Saturday, November 26/2011

One of the many trails in this area

Headed to plane crash

We go straight

Going up

Could that be it in the distance?

WTF!  Who would try to bring a trailer up here!

The hitch

This is what we were looking for,  No luck this time!  (The tail section)

Some Jeepers looking for it also

Time to head back down

Marie's favorite trails

Jeep coming down

Beautiful scenery

Sun going down

Indian Creek

Time to head back to camp

The sun was shining again this morning and there was no frost on the jeep!!  Today, we are supposed to be taking the quad and exploring the Lockhart Basin Trail.  It travels from here to the Hurrah Pass trail we were on the other day.  As we turned onto this road, there was a sign that said Hurrah Pass - 48 miles.  That would be a 96 mile round trip - looong trip!!
With the quad packed and ready to go, we headed out.  We took a short side trail - Canyon Riders Trail  which offered up a variety of different terrain, from rubble strewn trail, sandy wash bottom, several small shelf trails and at one point, a huge sand hill that John just could not resist climbing a few times.  We followed a creek and made several water crossing then had to climb out of this neat little canyon over some rather nasty off - camber trail to eventually being "spit out" onto the main Lockhart Basin Trail.
On reading about this trail, I noted that there were some remains (the tail assembly) of a crashed U.S. fighter jet lying beside the trail and thought that it would be rather interesting to see it.  I "googled" the crash and this is what I discovered.
On September 6, 1952 a T-33A #50374 piloted by 1Lt. David J Harsh and 1Lt. Donald Wingert did indeed crash.  During flight, they heard a "rumbling" noise and felt some vibration and then the engine flamed out.  They attempted three in-flight engine starts.  Apparently, the turbine wheel had exited the airplane and had seriously weakened the tail assembly.  The second start attempt started a fire in the tail section and after the third attempt, the tail section failed completely and separated from the aircraft.  The aircraft, minus its tail assembly went out of control spinning wildly to earth.  Both pilots struggled with the canopy and were finally able to jettison it.  Since the airplane was not equipped with ejection seats, both pilots were hurled from the aircraft by the extreme forces of the spinning airplane.  Lt. Harsh's parachute deployed about 1000 feet above the ground and he was able to land on the canyon floor with a severely twisted ankle.  He spent the night under a rock hanging near the crash site.  The next morning, he splinted his ankle and started walking.  He was spotted by a circling C-47 and was rescued a short time later by two paramedics who parachuted into the canyon.  Lt Harsh was rescued 27 hours after "bail-out" and was evacuated to Moab.
Lt. Wingert's body was found lying near the wreckage.  His parachute did not open in time and he fell to his death.
The engine failure and in flight breakup was caused by a failed main rear bearing in the jet engine.  The turbine wheel failed and separated from the aircraft cutting clear through the tail section causing catastrophic failure and the resulting crash and loss of life.
Both John and I were hoping to be able to see what remained of the crashed jet but unfortunately were unable to find the site.  Apparently, it is not that easy to see and unless you know the general vicinity of the crash, you will probably not find it.  It can be seen from only one spot along the trail.
We did however travel a good 20 miles or so along the trail which was  mostly wide graded dirt and slickrock, eventually ending at the base of a rather large rock formation that the trail climbed, crested and descended - much of it being shelf trail.  I only had a couple panic attacks!!
We decided to turn around at a site of an abandoned RV trailer that was in an awful state of destruction (complete with bullet holes).  Someone had hauled it up into this remote rugged area and left it.  The site lends itself to great speculation as to how it got here and why.  While John and I were at this site, doing our own speculating, four jeeps came along the trail heading in the direction we had just come.  We chatted for a bit then started to head back.  (Oh goodie, I get to experience those bloody shelf trails again!!)
It was getting late by the time we finally got to the little creek and I knew we were only a few miles from the bus.  At the creek, we discovered a bit of a waterfall and unfortunately could not get decent pictures because of the low light.  Perhaps we will return here tomorrow so that we can get some better pics.
Back at the bus, John built a campfire and we sat around it soaking in the heat while we waited for our supper to cook.  All in all, another good day - only to be made better if we had actually seen what was left of the crashed airplane.