Some people hike for exercise; others are looking for views or waterfalls. Jeff Wadley hikes for plane crashes. The East Tennessee minister was a volunteer with the Civil Air Patrol for 30 years, leading search and rescue missions for downed planes throughout the mountains. Retired from the patrol, Wadley now hikes the Southern Appalachians looking for sites of planes that have crashed throughout aviation history.
How did you get into hunting for plane crashes?
Wreckchasing is sort of like geo-caching. For me, I started searching for planes as a volunteer cadet with the Civil Air Patrol when I was a teenager. The Civil Air Patrol started back in the 1940s. It’s all volunteers, made up mostly of pilots, who form ground search crews when a plane crashes.
Are there a lot of crash sites in the Appalachians?
Since the advent of the airplane, there have been 54 crashes inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park alone. I’ve uncovered 20 more stories about crashes in the mountains just outside the park. There are little pieces of airplanes all over the Southern Appalachians. And there are about five or six aircraft out there that have never been located at all, still waiting for hikers to stumble across them.
Wreckage from a Piper Tri-Pacer inside the Smokies.
That’s shocking considering our high population.
Planes can be very difficult to find. One of the FBI agents searching for Eric Rudolph in the 1990s was turning 40 during the search. His dad decided to fly down from Ohio with a birthday cake and presents. He crashed on the border of Joyce Kilmer in 1998. We looked for the crash every day for four weeks. I personally flew over the area a dozen times. We didn’t find it, and after a month, we had to suspend the search. I looked for the site for six years on my own time, and still never found it. Finally, a bear hunter stumbled upon it in a rhododendron thicket.
Is there something about the Appalachians that accounts for the high number of plane crashes?
A lot of the crashes are private pilots coming from flatlands. The number one problem in private plane crashes is spatial disorientation. They’re flying along and all of a sudden it gets misty, then they’re in the clouds and you don’t know which way is up or down, and they hit a tree or a mountain. But we haven’t had a crash in the Smokies for five years now. I think crashes in general are becoming less frequent. Pilots are safer, and the technology inside private planes is better.
Have any planes proved especially hard to find?
Absolutely. There was a World War II bomber that crashed near Whig Meadow back in the 1940s. I spent two years looking for it, using old photos to line up the mountains to determine where it might have gone down. Last January, I finally found little pieces of the plane.
Wadley spent years searching for this crash site near Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness.
Even though the planes have been down for decades, you can still find evidence of the crashes?
Usually. Sometimes the crash debris is removed by the managing agency, and unfortunately, some hikers take them as souvenirs. Planes in the Smokies have literally disappeared over the years. If you find a crash site, leave what you find there and write down the “N” number from the side of the aircraft and report it to the land management agency or local law enforcement.
What are you looking for now?
I’m looking for a 1940s plane crash in the Slickrock Wilderness. Supposedly, some people survived the crash and walked out, but I haven’t been able to find the site yet. I’ll start looking after the first frost, after the yellow jackets are gone.
How do you know where to look?
I trace the plane’s flight plan. I also try to find weather and cloud cover data from that day. I can eliminate certain areas based on the flight plan. If the plane is flying north, there’s no reason to search the north side of the mountain, because it would have hit the south side.
What else have you seen while hiking off-trail?
Bear dens, marijuana patches, moonshine stills, people living in the backcountry…and a lot of plastic balloons. Those things are everywhere. BRO
CHASE THESE WRECKS
Here are two relatively easy wrecks you can find in your Blue Ridge backyard. But remember to be respectful. “To the families of the pilots, these crash sites are sacred ground,” Wadley says. “Treat them like a cemetery.”
Snake Den Ridge Trail, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tenn.
The Snake Den Ridge connects Cosby Campground with the Appalachian Trail, climbing 5.3 miles to the Smokies’ high elevation peaks. Just before the connection with the A.T., at mile 5, the trail passes the site where an F-4 Phantom collided with the mountain in 1984. Wreckage was scattered over 20 acres, and you can still find pieces of debris near the trail.
Appalachian Trail, Humpback Mountain, Va.
In 1964, a T-28B Marine trainer crashed into the side of Humpback Mountain close to the Blue Ridge Parkway in Madison County, Va. Bushwhack the slope of the mountain beneath the A.T. between the Humpback Picnic Area and the side trail to the summit. The debris from the military crash sits about 200 yards from the A.T., and large sections of the plane can still be found, including the tail.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Way to go! Jeff is the one person I’d want leading to crash sites.
I flew for 20 years in the Air Force on the C-130 and also did a lot of search and rescue in the states and while stationed on Hawaii on my three and a half year tour (vacation). I agree with Jeff about having a hard time locating objects on the ground.
Hi,
I would be interested in looking for aircraft crashes, but like you said to treat the sites as cemeteries with respect. There was a F-51H near Calderwood, Tn, do you anything about it. My neighbor flew F-51′s in the early 1950′s.
Just a quick correction, the T28 is located in Nelson County, VA not Madison County which is further North. We visited the T28 as dring a backpack through that area. See my blog for additional photos:
http://blueridgetreks.wordpress.com/2009/10/17/humpback-rocks-virginia-backpack/
Dear Jeff, Bro, with a guy like you out there, maybe you can help me.
