|
Aircraft Wrecks in the
Mountains and Deserts of the American West
B-24E
3/3/44
ID plate from B-24E #42-7126 U.S.A.A.F.
Consolidated B-24E #427126 U.S.A.A.F. crashed in bad weather on 3/3/44 killing the four
man flight crew. The wreckage was not located until 5/6/44 N.E. of Sugarpine Mountain at
4,400' level. B-24E #42-7126 had been enroute from Blythe Army Airbase to San Bernardino
Army Air Facility when it crashed. #42-7126 was assigned 358th Combat Crew Training
School. The pilot was 2nd Lt. Allen S. Hasson, 2nd Lt. Edgar Land co-pilot, S/Sgt. Robert
D. Kirk and S/Sgt. William C. De Cou. Their official mission was "ferrying the B-24E
to depot"
Metal salvagers worked the crash site sometime in the early 1960's resulting in the
removal of 95% of the wreckage via mule train. In 1999 a hiker found a bone at the site
thought to have been human. This discovery led to a through site search by the San
Bernardino County Coroner's Office and the placing of a memorial plaque honoring the crew
of #42-7126.
See New Photos
Below!
San Bernardino County Coroners place memorial
plaque. |
Close-up of memorial plaque.
"In honor of those who perished in the line of duty"
"The crew of B-24E Liberator"
2nd Lt, Allen S. Hansen, 2nd Lt. Edgar Land, S/Sgt. Robert D. Kirk, S/Sgt. William
C. De Cou
"They gave their full measure of
devotion" 1999
|
|
Excavating the impact site. |
G. Pat Macha holding housing to .50 cal. machine
gun found at site.
|
|
Artifacts recovered at site. |
G. Pat Macha holding assembly from cockpit of
B-24E.
|
|
Pat J. Macha and Rob Hill with landing gear.
|
|
|
On 2/16/14 Pat J.
Macha, Chris LeFave, and Mike Polley hiked to the B-24E that crashed on
3/3/44 east of Cajon Pass in a remote part the San Bernardino National
Forest. The crash site remains undisturbed since our last visitation on
7/10/99, except for the inexcusable attempted vandalism to the memorial
plaque. All photos are courtesy Pat J. Macha and Chris LeFave.
|
Someone attempted
to remove the memorial plaque, how disgusting and disrespectful
|
Part of the turbo
supercharger assembly. |
Mike Polley and
Chris LeFave with main landing gear leg.
|
The prefix 28 was
assigned to the PBY Catalina, and this part was common to the B-24 series
whose prefix is 32 followed by a letter of the alphabet. Common anility of
parts saved time and money during WWII when mass production in a timely
manner was essential to the war effort.
|
Pat J. Macha with
main landing gear. (Photo by Chris LeFave) |
Interesting
panel found on 2/16/14 re-visit to B-24E 42-7126 lost on 3/3/44. (Photo by
Pat J. Macha)
|
|
