1953 B-36 bomber crash drew crowds to Franklins

Phyllis posted this on another topic. 

I came to El Paso in 1952 and I remember working at Popular Dry Goods downtown. This was between 1963 and 1965 I believe. While working I heard a loud bang which we thought was a truck hitting the wall of the alley between the buildings. Later we heard it was an airforce plane hitting the mountain on the west side of town. There was also a airforce plane that went down after hitting a water tower or power line by the old El Paso airport. Do you have anything on either of these?

Posted by: Phyllis McCarthy | August 08, 2009 at 12:59 P

Could it have been 1953? I get asked about the B-36 air force plane that crashed into the westside of the Franklins  a lot. I did a column on it two weeks ago and addressed it again this past week. Here are the columns:

08/01/2009

Dear Trish, I was wondering if you could find out or research if there was ever a military plane crash in the mountains above El Paso. When I went to school there, everyone used to talk about an old bomber that crashed in the Franklin Mtns. — Ralph Clark

Ralph, the Dec. 11, 1953, B-36 bomber crash is the one I am asked about the most and probably the one you have heard about.

The headline read “B-36 crash here kills nine; Bomber rams Franklin Range in snowstorm.”
According to the article, “A B-36 global bomber feeling its way through a blinding snowstorm crashed on the western slopes of the Franklin Mountains shortly before 3 p.m. Friday. There were no known survivors among the crew of nine.”

Weather Bureau officials reported one inch of snow fell in El Paso between 8:47 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Thomas E. Davis of Chattanooga, Tenn., out of the Air Force for three days, was in El Paso visiting his friend and World War II buddy William R. Proctor, who was stationed at Biggs. The two were driving west on Fred Wilson Road when they saw a column of flames suddenly appear and then quickly change into a mushroom-type black smoke cloud.

“It must have been 60 feet high,” Davis said at the time. They stopped their car and raced to the nearest phone to call the Provost Marshal’s Office at Biggs to ask if there was any reason for an explosion on the mountain. This was the first report made of the accident.
Most witnesses reported the plane was circling clockwise over the city and rammed into the mountain while heading east.

The 10-engine, $3.5 million  plane was being transferred to what was then Biggs Air Force Base from Carswell Air Force Base at Fort Worth. Because the plane was being ferried from Carswell, the normal B-36 crew of 16 was cut to nine. The crew was to return to Fort Worth.

Air Force spokesmen reported that the plane took off from Carswell at 12:15 p.m. CST. It was scheduled to land at Biggs at 2:35 MST. The Biggs control tower reported losing radio contact with the plane at 2:30 p.m., and the plane crashed a few minutes later.

The crew members were identified as Lt. Col. Herman Gerick, 35, aircraft commander, Fort Worth; Maj. Douglas P. Miner, 34, navigator, Attleboro, Mass.; Airman 2nd Class Frank Silvestri, 24, gunner, Baltimore, Md.; 1st Lt. Cary B. Fant Jr., engineer, 34, Linden, Texas; Tech. Sgt. Dewey Taliaferro, 33, first sergeant, 492nd Bomb Squadron; Airman 1st Class Edwin D. Howe, 22, gunner, Jordan, N.Y.; Master Sgt. Royal Freeman, 25, radio operator, Dallas; Maj. George C. Medford, 33, first pilot, Verona, Pa.; 1st Lt. James M. Harvey Jr., Mineola, Texas.

Rescue operations were hampered by the snowstorm. Crash trucks sent from Biggs were unable to reach the scene due to the rugged terrain leading up to the aircraft.

To reach the scene rescue parties had to take a trail from the highway and then proceed up the side of the mountain on foot. Others made their way from the mountain’s southern edge near Scenic Drive.
The first rescue group to reach the crash scene consisted of four El Paso policemen, Patrolman Bob Aumen, Buddy Bell, Walter White, Jr. and E. A. Williams, all traffic officers. They reported to Capt. Mike Sullivan of the El Paso County Sheriff's Department that the wreckage was widespread and still burning at 4:30 p.m. Sullivan said he was told the officers were unable to identify most of the wreckage, only the engines and a part of the fuselage.

