Aircraft Wrecks in the Mountains and Deserts of the American West

B-17F
5/5/1943

On May 5,1943, B-17F #42-29562, crashed just south of Soda Springs, Idaho.  The aircraft was based at Wendover Army Air Field, Utah, with the 561st Bomb Squadron, 388th Bomb Group.  It was on a night time navigation training mission.  The crew became disoriented in bad weather, and ran low on fuel.  They saw the lights of Soda Springs, but the local airport runway was too short for the B-17.  While the bomber circled at low altitude for several minutes, the Soda Springs sheriff got residents to line a farm field near the airport with cars and turn on their headlights.  On a low level pass to inspect the makeshift runway, the aircraft struck power lines, veered to the west, and crashed.  The aircraft broke in two near the rear of the bomb bay.  Seven crewmen were killed, three survived.  The wreckage was mostly removed within a few days of the crash, but there are still a few scattered pieces, on private property.  Site visited 5/10/13.