pieces and they stored them for a while. When John Stokes took on the Scatterbrain Kid II project, we sent Ray Harper on a long road trip up to Washington to bring back the pieces on a flatbed truck and trailer.

There was a lot of metal, but not much in the way of big, usable parts. I do recall a lot of small, electrical parts like canon connectors that were very valuable to the restoration. I'm not sure where it is now, but I know John's lead mechanic, Jim Benham, had wanted to track down the crew chief or his survivors to return a side panel to them. It still had the crew chief's name and rank on it.

I'll ask around and see if I can find out which one this was.

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Mike

3-26-43. Lockheed RP-38E # 41-2260 crashed at Mount Hood, Oregon, killing the pilot 2Lt. Alan C. Strader. The wreckage and the pilot were not found until 9 July 1962.

A detailed summary of this accident can be found on page 318 of Volume I of
FATAL ARMY AIR FORCES AVIATION ACCIDENTS IN THE UNITED STATES, 1941-1945.

This work documents all fatal AAF aircraft accidents in the states during the Second World War.

TonyM

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"Welcome back Mr. Lasky."

Pilot's name was 1Lt. William J. Harris;
this accident is summarized on page 1167 in Volume III of
FATAL ARMY AIR FORCES AVIATION ACCIDENTS IN THE UNITED STATES, 1941-1945







TonyM.

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"Welcome back Mr. Lasky."

9-1-44. Bull Run, Oregon. A Bell P-63A (42-69137) crashed 10 miles east of Bull Run, Oregon, killing pilot 2Lt. Ernest N. Dorazio.


See Page 903 Volume III
FATAL ARMY AIR FORCES AVIATION ACCIDENTS IN THE UNITED STATES, 1941-1945.




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TonyM.

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"Welcome back Mr. Lasky."