Scores of motorists stopped their cars along U.S. 85 to view the accident scene, which was visible from the road. They saw a large black area about three quarters of the way up the mountain.

On Dec. 24, 1953, Col. Robert J. Abern, Biggs Air Force base commander, released a report stating the primary causes for the B-36 crash were incorrect approach procedures and poor judgment by the pilot in deciding to make a visual approach.


08/08/2009

Many readers remember B-36 bomber, another crash

After last week's column on the B-36 bomber crash, I received several comments and a couple of questions. Here are a few:

Dear Trish:  This was very interesting and timely that you published this article because just last week some of us were talking about this crash.

I was in class at UTEP (then TWC) when this happened. We couldn’t imagine what it was.  I was just beginning at that time to learn to fly, and my flight instructor and several of his friends climbed up to the crash area and managed to bring down a couple of mementos, all of which were returned to the government. 

One thing you may or may not know is that one of the propeller blades (the airplane had 24) is on display at the War Eagles Museum at Santa Teresa.
It’s BIG! And pretty beat up too.
— Dave Schuhmann,  Las Cruces.

Nathaniel Peterson added: What a coincidence. My mother and I were just talking about this.
My mother, Kathy, is Douglas Miner’s daughter. He died when she was just 6, I believe. I never really got the whole story of how he or those other men died.  Truly a special thing you have done for me.
 

Here is a little twist on the story.  My grandfather Miner was friends with Maj. Lewis Browne. They were both scheduled for that flight but due to the reduction in crew, Louis had to miss the flight. Needless to say he lived, and married Miner’s widow, my grandmother Jane Miner.  They lived out their lives in Las Cruces and Albuquerque. Strange how little coincidences shape our lives. Many lives changed course when those airmen were lost.

Nathaniel's uncle Jeb Brown messaged me as well. He was visiting Las Cruces from his home in Albuquerque last weekend and while at a hotel he picked up a copy of the El Paso Times to find the article on the crash that killed his dad's crewmates.

Luis Gabriel Navarro Jr., of Northeast El Paso, wrote: During summer vacation from Austin High my friends and I would hike to the mountains. One summer in 1967 we found parts of the wreckage and a cross with the names of the crew. My question is is it true that Marcus Uribe built the cross?

On March 23, 1944, Marcus Uribe witnessed a B-24 Bomber crash into the eastern slope of the Franklin Mountain. He was able to see the flames from his backyard. He watched the stretcher-bearers come down the mountain empty-handed.
Later that night Uribe, then 42, built a wooden form for molding a cement cross. The next day, with help from some neighborhood boys, he carried the cross up the mountain and secured it to the face of a stone cliff as a monument to the seven crewmen who died in the crash.
In the next few days he constructed a larger crucifix, which he and brothers from St. Anthony’s Seminary placed in the mountain and dedicated as a permanent marker and plaque.
Every year from then to Uribe’s death in 1979 he had a Mass said for the seven crewmen.

Elizabeth Hill McAlmon also remembered the 1944 crash: Your article on the B-36 crash in was very interesting to me. In the l940s, probably during wartime, there was another crash but on the east side of Mount Franklin. 
At the time I was young but well remember the sound of the plane flying low overhead followed a huge explosion.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth Hill McAlmon

The B-24 heavy bomber from Biggs Field crashed into the east slope of the Franklin Mountains, about eight miles from Biggs Field, at 10:40 p.m. while on a routine combat training mission.
An article at the time said houses located blocks from the scene of the accident were jarred by the impact when the plane crashed.

The plane crashed with an explosion that woke residents in the entire Northeast part of the city. Many of them reported hearing the blast and of seeing the fire, which burned over a half-mile area for two hours after the crash.

