A/C Crash Site in Spain (Sierra Nevada, possibly post WW2)

[FrankieS]

Hi all !
Do we have a Spain/Espana expert?
During my vacation in southern Spain I hiked the Sierra Nevada mountain range (near Mulhacen peak).
Accidentally I found there an a/c crash site at a steep declining area.
There are still very many metal parts, some up to 100 cm in size.
I also found a complete, but severely tattered combat jacket with a stamped-on insignia: Blue circle (diameter about 5 cm), white 5 five pointed star with 2 yellow wings. So maybe USAAF pilot?
There were no human remains, no personal identifier on the jacket, no readable signs or numbers on the metal parts. The jacket seemed to be made of synthetic fibre so i guess the a/c crashed after WW2.
Possibly all of this is debris left over by a rescue team???

Does sombody have a clue which A/C crashed at Mulhacen mountain ?
Thank you !

[Leendert]

Frankie,

Could it have been a civilian airliner? On 2 October 1964 DC-6B F-BHMS of the French company UTA crashed at/nr Mt. Alcazaba (Sierra Nevada range, nr Trevélez). All 80 (7 crew/73 passengers) on board died.

I believe this mountain is adjacent Pico Mulhacén.

No USAAF/USAF accidents found in that area.

Regards,

Leendert

[FrankieS]

Hi Leendert !
Thank you very much for your response. Although Alcazba mountain is definitely very near by, the parts I found lay indeed on a Mt. Mulhacen slope. Also the insignia of the jacket should be of a USAAF crew I suppose.

btw, here is a good site for aircraft accidents:
http://aviation-safety.net/database/country/

Another guess is USAF Douglas C-124C Globemaster II serial 52-0980 that crashed 12. February 1966 into Sierra Nevada, but strangely "near San Javier" is given as crash site, which is NOT Sierra Nevada area.

Thanks again, FrankieS

[Pilot]

I have a good friend in Spain, Mr. Lozares, who have discovered and explored several crash places in Spain. Long time ago I have display some images of German bomber found there. There was engines as well many other parts.

Cheers

[Leendert]

Frankie,

The C-124C (52-980) crossed my mind as well, but San Javier is indeed a bit far off...

Leendert

[roberto_pla]

As you can read at 'Narrative' part of this report:
http://aviation-safety.net/database/...?id=19660212-0
The USAF aircraft "Crashed in the Sierra Nevada mountains".

So most probable solution is that the aircraft was an USAF Douglas C-124C Globemaster crashed Feb 12th, 1966.

Roberto Pla
http://robertopla.net/
http://www.aire.org/

[B.F.M. Droog]

Hello all,

The reliability of the information to be found on http://aviation-safety.net/database/ is alas doubtful. Aren't there any other sources on this crash?

Cheers,

Bart

[Leendert]

Frankie,

It might very well be the C-124 in the Sierra Nevada. This transport plane was enroute with supplies for the search efforts that followed the B-52 and KC-135 collision, which sent some H-bombs missing off the Med coast of Spain.
"Older" readers of this board may well remember this Jan. 1966 accident, let alone incident.

A 2006 Department of History of the Florida State University thesis says on page 49 (see: http://etd.lib.fsu.edu/theses/availa...jmm_thesis.pdf)
that the C-124 came down "near Granada", which of course is nearer to the Sierra Nevada. Author was John Megara.
It appears that the C-124 was enroute to San Javier, with its airbase. Camp Wilson was a temporary base set up by the Americans at the Los Palomares crash site.

Regards,

Leendert

[Leendert]

Frankie,

See this NY Times article of 1966:

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10812F7385C13778DDDAC0994DA405B 868AF1D3&scp=2&sq=c-124+spain&st=p

Regards,

Leendert

[FrankieS]

Thank you, seems to confirm that THIS WAS the C-124.
Sorrily the NYT gives only the first paragraph of the article,
one needs a password for the full text.

Thanks, good night,
FrankieS