Death Valley Deep Dive 2024

[Beardilocks]

Here's a relic of a different kind that I found in Death Valley: The remains of a pair of B-24 Liberator WWII Bombers. 

On August 1st, 1944 during a night training run 20,000ft over Death Valley, six B24 Liberators were flying in tight formations.  Most of the crews at the time were extremely green, most only aged 18 to their early 20's.  For reasons that will never be known Consolidated B-24J #42-78532 and B-24D #42-7286 collided, one cutting off the tail of the other.  18 crew members were on board and only one had a parachute on (likely a belly gunner).  Somehow the one man with a parachute was thrown free of the plummeting wreckage.  He was the only survivor.  He was found dazedly wandering the Death Valley salt pan in 120 degree heat the next day. 

For “logistical reasons” the military decided to dynamite the larger parts of the wreckages and bury them in the salt pan.  That plan only kind of worked.  And many of the pieces were either left unburied or have since resurfaced.  The debris field covers many miles, but due the small nature of the pieces and the small bushes in the area, finding any of them is more a matter of luck and perseverance than anything else.

If you do manage to find this site or any of the pieces, please remember the sacrifices of the young men that never even made it to the war before perishing, and treat this site as a memorial to them. 

I did manage to track down one of the propellers.  From my research, I think there are 3 or 4 propellers still on the ground in the salt pan from this crash. 


Quite an odd sight out here on the salt pan. 


One has to look at this and winder how much of these markings came from the collision, the crash into the ground, or the planes being dynamited.


Interestingly there is a high water mark on both blades.  I wonder if it was buried deeper at one time.  Some photos I've seen from 2008 show it more or less in the same position.  But the heavier corrosion on the lower parts would suggest it was more heavily buried at one point.








Nearby I found a cache of live rounds. 





While I'm sure the ravages of time and salt have made the powder inert, I also didn't disturb any of them just in case. 


Completely off the subject, but I did also find a footprint from the mysterious Death Valley Dinosaur.  It is over a foot wide. 


Random debris.


Further exploration was hampered by how wet it still is out here.  Things can turn into a sloppy muddy mess at any moment.  But the true nature of the soil, whether wet or dry, is disguised by the salt crush, which all looks the same.  Adding a whole new level of anxiety to your steps. 


I did find some random bits of substructure.








Overall I expected to find a bit more wreckage.  I'm not sure how much was maybe buried or moved further out in the last several years of floods.  Or if I was just looking in the wrong places, happered a bit by the muddy salt crust.  I'll have to try again when it's a bit drier!