It was also reported that flames shot high into the sky, silhouetting the wreckage of the plane, and lighting the mountainside from the Austin High School “A” to McKelligon Canyon.
Seven crewmen were killed in the crash: 1st Lt. Lyle R. Jensen, Big Springs, Neb., whose wife was in El Paso; 2nd Lt. Benjamin C. Fricke, Indianapolis; 2nd Lt. Robert Spears, Indianapolis; 2nd Lt. Donald B. Harris, Deming; Staff Sgt. Richard I. Stoney, Stoneham, Mass.; Sgt. William T. Hinson, Norwood, N.C.; and Sgt. John H. House, Black River, N.Y.

Comments

[john nugent]

I was walking home from grade school and saw the smoke suddenly rising from the mountain, not knowing until later what had happened. I was just admiring the snow, which was a rarity in El Paso, and looked beautiful covering Mt.Franklin. Years later I worked with an ex-serviceman who told me he had, fortunatly, been bumped from that flight.

[Vincent C. Kemendo]

Ms. Long - -


I do vividly remember this event. I was 15 years old and a sophomore at El Paso High School and on this day, Dec-11-1953, during the last period, which was study hall, I was in the library which was on the third floor at east end of the school building. I was back in the book shelves with classmate, Robert Calhoun, looking out the windows that faced Mount Franklin checking out the dense fog and snow. Not only was the mountain not visible but Brown Street about one-quarter of a mile away was barely visible. We could hear the distinctive drone of the airplane engines, which was louderr than normal. We were familar with this drone since the B-36s flew in and out of Biggs AFB in El Paso frequently. We heard an explosion and no more drone sound. Robert and I both remarked and wondered if the airplane had hit the mountain. It was not until I was home from school that I knew of the accident.

Thecrash site could be seen just below the peck on Mountain Franklin for several years after this accident,a distinctive black spot, that could be seen from Mesa Street. If my memory serves me correctly this black spot on the mountain was about above present day at Festival Street.

An internet article concerning the B-36 is interesting to me. The aircraft was built by Convair and was the largest piston engined aircraft ever made and had largest wingspan combat aircraft ever built--230 feet. It was built to deliver nuclear weapons and had a range of 6,000 miles and payload of 72,000 pounds. One version, the B-36D, used both piston and jet engines. The six piston engines were mounted on back of the wings and "pushed" the aircraft. The B-36 never fired at an enemy nor dropped a bomb. The aircraft was in service from 1949 to 1958.

One of bases listed for the B-36 was 95th Bobardment Wing at Biggs AFB (El Paso).

There was another military crash into Mountain Franklin. The book authored by Leon C. Metz, El Paso Chronicles, lists a B-24 bomber taking off from Biggs and crashing in the Mount Franklin Red Rock Canyon on east side of mountain in March 1944. There were no survivors.

Vincent C. Kemendo

[Home Removal Companies]

I just can not believe such stories still happen till this day. John, really had a great sight to the events but it is sometimes unbelievable how close we come to death.

[Art Reyes]

Reading all these postings brought back memories of my home town. As a kid tagging along with his older brothers, I found an aircraft radio that could only have come from the B-36 . Around 1960-61 a group of us found a tri-motor aircraft engine on the East side of the mountain in Mckelligan Canyon. Is there any history of a plane crash in that area?

[Trish Long]

Art, I got a call this week from the War Eagles Museum and they were looking for information on a crash in McKelligan Canyon. I have been trying to find something on it but haven't yet. As soon as I do I will post it. Narrowing it down to 60-61 helps though.

[S Wisdom]

The March 1961 Crash was of a USAF KB-50 Tanker (this was a modified B-29 Super Fortress re-purposed for in-flight refueling)which killed nine aviators on board and no one on the ground. The crash site was nine miles northeast of Biggs Air Force Base and six miles north of the Carlsbad highway (Hwy 62E).
The KB-50 refueling plane, returning from Wake Island in the Pacific, was approaching the main runway at Biggs from the east for a landing.

