Known Accident Details

Synopsis

In June, 1942 a Douglas B-18A medium bomber crashed landed on Mt. Redoubt Alaska, 90 miles southwest of Anchorage.  My Grandfather, 1st LT Edward P. Clark, USAAF was the pilot. He, along with his co-pilot and two crewmen all survived the accident and after a bit of an ordeal were eventually rescued.  Included in this post is the accident report, a Saturday Evening Post article and links to other information relevant to the case.

My grandfather, Edward P. Clark went on to have a 20+ year career in the Air Force, culminating in his commanding a SAC squadron of B-47 Bombers during the cold war.

My father, a retired army pilot himself, had discussed on different occasions over the years the details of this accident as new information surfaced from his research.  I share his strong interest in our family history, especially history involving aviation, so I always listened attentively when this subject came up.  I am also a private powered/glider pilot.

Then about a year ago, Dad had the idea of taking a trip up to Alaska to look for the wreckage site.  We've chartered a de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver with Trail Ridge Air of Anchorage, who have agreed to take us on a search around Mt. Redoubt.  Our flight is scheduled for August 23rd, 2017 at 10am UTC-9:00.

We have three goals, listed in order least likelihood:

• We find the accident site in an accessible location, mark it's position and return (perhaps via helicopter) at a later date.
• We find the accident site in an inaccessible location, but at least have an opportunity to photograph it from the air.
• We don't find the accident site, but get a sense for the kind of ordeal my Grandfather and his crew as well as the rescue crew experienced.

Materials

As mentioned, we have a few several reports/articles pertaining to the accident.  I'm going to use this first blog post to dump the materials to make them available to the reader.  I then plan to follow up this post with some deeper analysis.

Accident Report

The accident report is here.  It is very dry and formal, with the exception of LT Clark's statement on page 4.  More on that in a future blog post.

Saturday Evening Post Article

The Saturday Evening Post article has quite a few details about the journey the rescuers took to find the plane and their trip back down the mountain.

I did some research on the Post article's author and found an interview conducted by a family member where he also mentions the accident.

Redoubt Reporter article

Arguably the most readable account is written in a two part article published in the online newspaper Redoubt Reporter in 2010 (Part1, Part2).  This article reexamines the Post article, updating it with local information and describing places as they would be known today.

Other Articles

Lastly, we have a few news articles that family members have kept over the years:

Citations

Fritz, Milo H., MD. "Ambulance Case on Mount Redoubt." Saturday Evening Post (1943): 14+. Print.  <https://www.dropbox.com/s/6jpvn5f7coyjm2d/SaturdayEveningPost_1943-10-02_Alaska_Bomber_Crash.pdf?dl=0>

King, Henry P., Capt. USAAF, et al. Mt. Redoubt Accident Report. Rep. no. 42-6-1-11. N.p.: United States Army Air Force, n.d. Print.  <https://www.dropbox.com/s/b6q7k6jlw4vxpvk/EdwardClarkAccidentReport.pdf?dl=0>

Bell, Linda Fritz. Oral History Collection, Milo Herbert Fritz, MD. San Francisco: American Academy of Ophthalmology, 1991. Web. <http://museumofvision.org/dynamic/files/uploaded_files_filename_346.pdf>.