The Crash of the B-17C near Tells Peak, CA
On October 31st, 1941, a B-17C, Tail No. 40-2047, also know as the "Flying Fortress," started a routine flight for a change of their No. 3 engine from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Sacramento, CA. After a two day stopover in Reno due to bad weather to the west, they departed late on the morning of November 2, 1941 (based on the weather observations of a United Airlines pilot flying in the area) on an instrument flight to their destination.
Then, after 45 minutes of flight, the flight indicators all ceased working. With the vacuum pumps having problems (but still working), and the pitot tube heat being turned on, no clear cause could be determined for this difficulty. So the pilot and co-pilot decided to head back to Reno. Throttling up the engine RPM to climb to 18,000 feet, the aircraft pulled to right. The flight crew, trying to hold the B-17 in a straight line of flight, cut the engine power to try again. After a more successfully attempt, the pilot and co-pilot realized they were having serious troubles controlling the airplane the pilot ordered the crew to don parachutes as a precaution, and be ready to bail out of the ailing aircraft. With their bank-and-turn instrument being the only functioning guide, the aircraft seemed to be handling fine. Then, the nose rose slightly, the pilot compensated by pushed the controls downward. Lt. Walker, attempting to level off the aircraft's descent, realized that flight controls had been lost. He attempted to pull the controls back to regain attitude, but the aircraft then rolled over onto its back, righted itself for a brief moment, and then plummeted into a spin.
Knowing now that abandoning the aircraft was necessary, the flight crew starting bailing out the airplane. One crewman, Corporal Sterling Isom, with thrown through the glass of a gunner's turret into the air. Another crewman, Private Alden H. Stookey, was ripped out through a big hole in the fuselage. Several other crewmen managed to escape when the tail section of the plane was sheared off by the excessive stresses of the spin. When the flight crew opened their hatch to escape, the flight engineer, Staff Sergeant Eugene M Clemens, was also thrown from the plane and had his jacket blown off of him. Lt. Mode escaped the disaster, and and as he drifted downward witnessed debris from the aircraft falling around him for several minutes. Of the nine-person crew, eight survived. Only the plane's pilot failed to escape. His ordering the crew to wear their parachutes saved their lives. However, his parachute was found draped on a fence post near the crash site.
here's where it is!
Then, after 45 minutes of flight, the flight indicators all ceased working. With the vacuum pumps having problems (but still working), and the pitot tube heat being turned on, no clear cause could be determined for this difficulty. So the pilot and co-pilot decided to head back to Reno. Throttling up the engine RPM to climb to 18,000 feet, the aircraft pulled to right. The flight crew, trying to hold the B-17 in a straight line of flight, cut the engine power to try again. After a more successfully attempt, the pilot and co-pilot realized they were having serious troubles controlling the airplane the pilot ordered the crew to don parachutes as a precaution, and be ready to bail out of the ailing aircraft. With their bank-and-turn instrument being the only functioning guide, the aircraft seemed to be handling fine. Then, the nose rose slightly, the pilot compensated by pushed the controls downward. Lt. Walker, attempting to level off the aircraft's descent, realized that flight controls had been lost. He attempted to pull the controls back to regain attitude, but the aircraft then rolled over onto its back, righted itself for a brief moment, and then plummeted into a spin.
Knowing now that abandoning the aircraft was necessary, the flight crew starting bailing out the airplane. One crewman, Corporal Sterling Isom, with thrown through the glass of a gunner's turret into the air. Another crewman, Private Alden H. Stookey, was ripped out through a big hole in the fuselage. Several other crewmen managed to escape when the tail section of the plane was sheared off by the excessive stresses of the spin. When the flight crew opened their hatch to escape, the flight engineer, Staff Sergeant Eugene M Clemens, was also thrown from the plane and had his jacket blown off of him. Lt. Mode escaped the disaster, and and as he drifted downward witnessed debris from the aircraft falling around him for several minutes. Of the nine-person crew, eight survived. Only the plane's pilot failed to escape. His ordering the crew to wear their parachutes saved their lives. However, his parachute was found draped on a fence post near the crash site.
here's where it is!
