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Hurley, WI Air Force Bomber Crash, Feb 1961
Posted March 29th, 2009 by Stu Beitler
B47 CRASHES NEAR HURLEY; FOUR ABOARD.
Hurley (UPI) -- An Air Force B47 jet bomber carrying four crew members crashed in the heavily wooded Hurley-Ironwood area late Friday while on a practice bomb run, Air Force officials said today.
A Civil Defense radio network said two men parachuted from the plane before the crash, but Forbes Air Force Base at Topeka, Kan., home base of the plane, said this could not be confirmed immediately.
The two million dollar plane was attached to the 40th Bomber Wing at Forbes.
The plane disappeared from the radar screen at the radar base in Ironwood, Mich., sister city of Hurley, at 10:18 p.m. About 20 planes -- Piper Cubs, helicopters and cargo planes -- began a search of a wooded flowage area southwest of Hurley.
This morning the Duluth Air Force Base reported search craft sighted the wreckage of the bomber in "the general Hurley-Ironwood area." Air Force planes came from Duluth and Minneapolis to join the search.
Sheriff James Thomas of Iron County said earlier an all night search of an area of some 10 square miles about five miles southwest of Hurley had failed to produce a trace of the plane.
A spokesman for the Strategic Air Command headquarters at Omaha, Neb., confirmed the plane was missing in the Hurley area and said it was on a practice flight.
The crash was first reported by a youth who telephoned the sheriff's department and said he had seen a flash of light in the sky which looked like a falling plane.
Minutes later the Air Force's radar bomb scoring site at Ironwood, called the sheriff and said a plane might have crashed into the flowage, a cut-over hardwood logging area into which the Montreal River has overflowed.
Men from the Air Force unit aided the sheriff's department in the search, along with a National Guard unit from Hurley. The early stages of the hunt were stymied by snow drifts which choked the road leading to the suspected scene of the crash.
The Daily Telegram Eau Claire Wisconsin 1961-02-25
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FOUR KILLED IN CRASH OF BOMBER.
Hurley, Wis. (UPI) -- An Air Force B47 jet bomber carrying a crew of four on a practice bombing run crashed Friday night in a snow-covered densely forested lake flowage area 10 miles southwest of here, the Air Force said today.
One of a score of search pilots spotted the wreckage this morning and said he saw no sign of life. A Civil Defense radio network said two men may have parachuted safely before the crash, but the Air Force said this could not be confirmed.
Air Force officials identified the crewmen as:
Capt. JAMES P. JARRETT, aircraft commander, Bandana, N.C.
1st Lt. CHARLES F. WEISE, pilot, San Francisco, Calif.
1st Lt. THEODORE H. STALMACH, navigator, Miami, Fla.
1st Lt. GARY H. HANIFY, Toledo, Iowa.
The $2 million plane, attached to the 40th Bomber Wing at Forbes A.F.B at Topeka, Kan., and part of the Strategic Air Command, disappeared from the radar screen at the radar base in Ironwood, Mich., sister city of Hurley, at 10:18 p.m. CST.
About 20 planes, Piper Cubs, helicopters and cargo planes, took part in the search, along with nearly 50 men equipped with snow shoes and flashlights on the ground.
Once a pilot spotted the wreckage, the men on foot began pushing through waist-deep snowdrifts toward the crash scene.
The Herald Provo Utah 1961-02-26
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!
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I visited the crash site in
I visited the crash site in July 1961, I was six years old and was awestruck by the wreckage site. There were parts of the plane hanging from the trees and plane parts covered a large area.
Witness recall to the aftermath of the crash of a B47 Bomber
On February 25th 1961 at about 5:00 A.M. my father woke me up and said the National Guard in Hurley had just called and they wanted me down at the Armory ASAP. I had joined the Guard in order to begin satisfying my Military obligation voluntarily rather than become subject to the DRAFT. (5) of us showed up at the Armory and were told that a large Airforce bomber had crashed somewhere south of Upson, Wisconsin. These bombers had been flying training missions over our area for some time, so we knew where the plane had departed from (Omaha, Neb.) and it was headed to Marquette, Mi. We were driven South on Lake O'brien Rd. out of Upson about 3 or 4 miles. There we were issued snowshoes and were told to follow an Airforce helicopter which would guide us to the crash site. We did so and I'd guess it was about a mile or two through thick woods. It was like a scene from a movie, a huge crater was in the center of the area and all around there was debris of all kinds and tinsel-like foil hanging all over the trees, bushes and in the snow. Some of the wreckage was still smoldering/smoking and you could smell the odor of burned flesh. There was an Airforce officer on the scene that had arrived by copter out of Duluth, Mn. We had been told at the Armory that we were being sent out to the crash site to identify and preserve (2) 20 mm canons and amunition that was believed to be on board to prevent them from falling into the hands of scavengers, etc. Instead, the Airforce officer (I believe he was a Captain) told us that our mission was to search for the (4) men (or their remains)....The copter(s) searched a wide area around the crash site and we were @ ground zero, sifting through wreckage, and melted snow from the extreme heat created by the fuel of the Jet ...I personally found Officer Charles F. Weiss in tact , in his flight suit at the base od a large evergreen tree. His parachute was out of the pack but it had not been fully deployed when he hit the tree. I recovered his dogtags and gave them to the Airforce captain. We picked up body parts all day long till the Airforce was satisfied that none of the men could have survived and may have been injured, buried in the snow, etc...All the body parts were set on the parachute near the crater in the center of the crash site. At about 5:00 p.m. the helicopter dropped a winch and picked it up and took Mr. Weiss' body and the other body parts somewhere to be examind/tested to make sure there were significant remains from all (4) men who were on the plane. We then hiked back through the woods to where we were dropped off in the morning and a Salvation Army (station wagon) was there waiting for us and they had hot coffee and sandwiches. It was just after 6:00 when we were driven back to the Armory.....I grew up quick that day and I will never forget it , especially since it was my 18th BIRTHDAY!