Navy Jet Crash Behind My Home

[Jim Craik]

For you aircraft buffs,

For years we had heard rumors about a Navy Jet fighter that crashed in the 1950's down the hill from our property and that much of it was still there.

I recently found a web site that knew about the aircraft and had some photos.

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This is some of the first of the debris when you get there

jet engine

The aircraft was a McDonnell F2H-4 Banshee, it crashed on Feb 22, 1959 and unfortunatlly the pilot LTjg James Wiley was killed.

Although this aircraft has been there for over 50 years, it still looks fairly recent doen't it?





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[Jack]

Any parts that you could use???????

 

[Jim Craik]

Well, there are a couple of engines, but they look a little bent!

In reality, they have some fairly strict rules about removing pieces from this type of crash, additionally although the photos do not show it, this hill is very steep with lots of poison oak.

 

[Charlie Farley]

To me it looks like another job for a roll of tank tape.
I'm sure an Air Worthiness Certificate wouldn't be far off .

 

[Charlie Farley]

From the red paint on the tailplane, it looks like grafitti artists got there before you. Like something off the NY subway !

 

[Jack]

Was thinking of switches, etc..

 

[Mesa]

Well at least he shot up that commie looking car before he ate it.

 

[Jack]

Funny Rob!

 

[Jim Craik]

Very good one Mesa!!!, I have no idea what a car like that is doing down our hill.

The red paint is not graffiti, but a standard marking for known crash sites, thay mark them with a red X, so they are not continually reported during other searches.

 

[Jim Craik]

Andy,

You have a point, there are few things that can not be fixed with a bunch of Duck Tape. (I saw on Myth-Busters that it is really called Duck Tape, not Duct Tape. Duck as in water running off....)

 

[Jim Craik]

Here are some more pix.

<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD id=pcell-1-564551 class=bgcell3 vAlign=top rowSpan=3 width=150 NAME="pcell-1-564551"></TD><TD id=pcell-2-564551 class=bgcell3 vAlign=top rowSpan=2 NAME="pcell-2-564551">Crashed Navy Banshee Santa Cruz mountains
< on 2/25/2007 6:12 PM > <HR></TD><TD id=pcell-3-564551 class=bgcell3 vAlign=top align=right NAME="pcell-3-564551"></TD></TR><TR><TD id=pcell-4-564551 class=bgcell3 vAlign=top align=right NAME="pcell-4-564551"> </TD></TR><TR><TD id=pcell-5-564551 class=bgcell3 vAlign=top colSpan=2 NAME="pcell-5-564551">We have been searching for this wreck for sometime and found it last year. So we made a run down to photo document the area. This plane crashed in 1959 killing the pilot. From our research the pilot hit the tree tops on top of skyline, tearing off a wing and nose dived into the mountain. The site is well off the trails and we had to head down in a ravine. The hike down was a decent trek but going back up was a hard climb. Enjoy the pix!!
The first thing we come across is this car. Don't know what it is but thats my buddy driving

This is some of the first of the debris when you get there

jet engine

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[Price Walton]

In general, naval aircraft are made from an alloy that is more resistant to corrosion than most other aircraft (I can't remember whether the downside is weight or cost - cost I think) so it's not surprising that it's survived very well.