Sally and I take day trips to places in Siskiyou County that are off the beaten path and one of these was the old county airport just north of Montague. It is a curious, almost haunting place with abandoned hangars and buildings dating to the 1940's and most intriguing, a hugely long 7,300 foot paved airstrip.
So I got to asking around and it turns out this field was built by the Army Corps of Engineers in late '42, early '43 as an emergency field for the military aircraft during WW II, specifically the "heavies" like the B-17 and B-24 that were on training flights or Lend Lease transfers to Russia. That's how I got onto the following story....
It was overcast that night in Salinas on June 10, 1943 when B-24E tail number 42-7119 finally lifted off at ten minutes to midnight on a night navigational training flight. There were two student pilots on board, an instructor pilot, navigator, engineer, and gunners; total crew was ten.
The bomber, part of the 7th bomb squadron, was nearly new with just over 200 flying hours on three of its monster Pratt & Whitney R1830-65 Twin Wasp radial engines. Yet a host of "small" problems delayed the lift off including hydraulic leaks and radio trouble.
The flight plan was to climb to 11,000 feet then turn northwest over Sacramento and head for Scotia, a small mill town just south of Eureka on Highway 101. Then due east to Redding, south to Bakersfield, and home. We don't know where it actually went however, because although orders were to report in every 30 minutes no radio contact was ever made with the flight.
What we do know is that George Linnville in Weed was wakened by his wife around 2:20am that next morning saying she heard a big plane with engine trouble flying nearby. George stumbled outside, looked up toward the sound, and saw a large aircraft pass over the town heading north with engines sounding "funny". As he was watching, the craft's navigation lights blinked off and it began a slow turn to the west and south, eventually crashing behind a hill south of town and exploding. Now 94, George still remembers the glow.
Four of the ten, including the instructor and one of the student pilots had managed to bail out just before impact but six others perished. The instructor's testimony in the subsequent investigation stated that # 2 engine had lost oil pressure but would not feather (propellor blades twisted edge-on into the wind to minimize drag). Engines are numbered from left to right so this was the engine closest to the student pilot Albert Demeusy in the left seat.
The instructor pilot asked the navigator, George Clarke who was killed in the crash, where they were and he replied they were over Redding but when # 2 suddenly feathered all by itself, the instructor, 1st Lt. Douglas Thornburg decided they could make it safely to Sacramento.
Then number one feathered itself as well.
The craft now has one completely dead wing with two engines running at full power on the opposite wing, a hopeless condition and the instructor told the crew to don their chutes. He thought they were at 8,000 feet when his occurred and turning south (it would have been nearly impossible to prevent the craft from making a left turn at this point, regardless). The instructor said he saw mountains on either side (it was a quarter moon that morning), probably Black Butte to his left and the Eddies to his right and told the co-pilot to head toward a clearing below. Rumor has it that he or some other member of the crew knew about the old Deetz Airstrip which mail pilots used, but there is no way to know for sure.
Weed is roughly 3,000 ft. altitude so the airplane was only 5,000 ft. above the ground if their altitimeter was correct (which is questionable, both electrical and vacuum power systems had failed by this point). The aircraft went in near Truck Village Drive, almost under where the southbound lanes of Interstate 5 now are. The resulting explosion and fire destroyed most of the plane and the Army salvaged the rest within a few days. The site is just short of the Deetz field by a mile or two.
I have been to the site and have collected some small pieces of molten aluminum, 50 calibre ammunition clips, and such, but no artifacts with "32" on them, Consolidated's official signature. Nor any name plate with serial numbers or other traceable information. Local stories relate that residents combed the wreck site for months afterward, returning bits and pieces to the Sheriff's Department and some, to their homes. One man claims to still have an oil pressure guage which would be a sad twist if true.
When the weather warms and the ground thaws I'll be back with friends and metal detectors to lay out a search grid. We plan to erect a simple stone cairn to memorialize the fallen crew eventually. But some things I'll never learn: why, with an instructor pilot aboard, was the craft so far off course (nearly 60 miles north of Redding)? How could a prop feather all by itself? With 5,000 feet of clearance, why did six men not have time to bail out? And the closure question: Does anyone have an artifact from this wreck on their mantlepiece?
I continue to interview witnesses and put pleas in the local papers for artifacts or stories. I am also trying to find decendants of the crew in the hopes that someone will have a story to tell. I will post updates of this story's progress on my local blog www.myshastina.com under the aviation label and continue to wait for the phone to ring. My number is 530-938-0385 or you can email me at batchelder@gotsky.com.
Bruce Batchelder
FOOTNOTE 5 APRIL; We now have a "32" part thanks to an energetic local volunteer who is a bottle-hunter on the side. It has GK32B047 stamped on it and (again, thanks to Craig Fuller of Aviation Archaeology.com) is identified as a hinge for one of the rollers on the bomb bay door (in the B-24 they rolled up, into the fuselage rather than swinging outward as in the B-17). Doyle Yandell, the volunteer also found a cooked-off 50 cal shell so there is no doubt the plane was military and built by Consolidated in San Diego. Our next 'dig' is Saturday April 12 and volunteers with metal detectors have promised to show up. See you there !
