On 9/8/70, the A-4E Skyhawk BuNo 150089 crashed into a canyon in the San Bernardino Mountains . The Marine pilot, Captain Patrick G. Carroll was on a navigation training flight when the Skyhawk suffered a malfunction. The pilot was able to eject safely just moments before the crash. The flight originated from El Toro MCAS.

We had a good idea where the crash site was located, but the short and easy route to the site was blocked by private property. By driving around, we were able to locate an area where we could hike in avoiding the private property.

After hiking about an hour, we reached the area the Skyhawk went down. Looking into this canyon, we could see some large pieces of wreckage at the bottom and a lot of smaller pieces scattered on both sides.

Zoomed in on some of the wreckage at the bottom of the canyon.

First piece we came upon.

We were finding a lot of small pieces as we hiked down.

This piece had some tubulators on it.

Another view of the same piece shows some red color.

Must be part of the insignia.

Ryan checking out some of the wreckage. There was a lot of small pieces on this slope.