Video: B-24J Crash Site Visitation Jan 18, 2012, Project Remembrance Team 
  Video: Crashed Douglas C53 Skytrooper and Waco CG-4A Glider accident in 1943 
  Video: Wreck Hike Visit to a Grumman TBM-3E Air Tanker Crash Site 
  Video: Wreck Hike Visit to a Lockheed P-80A Near Riverside County, CA 
  Video: Wreck Hike Visit to a B-24 Liberator that Crashed on August 12, 1943 G.Pat Macha 
  Video: Aircraft Crash Site Visitations near Big Bear on Aug 25, 2011 G. Pat Macha
Video: F9F-5 and SNJ-4 Site Visitations April 2011
Video: Crash Site Visitations March 12, 2011
  Video: P-40 and P-39 Aircraft Wreck Hike to crash sites on November.21,2011 

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Web Site Updated  01/26/12

The Gamblers Special
Douglas DC-3  N15570   2/18/69
 

Top Pin:  Patty's pin found at the crash site and recently returned to her family.

Raymond Hamer’s spare hat pin. (photo courtesy Raymond Hamer’s niece, Lisa Jamison)

First Officer Raymond Hamer, a 3,445 hour pilot, in his Hawthorne Nevada Airlines uniform. He served aboard Flight 708 on February 18, 1969, and was forty-one at the time of his death. (Photo courtesy Lisa Jamison)

See "The Gamblers Special" Story

U. S. Navy Aviation Machinist Mate 3rd Class Charles E. Sellars died in the crash of a USN Beechcraft JRB-4 Bu No 76779 on April 19, 1946.  A/MM3c C. E. Sellars was twenty-three years old and married at the time of his death.  The pilot of the ill-fated JRB-4 was Chief Aviation Pilot Rulon J. Skeen who survived the crash with minor injuries.

The accident occurred at 2120 Hrs. during a flight from Mines Field (now LAX) to North Island NAS. The cause was a rough running engine to which the pilot failed to apply carburetor heat. CAP Skeen was attempting to make an emergency landing at Camp Pendleton Field when his aircraft collided with low rolling terrain and bushes just east of what is now Interstate 5. The JRB-4 was damaged beyond repair. (Photo courtesy Mary J. Sellars-Gallagher) Accident report via Naval History & Heritage Command.

2nd Lt. Alfred Parker, Jr. USAAF sitting in the cockpit of a Lockheed P-38 similar to the P-38G 42-13342 that he lost his life in on 3/31/44 north of Fillmore, CA.
(Photo courtesy of Hilda Lassalette, 2nd Lt. Parker’s sister, via Marc McDonald)

2nd Lt. Alfred Parker, Jr. handsome in his USAAF uniform. He was killed on an operational training mission in which he may have blacked out or lost control of his P-38G on 3/31/44. He crashed in the mountains five miles north of the Ventura County community of Fillmore on 3/31/44. Less than 1% of the wreckage remains today. (Photo courtesy of Hilda Lassalette, via Marc McDonald)

Royal Canadian Air Force Flight Sergeant Floyd E. George was only twenty years old at the time of his death on 3/13/45.
(Photo courtesy Edwin & Janice Zander)

KN345 Story

California Army National Guard pilot Lt. Raymond S. Price, though not in uniform, strikes a dramatic pose. Lt. Price lost his life on 4/15/61 in the crash of a Cessna L-19A in the rugged mountains of Ventura County north of Fillmore. (Photo courtesy of Vanessa Price via Marc McDonald)

L-19A Story

USAAF 2nd Lt. Edwin H. Carroll, co-pilot on North American Aviation B-25G 42-65201 lost his life on 2/11/44 in a mid-air collision with B-25D 41-30492 near Sacramento, CA. Five USAAF air crewmen were killed in this training accident. (Photo courtesy of the William Cordero Family)

Aviation Cadet Bill Garner was killed following a low altitude bailout from a spinning Vultee BT-13A 42-89243 near Willows, CA.
(Photo courtesy Reno County, Kansas VFW)

When a USN TV-2 (T-33B) went missing over the mountains of Ventura County, CA on 4/16/56 a search mission was launched. Despite many days of searching for the wreckage of the TV-2 and its crew, it was not found. On 4/22/56 a USN Piasecki HUP-2 from NAMTC Point Mugu crashed while flying a search mission in high winds near Ojai, CA. Aviation Machinist Mate 2nd Class Callis C. Gooding was injured in the crash, but he managed to save the pilot and the Civil Air Patrol observer from the burning HUP-2 wreckage. A/MM 2/c Gooding was known for service above and beyond the call of duty when he helped rescue two downed USAF airmen during the Korean War behind enemy lines.

Aviation Machinist Mate 2nd Class Callis C. Gooding is the proud holder of the Navy Cross and England’s Distinguished Service Award for heroism. The missing TV-2 was finally located on 4/24/56 with the body of Lt. Robert Thomas on board, but that’s another story.

Special thanks to Marc McDonald of Ventura County for locating the HUP-2 crash site, and also for his research on TV-2 Bu No 136872. (Photo courtesy Mark McDonald)

In two photographs provided by Kirk Lacewell, the co-pilot’s son, we see his dad standing on the wing of a NAA SNJ “Texan” during carrier qualifications. In the second picture the young lieutenant beams with well deserved pride at being a United States Navy Aviator.

Update:
The Project Remembrance Team that includes Chris LeFave, Tom Maloney, Dave Mihalik, John Walker, Pat J. Macha, and G. Pat Macha completed our mission on 12/4/10.With storm clouds gathering we escorted Kirk Lacewell and his son Matt to the crash site of U. S. Navy Beechcraft SNB-4 Bu No 67260. This mission would not have been possible without the help of BLM Surveyor David Haller, USFS Recreation Officer Melinda Lyon, and Craig Fuller of AAIR who provided the detailed accident report.

SNB-4 Story
Project Remembrance

1st Lt. Richard M. Theiler USAF Reserve, assigned to the Air Defense Command, pilot of the Lockheed T-33A 51-9227 that disappeared after take-off from LAX on 10/15/55. 1st Lt. Paul D. Smith USAF Reserve assigned to the ADC was in the back seat. Their mission was a navigation training that included night flying experience. Theiler was from Tomahawk, WI. and Smith was from Midland, TX. (Photo courtesy of the Theiler Family & the Smith Family)

T-33A Story
Project Remembrance

Lt. Peter J. Dannhardt was lost at sea following a night bail out over the Santa Barbara Channel from USAAF B-24E 42-7011 on 7/4/43. (Photo courtesy Marc McDonald)

Lt. Robert H. Prosser was lost at sea following his bail out from USAAF B-24E 42-7011 on 7/4/43. (Photo courtesy Marc McDonald)

A routine night navigation training mission ended in tragedy on 7/4/43 when two engines failed and the pilot of B-24E 42-7011 ordered his crew to bail out near Santa Barbara, CA. Lt. Dannhardt and Prosser were the first to jump not knowing they were over the Pacific Ocean. The remaining eight crewmen who bailed out moments later came down in the hills and rugged mountains near Santa Barbara. 42-7011, continued on unmanned and crashed ten miles north of Santa Barbara near Pine Mountain.