1954 Plan Crash near El Oso Mine [ Found ]

[juswalkin]

I'm looking for a historical plane crash site from 1954 that my Grandparents were killed in. The newspaper article from the time said that the sheriff from Globe drove to the El Oso mine, thansfered to a Power Wagon for two miles over rough trail, then by foot to the crash site. The plane missed clearing the ridge by 50 feet that was the edge of the Tonto Basin.

I went to the El Oso mine about three weeks ago and hiked around for three days, but didn't find anything. Has anyone ever found anything like this in their hiking or heard of any stories?

Thanks Juswalkin

[ajcanable]

I'd like to join in this search also. I'll keep an eye on this thread for more info on a possible search party.

[montezumawell]

IMHO--this topic and its posts are awesome.

j

[Sredfield]

Just thought of another possible source of information. The range conservationists at the Forest Service should have grazing records for who was grazing the area back then. There may be family members who might remember stories, or cowboys who worked the area. Whoever ran cattle there would know a great deal about what went on. They might also have mining records, if that was an active mine at the time there may be people who where there that can be tracked down.

[AK]

I too am interested in taking part in this search. It just so happens that a good friend of mine owns a Cessna 150 that he keeps at Falcon Field. We go out flying once and a while. I'm sure that he would be interested in this too. Say maybe a preliminary search of the area? I'll discuss it with him and research the area of the crash site. I'm sure that this could be somewhat useful.
Oh and any additional info that you or anyone else can dig up would be useful too.

[Daryl]

I'll find out if I can make it happen. It shouldn't be a problem. I don't think there would be any requirements but I'll find out for sure.

[juswalkin]

This is great. When I was there I found a guy that was setting up a camp for the elk hunt and he said that he hunted the area often and had not seen anything but was going back to town and would call the rancher that ran cattle in the area. I talked to him the next day and he said that the rancher had no information. I talked to my cousins son a few days ago and he is going to talk to family on his side to get any information or stories that they still remember. My Mom remembers the story that the plane came down between two large trees, wing tip to wing tip apart. The newspaper said that the plane came straight down, hitting a 30 foot diameter boulder leaving only the tail sticking straight up. The rescue team cut the tail off and pulled the side of the plane off to recover the bodies. I'm hoping that the information of the El Oso mine is correct and is the focal point of search area. Bye for now Don

[bzachar]

My Mom remembers the story that the plane came down between two large trees, wing tip to wing tip apart. The newspaper said that the plane came straight down, hitting a 30 foot diameter boulder leaving only the tail sticking straight up. The rescue team cut the tail off and pulled the side of the plane off to recover the bodies.

The angle of impact will determine the shape and size of the debris field thus affecting how hard/easy it will be to find.

If it came in at angle (glancing blow) the field will be a long oval.

If it came in straight down (perpendicular to the ground) the debris field will be round and small as the nose of the plane would have buried itself (ignoring the boulder ) upon impact and a lot of it would have disintegrated.

If it hit a boulder at speed I would expect the plane to disintegrate and shower pieces all over the place.

If the reports are accurate there were big enough pieces left to recognise the tail of the plane and enough intact fuselage that it had to be cut away. If those pieces are still up there after a straight-in impact we'd have to be right on top of them to find them with 50 years of forest growth.

The FAA might be another source of information.

Regardless, I'm game.
Bill

[juswalkin]

Hi All,
The last time that I e-mailed Craig Fuller with Aviation Archaeology in Mesa, Az. he said that he has a friend in the FAA that is interested in historical crash sites and will ask him for help. When I was there at the mine site, one afternoon there was an Army helicopter flying over the area in what looked to me as a grid, going both north/south, east/west for about a half an hour. The helicopter was white with a red nose and tail and said U.S.ARMY on the side. Does anyone know where this helicopter would have come from or what it might have been doing?

[Daryl]

It's an army rescue aircraft, they were probably training.

[bzachar]

The helicopter was white with a red nose and tail and said U.S.ARMY on the side. Does anyone know where this helicopter would have come from or what it might have been doing?

There used to be one of those at Boeing in Mesa but I don't know it it's still there. It would follow the Apaches during flight test.

[Daryl]

The helicopter was white with a red nose and tail and said U.S.ARMY on the side. Does anyone know where this helicopter would have come from or what it might have been doing?

There used to be one of those at Boeing in Mesa but I don't know it it's still there. It would follow the Apaches during flight test.

It's still there/here.

[juswalkin]

Hi to all, Hope your Thanks Giving was good.
Over the Thanks Giving holiday I received a Email that gave me the location of the crash site. They said in the Email that they had found it wile hiking in the area of my search many year ago. When they first found the wreackage and climbed up to it and were afraid to go to it, not knowing how old or new the crash site was,because it looked totaly undisturbed. They took the serial number from the plane and contacted the FAA and were told that the plane was reported missing and went down in a storm in 1954. They said that the planes discription and location match the story that I have. If this site has been undisturbed for 50 years I wish it to remain so and don't want to give the location. I hope that everyone will understand my reasons why.
I would like to Thank everyone for there help with this search. I can't believe that I am this close to the end of this search in such a short time, and Thank You doesn't seem to say enough.
Bye for now and Best Wishes Juswalkin

[Daryl]

Understood. I'm happy you were able to find what you were looking for. Please post again after you make the trip up there.

[mttgilbert]

Congratulations, I'm glad this all worked out for you. As for not disclosing the location, thats understandable, I don't think I would in the same situation either.

[juswalkin]

Hi to All. It's been a long time since the last post and a lot has happened, but I'll try to keep it short. The last post was saying that I had found the site and that didn't prove correct. It took many more trips and allot of chance connections with people that I would make contact with just as I thought that I had no more clues. The crash site was found and was only 300' from where the road is today and all of the wreakage was removed years ago, leaving only small pieces of debris. The one thing that I found that is amazing to me is I found the stall warning device complete and undamaged and when installed it is inside the left wing. I estamate that I walked over two hundred miles, what I call moving the lawn, with my search that took 5 years and 9 trips to the site.
The help that I received from all the people was so incredible, Thank You.
Don

[joebartels]

Awesome Don
thanks for the update!

[nomadkona]

This is an amazing story. I am glad to here there is closure.