Elk Mountain, WY Airliner Crashes Into Peak, Jan 1946

BELIEVE 21 DEAD IN CRASH OF AIR LINER ON MOUNTAIN PEAK IN SOUTHERN WYOMING.

Cheyenne, Wyo., Jan. 31. -- (AP) -- Cold weather Thursday night forced a searching party to turn back after climbing to within 300 feet of the top of Elk mountain where a United Air Lines transport apparently crashed early Thursday.
Members of the party reported their faces were freezing as they sought to scale the south face of the 11,125-foot peak 65 miles northwest of Laramie and confirm a report by aerial searchers that the plane, carrying 18 passengers and three crew members, crashed on the northwest side of the mountain.
JIM GOWDY, representative of United Air Lines, who disclosed the return of the first searching party, said another party would start up the mountain Friday morning. He said air-line officials would take off in a plane in an attempt to fly closer to the scene of the reported crash than was possible Thursday because of clouds.
A heavy fog still shrouded the mountain Thursday night and strong winds whipped snow into the faces of the ranchers and sheepherders.
A black streak, sighted three times through momentary breaks in the lone cloud that hovered over the mountain, convinced Captain FRANK CRISMON, N. A. L. assistant supervisor of flight operations in Denver, and four other aerial searchers the the Seattle-to-New York plane crashed on the peak about 3 a. m.
"We definitely feel that we sighted the wreckage," Captain GRISMON said. He saw the wreckage from about a quarter mile and for only a few seconds each time, and could give no details.
Fifty soldiers were en route to the scene from Fort Warren at Cheyenne, Wyo., to assist in the search and take charge of the bodies of 12 redeploying soldiers feared killed with six civilians and three crew members.
About 2:40 a. m. the capacity-loaded ship had radioed a routine "all's well" report from over Sinclair, Wyo., 35 miles to the west. The twin-engined Douglas transport made its last regular stop at Boise, Idaho, where it picked up MR. and MRS. GEORGE A. BENDER, en route to their home in Sheffield, Ill., after their Monday wedding at Twin Falls, Idaho.
The plane with its 12 redeploying soldiers, six civilians and three crew members was due in Denver at 4:20 a. m. and when its reports ceased coming in, searching planes were prepared for dawn takeoffs.
It was estimated that snow on the level around the mountain was four to five feet and that drifts on its sides might reach 12 or 15 feet.
United Air Lines late Thursday was setting up a search base at the QUALY ranch at the foot of the mountain and Sheriff GLENN PENLAND of Rawlins, Wyo., was siding with a party of eight mountain-wise men.
Deputy Sheriff JACK BEST at Rawlins said that some aerial searchers had reported seeing a burned patch about 200 feet below the tip of Elk mountain. He emphasized that with wind and snow conditions as they were the scaling of the peak would be a dangerous and difficult task that would require snowshoes, skis, heavy winter clothing and many hours of hard work.
Along with the wind, clouds piled up around the mountain, balking further aerial exploration for many hours. Fresh snow squalls, in increasing wind, obscured the upper half of the peak by midafternoon.
Elk mountain lies in the northern end of the Medicine Bow mountain range of southern Wyoming in a wild and rugged country that is a sportsmen's mecca in the summer but a grim, forbidding stretch of sparsely-settled terrain in the winter.
Reports trickling into Hanna, 12 miles northwest of the peak, from outlying ranchers said winds were so high and cold so intense it seemed doubtful that even with the aid of snowshoes and skis, searchers would be able to learn the mountain's secret before Friday.
WALTER P. BRIGGS, a veteran of nearly 10 years with United, was the captain in charge of the ship. The first officer was HARRY N. ATLAS, who completed his course at U. A. L.'s Denver flight school a few weeks ago. The stewardess, DOROTHY CARTER, 22, had been with U. A. L. about a year. All three lived in Portland, Ore., although ATLAS formerly lived in Seattle, Wash., and MISS CARTER came from La Grande, Ore.
Besides the BENDERS, the civilian passengers were listed by U. A. L. as:
H. R. GLOVER, Vancouver, Wash., bound from Portland to New York.
MRS. E. H. BLAKE, Richland, Wash., bound from Pendleton, Ore., to Denver.
R. S. PIRLE, New York, Seattle to Chicago.
WILLIAM A. PETRACEK, care American Overseas, LaGuardia Field, N. Y., Seattle to New York.
Names of service personel, most of whom were being deployed from Pacific service eastward for discharge in their home areas, were withheld pending notification of the next of kin.
If the plane struck Elk mountain it was a few miles off the course which normally would have carried it several miles north of this steep peak over rugged but relatively low hills to the area of Medicine Bow before turning southward toward Denver.
Some snow fell Wednesday night in the Rawlins area about 65 miles west of the supposed crash scene but the weather was not rated as really bad. The wind, however, built up strongly Thursday and while no snow was reported falling over southern Wyoming, the wind-driven snow made up what is known in the west as a "ground blizzard" and it was this that threatened to stymie the effort to scale gaunt Elk mountain until the blow dies down.
This apparently fatal accident shattered United's safety record which had brought the company several safety awards. Not since May 1942 had U. A. L. suffered a fatal accident and officials claimed a world record of 1,700,000,000 passenger miles flown without a death.
Wife Lives At Helena.
Helena, Jan. 31. -- (AP) -- HARRY M. ATLAS, 27, first officer on the United Air Lines transport plane reported missing in mountainous Wyoming terrain, had been flying for United only two weeks, his relatives here reported Thursday.
His wife, BETTY, their 3-year-old son, and his mother, MRS. C. W. MAHAFFEY, live in Helena.
ATLAS was discharged from the army air force last November after serving as first lieutenant and flight instructor at several fields in this country. He completed a course at United's Denver flight school and started flying for the company about January 15, his wife said.
Recall Other Accidents.
Rawlins, Wyo., Jan. 31. -- (AP) -- Jutting, broad-based Elk mountain in southern Wyoming has claimed other airplanes that the United air liner believed to have plowed into its rocky bulk Thursday.
The 11,162-foot peak is the northern buttress of the Medicine Bow range of the Rocky mountains and juts up at a point where the chain flattens to form a high, broad and rolling plains-like area used since early days as a channel for transportation.
The mountain, one of the most conspicuous landmarks in southern Wyoming, may be seen for miles because of its sudden rise from comparatively flat territory on the north.
Airplane pilots always have feared the peak, and modern paths of air transport have been well north of its looming bulk. The mountain forms a rocky corner around which United Air Lines' transcontinental route pivots on the Salt Lake City-Denver leg.
One of the early mail planes came to grief on its miles-long, tree covered slopes, deep in winter with snow, and a private pilot reportedly at one time crashed there.
Two army planes crashed into the mountain within a month of one another in January and February of 1942. Another bomber with a lone pilot rammed the mountain a month later and the wreckage was not found for some months.
In June 1930, the mountain area was the scene of the biggest search in Wyoming history. For two weeks, hundreds of searchers combed the Elk mountain region for two boys, 4 and 6, separated from their parents on a fishing trip. They were never found.

The Billings Gazette Montana 1946-02-01

__________________

Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!