El Dorado National Forest, CA Bomber Crash, Nov 1941

CRUSHED BODY OF ARMY FLIER FOUND IN WRECKED BOMBER.

PILOT STAYED WITH SHIP AS IT PLUMMETTED TO EARTH IN SNOWSTORM.

Georgetown, Calif., Nov. 4. -- (AP) -- The crushed body of Lieut. M. H. WALKER, pilot of an army bomber torn to pieces in mid-air by a storm was found today in the cockpit of his wrecked plane, the forest service reported.
Forest Supervisor Edwin F. Smith telephoned Georgetown station, saying the body had been found in the El Dorado National Forest, 40 miles east of Georgetown.
Lieut. WALKER stayed with his disintegrating ship as it plunged earthward in a snowstorm Sunday night. Either other men in the bomber crew were thrown out of it and parachuted to safety in the Sierra foothills.
The discovery raised the known death toll from 11 army planes crashed in Northern California within 10 days to 10.
Bodies of two airmen were reported found earlier today in the wreckage of an army plane in Niles Canyon, a few miles from the southern tip of San Francisco bay. The plane was identified tentatively as that carrying Lieut. ROBERT AGNEW, 23, of Donalds, S.C., and Pvt. DAN FISH of Willits, Calif., center of the 1940 University of San Francisco football team.

Daily Capital News Jefferson City Missouri 1941-11-05

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DOWN ON PEAK.

Georgetown, Calif., Nov. 2. -- (AP) -- The U. S. ranger station at Georgetown informed McClellan Field tonight a four-motored army bomber, with possibly seven men on board, crashed on Tells Peak in the rugged Sierra Nevada.
The report came after two members of the nine-member crew parachuted to safety from the plane around noon. It was not known definitely, however, whether the remaining seven men were still aboard when it crashed. Tells Peak is between 20 and 30 miles northeast of Georgetown.
Operations at McClellan said they believed there was time for several others to have jumped after Corporal STERLING ISOM and Pvt. First Class ALDEN H. STOOKEY
took to their chutes.
The plane, a B17 bomber enroute from Reno, Nev., to Sacramento, was flying at 12,000 feet in a snowstorm at the time ISOM and STOOKEY jumped.
Capt. N. C. Christensen, Fort Douglas, released list crew B17 bomber as follows:
Second Lieut. L. M. H. WALKER, no home address.
Second Lieut. J. R. MODE, Fort Worth, Tex.
Staff Sgt. EUGENE M. CLEMENS, Chamberlain, S. C.
Corporal WALTER B. GLANZ, no home address.
Corp. STERLING ISOM, Hurricane, Utah.
Pvt. 1st Class HAROLD SALISBURY, Bangor, Me.
Pvt. 1st Class FRED E. PEKURI, Portland, Ore.
Private ALDON H. STOOKEY, Corning, Calif.
Private ROBERT V. MOSELY, Columbus, Neb.
ISOM and STOOKEY said they had been instructed to jump when the bomber became lost in a snowstorm. They said the plane disappeared into the swirling snow almost as they leaped, and that they could not tell whether it had made a successful forced landing or had cracked up.
A 20-man rescue party, equipped with portable radios, was organized immediately and, with STOOKEY and ISOM to guide it, prepared to leave immediately for Tells Peak to start a search for the missing bomber.
It probably would be daylight however, before they could reach the area.

Independent Helena Montana 1941-11-03
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!