1943 — July 5, USAAF B-24E search mission crash, fog, Green Mt., San Miguel Isl., CA–12
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 5-5-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
— 12 Baugher, Joseph F. 1942 USAAF Serial Numbers (42-001 to 42-30031). 10-28-2011 rev.
— 12 Findagrave.com. “Lieut. George Ludlow White, Jr.”
— 12 Mireles 2006. Fatal Army AF Aviation Accidents…US…, V2, July 1943-July 1944, p. 426.
— 12 Oakland Tribune, CA. “Missing Army Plane, 12 Bodies, Found.” 3-20-1944, p. 1.
Narrative Information
Baugher: “Ford B-24E-15-FO Liberator…7160 crashed on San Miguel Island, CA July 3, 1943 while searching for lost 42-7011.[1] All 12 crew killed.” (Baugher, Joseph F. 1942 USAAF Serial Numbers (42-001 to 42-30031). 10-28-2011 revision.)
Findagrave.com: “B-24E #42-7011 ‘The Eddie Rickenbacker’ Major Thorel ‘Skip’ Johnson Crew. This plane crashed on 04 July 1943…The ship was using fuel at an excessive rate prior to losing two engines over the Pacific off the coast of Santa Barbara. Pilot Johnson ordered the crew into their parachutes and turned the plane around, heading back towards Santa Barbara. Two airmen, Dannhardt and Prosser, not knowing they were still over the Pacific, bailed out prior to the Pilot giving the order and thus were lost at sea. The remaining eight crewmen bailed out safely once the plane had reached land over the mountains. The unmanned plane crashed 10 miles north of Santa Barbara.
“B-24E #42-7160 followed this plane on a search and rescue mission for the two airmen that bailed out over the Pacific, and the Instructor Pilot was Lieutenant Douglas J Thornburg, who was one of four survivors who bailed out of B-24E #42-7119 that crashed three weeks earlier. B-24E #42-7160 descended in heavy developing fog, and crashed head-on into Green Mountain on San Miguel Island, one of the three Channel Islands. A search was then initiated for this plane once it was known that they had lost contact. Eventually the search was called off and it was thought that the plane must have ditched in the Pacific. The following March, a sheepherder named Robert Brooks, one of only two people living on San Miguel Island at the time, found the plane and the remains of the twelve airmen on 800-foot Green Mountain. The plane and crew had crashed at approximately the 500-foot elevation. In 1953, additional crew remains were reported, and a Coast Guard ship was dispatched, however, it collided with the sailboat Aloha, resulting in civilian casualties. After this, the military began using the site for target practice.” (Findagrave.com. “Lieut. George Ludlow White, Jr.”)
Mireles: “At an unknown time after 0815 PWT, a Consolidated B- 24E crashed into Green Mountain on San Miguel Island, California, killing 12 fliers. The airplane was on a search mission for a missing bombardier and navigator who had bailed out of a B-24 over the sea the previous day… Crewmembers aboard another B-24 last observed the airplane descending into low overcast south of the Santa Cruz Islands at about 0815. The air plane and crew never returned to base and were reported missing. U.S. Navy personnel manning an installation on San Miguel Island discovered the wreckage on 3-19-44. Investigation revealed that the B-24 collided with the terrain at cruise speed, scattering wreckage over a wide area. In 1954, additional remains were reportedly found at the crash site and on 10-3-54 a team of recovery personnel from Norton Air Force Base, California, were dispatched to the scene to investigate. While the Air Force recovery team was en route to the island aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Morris, the cutter rammed the civilian ketch Aloha, killing two civilians.” (Mireles 2006. Vol. 2, p. 426.)
Newspaper
March 20: “Santa Maria, March 20. – (UP) – Wreckage of an Army bomber missing since last July has been discovered on San Miguel Island, in the Santa Barbara Channel, with 12 bodies aboard, Santa Maria Army Air Field officials reported today. Further details were withheld pending investigation.” (Oakland Tribune, CA. “Missing Army Plane, 12 Bodies, Found.” 3-20-1944, p. 1.)
Sources
Baugher, Joseph F. 1942 USAAF Serial Numbers (42-001 to 42-30031). Oct 28 2011 revision. Accessed 12-9-2011 at: http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1942_1.html
Find A Grave. “Lieut. George Ludlow White, Jr.” Accessed 12-11-2011 at: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSob=c&GSlh=1&GRid=81767538&
Mireles, Anthony J. Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945 (Volume 2: July 1943 – July 1944). Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2006.
Oakland Tribune, CA. “Missing Army Plane, 12 Bodies, Found.” 3-20-1944, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=33458259
[1] Other sources have the date of loss as July 5th or, less likely, July 6th. This plane was searching for two men who had parachuted over the ocean from another B-24 with engine trouble on July 4th, thus this loss could not have been on the 3rd.