Tex-s

Within the borders of Guadalupe Mountains National Park lies what remains of the B-24 Liberator flight 41-11769. 5 men lost their lives in the crash, which departed on its training mission from El Paso, TX in the evening of Dec. 31, 1943. Later that night, radio contact was lost, never to be reestablished. With the crash site scattered over several hundred yards, and covered in a few inches of overnight snow, the plane and its crew were not found until May, 1944.

The crash site is in a remote area, away from modern hiking trails, and is slightly over 5 miles from and over 2000 feet above, the nearest paved road. The park was not a protected wilderness in 1944, but even then, the site was very remote, with ranchers and trappers only occasionally venturing so far from the main roads and main grazing areas. Once the site was found by locals and reported to military authorities, the recovery effort centered on recovering armaments and human remains only, leaving the rest of the wreckage as it lay.

Below is an image of 2nd LT. Robert Benjamin, who left behind a pregnant wife and an unborn daughter that he would never know.

LT Benjamin and the others were given an emotional tribute in 2003, when his daughter, nearing her 60th birthday, hiked with rangers the 10 miles round trip to and back from the site. She and the rangers delivered a plaque, which was affixed to one of the largest pieces of the wreckage. This plaque is also shown below.

The whole 2003 hike with LT Benjamin's daughter is documented in an article published at the time. A PDF file of that story is attached, but is a challenge to read because the initial scans lie at 90 or 180 degrees off axis.

As we reach the 76th anniversary of this event, I invite all of you to join me in taking a moment to be thankful for the sacrifices made by men and women like these, whose lives were lost in service of the notion that peace loving, free nations deserved to be preserved and defended.

A special thanks, also, to Ranger Dave Bieri who made the hike in 2003 and who has graciously shared images, files and background information with me over the last few years.

I've taken about 200 documentary photos of the site. A link to those images is provided below, and there is at least one documentary video on YouTube as well. I've included 2 YouTube links. The first is just a visual to put scale to a B-24 Liberator, and the second is a walking tour of the crash site.

https://nasticusphotos.shutterfly.com/gumo/775

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOrqYA0ViAc&t=167s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBLyL-6iVCc&t=1s

Attached file:
(Download)

dancers Loc: melbourne.victoria, australia

how incredibly sad.

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

The Greatest Generation.

riderxlx Loc: DFW area Texas

Thank you for sharing this.
bruce

samantha90 Loc: Fort Worth,Texas

Thank you so much for the post I have been to the park but I didn't know about this.

Tex-s

I, too, was quite amazed to learn of the site.

I'd been going to the park for years myself and had not been aware of the crash, but in 2015 there was what turned out to be a hiker-initiated fire near the Guadalupe Peak back country campsite. Initial speculation, because of the rapid onset of the fire, was that maybe a small private plane had crashed at the site. My internet search into that incident, which was not a plane crash, led me to articles about the B-24 and to the last YouTube video link I provided.

As I'm a regular visitor at the park, and as I actually worked there for 7 weeks in 2016, I will publish nothing about the actual location of the site, but there are enough clues online to narrow the area of probability down to just a couple of ridge lines. In December 2015, I had a 'pin' in Google Earth that marked my best guess as to the site, and as it turns out, my speculation pin ended up about 60 yards 'off' of the largest two pieces in the debris field.

I consider the site a memorial, and because of that, I posed in only a single photo, and only to give a sense of scale to the images. Especially shrouded in snow, as it was on my first visit, the site is just as sobering as other sanctioned, manicured memorials.

Thanks for reading, and Happy New Year.

Sendai5355 Loc: On the banks of the Pedernales River, Texas

I have hiked there but was not aware of the crash. Of note, a B-24 crashed on Trail Peak in the Philmont Scout Ranch April 1942.

In July 1942, my uncle was killed when his B-17 crashed in Alaska. The day he died was also his first wedding anniversary.

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

Thank you for the story and the photos. I had never heard of this before. Quite interesting.

Dennis

Tex-s

There are so many moving stories to be told, if only people will listen, appreciate and hopefully learn. Thanks for sharing and Happy New Year.

PhotogHobbyist Loc: Bradford, PA

Interesting and a wonderful memorial to the lost crew.

PH CIB

Thanks for Sharing,,,,God Bless all our Fallen Heroes,,,,and our Veterans and our Country .......

samantha90 Loc: Fort Worth,Texas

I just wanted to say I love that you show the site the proper respect it deserves. Happy new year to you as well.

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

Reminds me a little of the Englishman (then a kid) who has religiously maintained a site dedicated to a returning bomber crew since the war. The pilot and crew could have dropped on the park and increased their chances od survival, but they overflew and crashed into woodland just beyond on account of some 7y olds playing football in the park.

Sad stories all around and of equal remembrance to those that survived.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-47323045

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

That's quite a story. The crew sacrificed their lives, to save the lives of 7 year old kids playing at the park.

AirWalter Loc: Tipp City, Ohio

Thank you so much for posting this and the information. God bless Our Service Men and Women. They can't be thanked enough for what many of them have given. My Dad had polio in one of his legs so He was turned down by the military in WWII, so He got a Civil Service job at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio. He was an instrument technician and was working on the B-17 Bombers when they were just coming out. He was scheduled for a test flight on the first B-17 at Wright Field but came down with the flu and was replaced on the flight by another technician the day of the test flight. The pilot forgot to take the lock off of the elevator and the Bomber could not rotate and gain any altitude. It crashed just past where the US Air Force Museum is now with the loss of the whole crew. If my Dad had made that flight I would never have known my Dad, I probably would not have been here either. I will have to read the article again, but I think it was a couple years later that I was born.