The Wright Peak Plane Crash | News, sports, jobs

Memories were brought back when I read her drawing and commentary that appeared in the Enterprise on Tuesday, October 19, depicting an event that occurred 62 years ago. It included a drawing of a piece of wreckage from the B-47 bomber that crashed on Wright Peak.

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The rest of the story

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You know what? This photo shows me holding a piece of the actual wreckage. Following are excerpts from a story about how we were with the search team on Wright Peak that January night so long ago.

Every now and then someone finds a trace of this wreck. I think part of the landing gear is caught in the crevice of this huge rock at the top of the mountain. Many speculations at the time were that the plane might have returned to Plattsburgh Air Force Base if it had cleared the single rock by just a few feet.

Mount Marcy's elevation is 5,344 feet and Algonquin is the highest peak in the Adirondacks at 5,114 feet. Wright Peak is at the 16th elevation with an elevation of 4,580 feet.

The following are excerpts from a story about the search:

“It is difficult to reconstruct what it looked like on that dark and stormy night 43 years ago when this reporter, four forest rangers and a state trooper climbed Wright's Peak to see if there were any survivors of the crash of a B-17 jet bomber with a crew of four.

“The plane from Plattsburgh Air Force Base disappeared from radar after the pilot radioed the base for permission to conduct a mock bombing raid on Watertown. They were never heard from again.

“An extensive air and ground search was conducted, including a dedicated search aircraft, a C54 transport from the US base at Goose Bay, Labrador, with a team trained for such missions. As is often the case in such cases, many false sightings of flares and flashes, as well as markings and tracks in the snow, were reported around Watertown and Massena, and initial ground searches were concentrated in this area.

“On Sunday, six days after the pilot's last radio message and with more than 45 Air Force and private aircraft searching, the wreckage was spotted at the top of Wright's Peak. A search headquarters was quickly established at the Adirondack Loj, staffed by New York State Conservation Forest Rangers, New York State Police officers, and Air Force personnel.

“Although it was dark and lightly snowing and the crew had been missing for so long, it was decided that Jim Lord, the forest ranger stationed at Lake Placid, would lead a rescue party that night to search for survivors. Jim Bickford, the ranger from Saranac Lake, and John Hickey of Keene, another ranger whose name I can't remember, myself as a reporter, and Leo Stoffel of the state police headed up the mountain about 7 p.m

“We took a break in a sheltered area where the trail split, going to Wright's Peak in one direction and Algonquin in the other direction. The weather didn't seem too bad at this point.

“Just below the tree line there was a small hollow with a clump of evergreens and when we gathered there it was decided that Lord and Bickford would attempt to reach the top and they agreed to let me go with them. The wind and biting snow and icy surface above the tree line were incredible. We crawled on our stomachs and grabbed brush to avoid being blown off the mountain. Bickford's fur hat flew off and caught on a branch sticking out of the ice. He crawled over and retrieved her.

“After a short time and after we had only covered a short distance, Ranger Lord abandoned the attempt, realizing that it was pointless to continue.

“Trooper Stoffel, carrying a large metal radio that was standard equipment at the time, was unable to reach the search center at the base of the mountain…but a break in the transmission allowed him to reach a State Police patrol car in Canton well out of normal range . ”

It was after midnight when we returned to search headquarters. This is a shortened version of the original story.