I am the sole survivor of a crash that occured on Sunday, November 2nd 1958. We, that is 30 fellow cadets and I (including several female members called Angel Flight) were returning from a weekender at Eglin Air Force base in Florida’s panhandle. We knew as we left Eglin that a storm was rolling in across the Great Plains. Our pilot tried to climb above the ice and sleet but finally our wings were sagging so bad,they came back down from 20,000 feet to just above the mountains. As we edged along the Blue Ridges, a cadet on the starboard side saw fuel being siphoned out of the starboard wing. Eventually the pilots found a break in the storm and saw what appeared to be a field. Diving the nose down and then pulling it up, he really revved the engines. But it was over in seconds. They sputtered and we crashed tailfirst at about 117 knots. We smashed into a mountain slope. Thankfully, there was no explosion, but of the 30 cadets on board, only five survived. And because we hit tail first, there was no way out. We injured survivors were entombed, but 2 able-bodied cadets did make it out and got help. In a shed where a couple of weekend flyboys were restoring an old bi-plane, a May Day was sent out. The Air Force already knew our 2 engine transport was overdue and coupled with the May Day, they knew our approx location, north of the Charlottesville Airport about 4 miles.(possibly 4-5 miles in the foothills and possibly into Greene County. Because of the storm, the rescuers, made up of AF personnel and Civil Air Patrol cadets from W.Va., DC, and Maryland finally found us on Tuesday. We were almost frozen. I can’t remember being removed from the plane. I think it was an old C-46 Commando with seats along the fuselage. When the AF saw the carnage inside, they towed the airplane further into the boondocks, away from prying eyes. CAP cadet Norm Chipps from the DC unit, told me in 1973 that the airplane definitely crashed, a little west of the airport and about 4-5 miles north from it.
Of course, the first thing I did when I finally got home was tend to my injuries. I became disabled because of it and did not finish my studies at George Washington University in DC. Back on campus, they put a lid on the crash and I never saw anyone that survived. I have been searching ever since, but limited to a wheelchair cart and canes, I can’t go into the woods.
Just four weeks ago, I got a big breek, a retired Albemarle County police officer told me that a deer hunter told him 3 years ago, as he was trailing a deer that he came upon a twin engine Air Force transport and that when he looked inside, it had room enough for 40 people. But, other than that, no one has ever stepped forth to help me.
You know the Air Force won’t cover my non-dependent flight insurance I took out because I have no proof.My insurance papers were in my duffle bag which was lost in the crash. It’s been real rough on my family, to suffer the health issues, lose friends, not become a pilot and then have people tell me, “Hey Forget it, Consider yourself lucky that you’re alive.” I’m writing a story about the whole thing, but that won’t take care of all the hospital bills I’ve had over the years. And it will help me, see justice for the young americans that were killed. At least, people will know what happened.
Much appreciate any help you can provide me, Gordon M. Callison
age 72, 607-948-4305
this is some crazy stuff man and it hard to believe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jeff,
Excellent book ! I am an airline pilot and do alot of hiking in Pisgah. As a kid, we used to hike to a crash site on top of Cold Mt. Here is a quote from the head of Camp Deep Woods, Kells Hogan regarding that crash. I know that it is hard to cover all sites, but was wondering why you did not include this one.
on Friday the 13th, 1946, a B-25 flying from Selfridge Field, Detroit to MacDill Field, Tampa, crashed into Cold Mountain about 200 feet from the 6200 foot summit. The plane, piloted by Maj. Gen. Paul B. Wurtsmith was flying in poor visibility, and when he was advised by radio from from the airfield near Bristol VA that he should raise his altitude to avoid the mountains ahead, Wurtsmith was reported to have said, “Who the hell do you think is flying this aircraft!” That was the last transmission as at that point the plane hit the mountain at a speed of 230 miles per hour.
Search planes looked for the wreckage all day Saturday but didn’t find it until Sunday morning at 7:10. Local newspaper account of the crash and search said that “The plane and bodies were scattered over an area of about 100 yards and it was difficult to identify anyone because there were only pieces of bodies, some of which were in the treetops.” No mention was made ever of the Monkey Dogs that were aboard the plane, and which somehow survived the crash and escaped into the forest. There were five people aboard the plane.
The two motors (Wright R2000, 18 cylinder, supercharged radials) were retrieved in 1989 by a volunteer group from Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Michigan and the parts were used to construct one motor that was placed in a memorial at the base.
Other parts found their way away from the mountain as souvenirs carried off by hikers. What remains is so little that the crash site is difficult to find in the forest that has taken the area back.
PS Monkey Dogs was the only made up part used by Camp Counsellors to scare campers by the campfire.
Tom Mackie
Asheville NC
Stop hack the program!!!
On Nov.2,1958 at approx. 6:35pm, Following an USAF sponsored trip to Eglin AF Base in Florida, USAF ROTC cadets from several universities in the Washington,DC area, perished in the foothills NW of the present day Charlottesville Regional Airport in Virginia. Their transport, a C-46 Commando, out of Bolling Field, near Washington, did a tail- first crash due to loss of fuel. All AF personnel were killed as well as 30 cadets, including members of Angel Flight. First responders were 2 men working on a WW1 Spad bi-plane at a grassy landing strip. Due to extreme weather conditions of ice, sleet and snow, and harsh ground conditions, rescuers didn’t reach aircraft for three days and when they did, there were only 5 survivors.
I just went out to a crash site in Laural Fork Wilderness In West Virginia. Any idea of who was flying this Beech 18 or C-45? I can’t find anything on it other than the fact that it is a known site. There are yellow crosses on it. I have plenty of pics. I would say it crashed back in the 50s. Its not far form Elkins WV or even closer to Glady,WV – I can get the GPS if anybody can help – All the numbers on this plane were revomed – I would say by the military as it was a military plane.
I know the plane crash in the Laurel Fork Wilderness in WV very well, My guess is it is from the 50′s, and it’s a beech-18 or C-45. Other than that I have found no other info on this crash. I’m local to this area, and lots know of the crash, but no one knows anything about it. I would like to know if anyone was killed int he crash, dates ect. I guess short of sending a FOIA request to the air force, I guess we’ll never know….
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