Fairfax, California B-17 Crash

Crash site of B-17

Early on the morning of May 16, 1946, a U.S. Army B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft crashed into White's Hill (also known locally as "White Hill") near Fairfax, California. Two men were killed and six seriously injured.^[1] There were reports that the B-17 was carrying nuclear weapons materials for the Operation Crossroads tests at Bikini atoll, but these reports were not confirmed.^[2] However, due to the behavior and activities of the military authorities at the crash site and the reports of several credible witnesses, including several of the crewmembers, questions about the plane's cargo remain.

Itinerary

The plane, which carried the serial number of 44-85510, took off at 4 pm on May 15 from Clovis Army Air Force Base in Clovis, New Mexico. This was the training base for B-17s involved in preparations for the Bikini tests. Lieutenant Warder Skaggs was the pilot. Along with three other crewmen there were 12 passengers. After a stop at Davis-Monthan Army Air Force Base near Tucson, Arizona, and another at Mines Field near Los Angeles, where several passengers disembarked, the plane was en route to Hamilton Army Air Force Base, also called Hamilton Field, in Marin County, California. The plane was due to arrive at Hamilton at 1:17 a.m. on the morning of the 16th.

Navigation error

Just before 2 a.m. on May 16, Oakland Naval Air Station radio operators heard a call from the crew of the B-17. The crew reported that their plane was running low on fuel and was lost in the fog. The B-17 was actually flying over Hamilton Field when they were in communication with the Oakland Naval Station Airport radio operators, but because of the dense fog the crew of the B-17 thought they were flying over the Oakland Naval Station Airport. Tragically, so did the Oakland radio operators.^[3] Oakland instructed the B-17 to descend to 1500 feet and head out over the ocean; this would enable the Oakland operators to pick the plane up on radar. The crew of the B-17 followed instructions and descended to 1500 feet, but instead they smashed into the side of White’s Hill, just west of Fairfax. The plane slid 75 yards down the slope, and came to rest. The location was nine air miles southwest of Hamilton Field, and about eighteen miles by road.

The pilot and co-pilot were the only ones able to extricate themselves from the wreckage, though several others were still alive. Seriously injured, they made their way down the hill to a nearby convalescent home, where they were able to use the telephone to contact authorities.

Emergency response and nuclear cargo theory

Within an hour, dozens of civilian rescue personnel arrived on the scene, followed by military police. After the other survivors had been rescued and the bodies of those who died had been removed, the military authorities kept onlookers away at gunpoint as they used cranes to remove two large crates from the wreckage.^[3][4] Although the Army vehemently denied that the B-17 had anything to do with the Operation Crossroads tests,^[4] much less carried any nuclear cargo, suspicions continued to run high in the region. The following week, the local newspaper suggested that if "...the flying Fortress which crashed above Fairfax last week [had] not been loaded with top secret equipment having to do with the Bikini Atomic Bomb Test, perhaps there would not have been such a wild rush to heavily guard the wreck".^[5] Many question the nuclear cargo theory based on the fact the B-17 was obsolete and more capable planes, such as the B-29 or C-54 were readily available.

The USAAF removed much of wreckage and buried what remained just below the crash site. At that time it was common for the military to bury aircraft wreckage, as seen at other crash sites in Marin, including the Mount Tam Corsairs and PBM. An engine, recovered from a creek below the crash site after a flood in 1982, is on display at Camp Tamarancho. A witness to the crash recovered the plane's flight manual just after the accident and still possesses it today.

Witness and flight crew accounts

In 1991, a researcher named Gary Peak contacted Lloyd Patterson, a witness to the rescue and recovery operation. Mr. Patterson had been an assistant scoutmaster at the Camp Tamarancho Boy Scouts Camp, on whose property the plane had crashed. Mr. Patterson recalled the following:

From my house, I could see the top of White’s Hill. At the top of the hill I could see the fire engines, but there was no fire. I decided to make the trip up the hill. The top of the hill is about 2 miles away from my house. When I was close to the top, I watched from a short-distance, hiding behind some large trees. When I saw the wrecked B-17 the time was 4:10 a.m. but within 20 minutes, military security troops began arriving in large numbers, and ordered the civilian rescue crews away from the plane. I heard a military guard tell a Fairfax fire chief, "WHAT’S ON THAT PLANE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN HUMAN LIFE ITSELF!!!" Armed guards took up position at the foot of the ridge to keep the public and press from approaching. I watched soldiers struggling frantically to maneuver two small cranes into position to pull two big crates as long as automobiles from the plane. The two crates were out of the B-17 and loaded onto two trucks, covered with tarps, and driven away by 5:50 a.m.

I stayed on the hill until about 10:00 a.m. All I could see were armed guards around the plane. Then I made my way down from the hill, and back to my house. I never did find out what was in the two crates.^[3]

Mr Peak also interviewed one of the surviving crewmen, Lieutenant (later Lieutenant Colonel) Hugh J. Rincon. According to Mr. Rincon, the B-17's flight was indeed connected to Operation Crossroads, and the two crates were carrying "top secret" equipment en route to Bikini atoll.^[3]

Mr. Peak: "Was Hamilton Field in anyway part of Operation Crossroads?"

Mr. Rincon: "Yes-personnel and equipment were flown in from Clovis, New Mexico to Hamilton Field. Hamilton Field was the embarkation point for ocean shipment at Fort Mason in San Francisco; personnel were flown from Hamilton Field, then out to the Bikini Islands."

Mr. Peak: "Was the B-17 at the time of the crash carrying any "Top Secret" equipment aboard?"

Mr. Rincon: "Yes we were carrying two crates aboard. Lt. Russell Peters was in charge of this project."

Mr. Peak: "How did the newspapers find out that the B-17 might be a Bikini plane?"

Mr. Rincon: "The rescue crew’s personnel from Hamilton Field told the press that the B-17 is a Top Secret plane."

Mr. Peak interviewed two other crewmembers, including the pilot, Warder Skaggs. These men corroborated Mr. Rincon's account.^[3]

Causes

The plane had the fuel capacity for a nonstop transcontinental flight, and had refueled near Los Angeles, just 400 miles south. However, the cause of the crash was laid to lack of fuel ^[6] as well as pilot error.^[1]

References