1943 – Sep 30, USAAF B-24H Crash, Mt. Logan about 5M northwest of Shawnee, CO– 11
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 4-25-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
— 11 Baugher, Joseph F. 1942 USAAF Serial Numbers (42-001 to 42-30031). 10-28-2011 rev.
— 11 Mireles 2006. Fatal Army AF Aviation Accidents…US…, V2, July 1943-July 1944, p. 535.
Narrative Information
Baugher: “Ford B-24E-15-FO Liberator…7165 crashed on Mt Logan near Shawnee, CO Sep 30, 1943. 11 killed, one parachuted to safety. There is a plaque at the crash site.” [My emphasis.]
“Ford B-24H-1-FO Liberator…7615 crashed into a mountain at 10,900 foot level near Shawnee, CO Sep 30, 1943. All but one of the 12 crew members were killed. There is a marker honoring the dead at the crash site.” [My emphasis.] (Baugher, Joseph F. 1942 USAAF Serial Numbers (42-001 to 42-30031). 10-28-2011 rev.)
Mireles: “At 2000, a Consolidated B-24H crashed eight miles northwest of Bailey, Colorado, killing 11 crewmembers. Bombardier 2Lt. Henry A. McQuade parachuted to safety and sustained minor injuries.…. Investigators stated,
“Four B-24 airplanes and crews left Lowry Field, Colorado, for March Field, California, and [from there] on a 1,000 mile over-water navigation training flight to Hamilton Field, San Rafael, California. On 30 September [the flight was] en route from Hamilton Field to Lowry Field. At about 1945 MWT, they passed over the area of Mount Logan in the high range east of the continental divide. The flight was traveling east at about 15,000 feet, between two layers of clouds, when the pilot of the subject airplane called the flight leader saying that he was going to break formation due to fogging of the windshield. The pilot evidently thought the fogging was caused by his oxygen mask, but it is believed that he ran into a small rain cloud and, with lowered temperature at that altitude, this caused the fogging condition. This was the last contact with the flight leader. The airplane was next observed by witnesses on the ground to be flying in a northwesterly direction at an altitude of about 12,500 feet. He passed just south of the peak of Mount Logan at a safe altitude and proceeded northeast for about five miles. At this point he made a turn and evidently stalled in doing so. He recovered from this stall and returned toward Mount Logan again. During the return toward Mount Logan, the bombardier left the airplane. Upon reaching the south slope of Mount Logan, the pilot pulled the airplane straight up with full power; the airplane stalled again and plunged straight down. It is possible that the airplane turned in its plunge giving the appearance of a tight spin. The wreckage and trees at the scene of the crash indicated that the airplane was not in a full spinning condition [when it hit the ground]”.”
(Mireles 2006. Fatal Army AF Aviation Accidents…US…, V2, July 1943-July 1944, p. 535.)
Newspapers
Sep 30, International News Service: “Bailey, Colo., Sept. 30 – (INS) – A large plane, believed to be an army bomber crashed and burned about 10 miles west of here tonight.[1] Meanwhile the state highway patrol reported they and Bailey authorities were rushing to the scene as was a crash crew from the army’s Lowry Field in Denver.” (Long Beach Independent, CA. “Two Army Bomber Crashes Reported.” 10-1-1943, 18.)
Oct 1: “Bailey, Colo., – Oct. -1. – A four-engined army bomber crashed and burned on a timbered slope in the Rockies 13 miles west of here last night – the fourth such crash in as many days in Colorado.
“The scene of the latest crash in a series which began in a south Denver residential section last Sunday was about 67 miles southwest of Denver, near the mountain hamlet of Villa Santa Maria Del Norte.
“With the death toll placed unofficially at “seven or eight,” the casualty list for all crashes since Sunday mounted to at least 32. Sheriff S. H. Law reported one crew member bailed out shortly before the crash at about 8 p.m. last night and landed safely at Royal’s ranch, on Deer Creek some 20 miles across the mountain from the crash scene.
“Thus, in four crashes, apparently only two men survived. A flier bailed out of the four-engined Liberator bomber which crashed near Fountain Tuesday morning, killing 11 officers and men.
Disasters Began Sunday
“Seven airmen died Sunday [Sep 26] when a Lowry Field bomber, also a four-engined Liberator, plunged into a vacant lot in South Denver. Army authorities credited them with heroically and successfully preventing a loss of civilian life. The plane involved in the crash at Fountain also was based at Lowry Field.
“The crash of another Liberator six miles north of Pueblo Wednesday [Sep 29] killed seven officers and men, all stationed at the Pueblo air base.
“Residents of nearby Santa Maria saw the plane crash and burst into flame last night.
“There was no immediate official report from Lowry Field authorities, who were at the crash scene. Nor was there any information as to where the plane was based.
“Mrs. Edward Bell, wife of the superintendent of a children’s camp at Santa Maria, reported seven were killed. One body was thrown clear of the wreckage, she said. Sheriff Law said hiss preliminary investigation of the crash late last night showed eight were dead. The sheriff said it might have been seven, however, as “it’s pretty hard to tell at night.”
Plane Hit High on Mountain
“`It happened about 8 o’clock,’ said Mrs. Bell. ‘’The bomber struck the mountain slope just below timberline at between 11,000 and 12,000 feet. Army officers left for Royal’s ranch this morning to get the man who bailed out.
“Mrs. Bell said a ground party, headed by Forest Ranger E. S. Erickson, had identified the plane
as a four-engined Liberator. It roared over Santa Maria camp apparently in distress, Mrs. Bell said. “It appeared to be in a nose dive,” she said. “The tail of the plane was whirling around. Then, it seemed to her, the pilot pulled the ship out of the dive, and it roared on at a low elevation to the northeast.
“Mrs. Bell said she and her son saw it strike a mountain side about four miles away. Flames sprang up, and the fire, either from the wreck or from underbrush was burning almost until midnight, she reported.” (Greeley Daily Tribune, CO. “Colorado Bomber Crashes Kill at Least 32 This Week as 4th Disaster Occurs near Bailey.” 10-1-1943, 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
Greeley Daily Tribune, CO. “Colorado Bomber Crashes Kill at Least 32 This Week as 4th Disaster Occurs near Bailey.” 10-1-1943, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=52021825
Long Beach Independent, CA. “Two Army Bomber Crashes Reported.” 10-1-1943, p. 18. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=45039267
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.
[1] Shawnee is roughly five-six miles west of Bailey, thus the crash was apparently closer to Shawnee than to Bailey