On 5/10/82, the A-4M Skyhawk #160038 crashed on a lava flow near the Twentynine Palms Marine Base after suffering from an engine failure during recovery from strafe run, pilot ejected after unsuccessful attempts to regain power.

This photo taken in October 1980 is of the A-4M Skyhawk #160038. The A-4 flew with the Marine Attack Squadon VMA-311 Tomcats.

Driving on the old Route 66 marked on maps as National Trails Hwy just south of the I-40.

I started hiking from here.

The hike to the crash site wasn't very far, but hiking on the lava flow was difficult at times.

I was following one of the GPS tracks I made two days ago. This is my thrid time doing this hike in three days. First time I broke my camera after taking only a few photos. I remembered that I had a little point and shoot camera back in the truck. Went back and got and returned to the site. At home, looked at the photos and they looked bad. The little camera did a poor job. So I'm heading back one more time with a nicer camera.

The first wreckage I can upon, was this little pile of pieces someone collected.

This shot of the crash site shows most of the large pieces. The light colored area is the impact crater.

The remains of a drop tank.

Another view of the tank.