By Free Republic | Created at 2024-12-15 22:58:44 | Updated at 2024-12-16 01:32:30
2 hours ago
The incredible true story of a CIA plane crash in Death Valley National Park
SF Gate ^ | 12/15/2024 | Eric Brooks
Posted on 12/15/2024 2:46:03 PM PST by DFG
On a cold, dark night in January 1952, a distress call went out over Death Valley.
“Mayday. Mayday. Mayday. This is Air Force 001 bailing out north of Barstow, California,” an official crash report would later read. Seconds later, six men jumped out of a 16-ton, two-engine, SA-16 Albatross plane into total darkness. The plane — with its backdoor hanging open — continued unmanned for a few moments, eventually crashing into a nearby desert mountain.
More than 70 years later, the metallic carcass is still there.
“The whole setting for it is just bizarre in a post-apocalyptic way,” said Abby Wines, spokesperson for Death Valley National Park. “It’s kind of on its side on a slope. It’s extremely steep. You’re on the ridge that sticks out into Panamint Valley. When you’re looking through and over the plane, there’s this desolate, open space where there’s nothing but the valley and mountains as far as the eye can see.”
But the site, which can still be accessed by very experienced hikers, is just the start. The real story is why the Air Force was flying over Death Valley in the first place: a fantastical tale that involves the most secret corners of the federal government, classified nighttime training flights and Cold War anti-communist agents.
A jump into darkness
If not for the crash, we would know very little, if anything at all, about the formation of the 580th, 581st and 582nd Air Resupply and Communications Wings, also known as ARC Wings.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
TOPICS: Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: barstow; california; deathvalley
1 posted on 12/15/2024 2:46:03 PM PST by DFG
To: All
2 posted on 12/15/2024 2:48:09 PM PST by BipolarBob (Enough of this talk about narcissists, let's get back to talking about me.)
To: DFG
3 posted on 12/15/2024 2:52:05 PM PST by Fledermaus (The election is over! We won big! So why are so many here nick picking, moaning, and whining? )
To: DFG
4 posted on 12/15/2024 2:55:13 PM PST by HIDEK6 (God bless Donald Trump)
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