Consolidated B-24J "Liberator"

 Memorial Day Weekend 2006, B-24 Crash Site on Mount Humphreys near Flagstaff, Arizona

On September 15, 1944 at 3:30 in the morning, a B-24J crashed into Mount Humphreys. They had taken off from Bakersfield, California and were enroute to Albuquerque, New Mexico. They were on a navigation training mission and it was a very cloudy night. They had miscalculated their position by 15 miles and ran into the mountain. There were 8 persons on board, an instructor pilot, 4 student pilots, 2 engineers and a radio operator. They were all killed on impact. For Memorial Day 2006, we decided to make the trek to this crash site to honor all the men and women of the US Military and their many sacrifices for us. Jim Anderson

Mount Humphreys. We started from the parking lot at the Arizona Snow Bowl Ski Area

Getting started! We took an American Flag to leave at the crash site.

Entering the Wilderness Area

Sights along the way.

Piece of a wing

Propeller

Engine and main landing gear still retracted.

Crash site is at about 11,200 feet elevation.

Debris field

Landing gear which extended on impact

From my friend Doug: An amazing sight with the gear extended to the sky-somewhat of the rifle and helmet grave site of the Army but still here.

Star and Bar emblem still visible!

Topo Map, Click to enlarge.

Read more about the crash site and the B-24J at these links:

http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/b24tdy.htm

Crash Report

Fact Sheets : Consolidated B-24D Liberator : Consolidated B-24D Liberator

From my friend Barrett: A Memorial Day reminder that only a portion of our military dead were KIA.  IIRC, about 13,000 AAF aircrew were killed in ConUs during WW II.

I would like to acknowledge a couple of resources that made this hike possible. First, Aviation Archaeological Investigation and Research, AAIR, was the inspiration for this hike. We have links to their web site above and this is how I became aware of the crash site. Second, Hike Arizona.Com  provided invaluable information about the hike, including crash site coordinates, a topo map and many other details about the hike.