The names of the dead:
Maj. FRED G. PADELFORD, 46, of 7209 Ramey circle, El Paso, aircraft commander. His home town was Spokane. He is survived by his widow and four children.
Capt. BRUCE E. CHRISTIAN, 31, co-pilot, son of Mr. and Mrs. John F. Christian of Reading, Pa.
Maj. WAYNE W. HOLT, 46, navigator, of 3408 Dornoch street, El Paso, home town Albion, Ind. Survived by his widow.
T/Sgt. CHARLES C. TIMMSEN, 32, flight engineer, of Kellogg, Minn. Survived by his widow.
S/Sgt. BERNARD F. RIVERS, 32, flight engineer, of 5109 Alps drive in El Paso, home town Rochdale, Mass. Survived by widow and two children.
S/Sgt. HAROLD B. MECUSEN, 27, refueling operator, of Spokane, Wash. Survived by his widow.
A/1C CLIFTON C. TABOR, 27, refueling operator, son of Mr. and Mrs. Carroll S. Tabor of Albany, Texas.
S/Sgt. CLAUDE L. EARLY, 28, maintenance crew chief, a passenger, of Hardin, Mo.
A/2C JOSEPH T. ROTHSCHOPF, 23, assistant crew chief, a passenger, son of Joseph Rothschopf, Sr., of Parker, Colo.

This list comes from the El Paso Herald Post of 06 March 1961

[Tom W. McKay]

Trish, You do an excellent job rather the topic is morbid, good memorabilia, or little known facts. That being said, I have had a difficult time finding news from the 1940's Cowboy Park off Polo Inn Road where Willie Shoemaker rode horses as did my brother William 'Buddy' McKay. Willie didn't like Quarter Horse riding as it was all 'Get It On' from the break. He loved the thoroughbreds because he could rate them, make serious charges down the stretch, had a body that fit the horses like he was a part of them, and had those wonderful soft hands that never choked down a horse and made him so efficient at getting his steeds to grab the bit. He learned early on how to get a horse to switch leads as smooth as any good vehicles tranmission change of gears
On the other hand, Bud was super strong,was terrific out of the gate on QB's, and once in front , nearly impossible to beat. He set a few world records back in those times but the folks in those days responsible for record keeping evidently didn't do a very good job. Of course, betting was not allowed by the state so most bets were individual. Many races were match races with good betting but no records kept.
The late Judge Lanier, who owned a steak house near Five Points, owned many horses and made some good money by riding Bud, also deceased.
Keep in mind that the original Cowboy Park was across the river in Juarez (Zaragosa) as was the splendid 'Waterfill Gardens' where my father Raymond McKay put on a World Championship Rodeo in 1933. I still have a rare program of that event.
Talk about a splendid place to go in Juarez years ago, then talk about the Waterfill Gardens. It was magnificent and there is little information on the internet. Too bad, many of us old timers were treated like royalty there. You could have a full day of food, drink, and entertainment for under five dollars.
have a happy

[Trish Long]

Thanks Tom, I will see what I can find on Cowboy Park and Waterfill Gardens.

[Judy Frie Frost]

I'm writing a book about my Grandfather M. Uribe.

I remember when he would go to the cross on Mt. Franklin, to the right of the "A". I was very young and understood some of what he was doing, but not entirely all. Then one day I asked him why he was doing what he was doing. He began to tell me proudly why he did what he did which will be in my book.

Stay tuned.

Judith Frie Frost

[Jerry Honeycutt]

Wow! My mom always tell the story of the night I was born, December 11, 1953, that a B36 crashed that day, and my dad's best friend was suppose to be on that flight, but because my mom went into labor, my dad's friend subsituted for him on his crew, and someone else filled his spot on the plane that crashed. This is the first time I've been able to find any information on the crash that day.

[Carol]

Wow! It's a pretty scary thought to have a B-36 bomber crash into a small town. My sincerest condolences to the families affected.

[Tony O Flores]

I've posted a response to this same matter on Face Book, but here goes again. I was a first grader at Crockett elementary that year. It was snowing lightly as we were starting our way home upon the 2:30 dismissal time from school. As I was sliding down the grassy slope along with some other kids, I heard the unmistable drone of that B-36 as it was lumbering westward (on the final path before it would make its final approach eastward). I remember getting home and hearing my Dad say that a plane had just crashed on the mountain. That day is so etched in my memory. Thanks for the article, though I read it rather late from the day of its posting on the Times.