As some of you know, one of my hobbies is finding WWII airplane crashes that occurred during training flights. During WWII the military left a lot of pieces of the planes on the ground after a crash and often left body parts too. Very sad, but very true. I've been wanting to go find a Cold War crash that occurred in 1956. It was a mid air collision of two F-86D's southwest of Sioux City. Both pilots bailed out at 27,000 feet and are both still living.
I interviewed one of the pilots again today and asked if he wanted to travel up here from New Mexico to find the crash sites since he has family here. He said we wouldn't find anything. I asked why. He said the military brought in earth scraping equipment and lifted up the soil all around and beyond each crash site and then sifted the dirt and recovered every little fragment. I guess they were very concerned about the Russians.
Jerry, they still are.... We had a F-22 raptor crash last winter... Round the clock guards, 20 miles from nearest road. They had to permit cleanup as it was on BLM land, and its all gone... all of it, not a shred left on site, and the crash was a crater into the ground with plane supersonic when it hit. Cost us taxpayers a fortune.
For what it's worth, about 40 years ago I came upon the remains of a military jet crash on USFS land near Truckee, CA. It wasn't very far from I-80, maybe 1/4 mile. I don't know how old the wreck was at the time -- could have been months, could have been years -- but it was clear that the military (I think it was a Navy plane, but my memory is too hazy to be sure) had come through and removed any sensitive bits that might have survived. They even took a small cold chisel and defaced the model and/or serial numbers on some of the parts they left. However, they left a lot of stuff, so my brother-in-law and I returned with tools and salvaged some of the more interesting parts.
I couldn't tell what kind of plane it had been, though it had to have been fairly small. I remember that the piece of 1/2" or so aluminum that I believe was the cockpit firewall (if there is such a term in the aircraft world) was only about 2 feet by 2 feet.
Ya'll could come down here to Tybee and help us find our lost Atomic Bomb. It's out in the marsh somewhere.
Dale Yawn
Savannah, Ga.
> Ya'll could come down here to Tybee and help us find our lost Atomic Bomb. It's out in the marsh somewhere.
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Happy Tybee anniversary....February 5, 1958.
I have been trying to do my part to find the bomb by going out to Wassaw Sound as often as possible with my Portable Detection Rod Unit that has a small lead weight and small hook on the end, and casting about for it. So far, no luck. I keep telling my wife that it's in the national security interest that I keep doing this as often as possible, but I don't think she's buying it. If I find it, I'll let ya'll know.
Dale Yawn
Savannah, Ga.
Dale,
I’ll come “up” there and “hep” ya look for the bomb, provided I don’t have to see any billboards with Paula Deen on them and we go to “Vincent Van go-go’s for beer and pizza after we successfully retrieve the bomb (or a reasonable facsimile thereof). Savanna is a fun place!
Have a great week.
B-18 Bomber Crash Mt Waternomee, NH 1942
1942 B-18 Bomber Crash Mt Waternomee, NH
I knew one of the rescuers, who was just a teenager at the time. They saw the fire and decided to go investigate. Well the cops told them that the area was off-limits and kicked them out. Being kids, they ingnored the cops and hiked up and ended up rescuing one or more of the crew and more than likely saved their lives.-18 Bomber Crash Mt Waternomee
Fla/Ga,
Now that Paula's got diabetes, I think she's seen the light. Come on up, and we will intensify the search. Then we'll have to cool off with a few frosty ones.
Dale
