On 3/3/81 the Douglas A-26B Invader N9417H was on a flight from Edwards Air Force Base, California. While on that flight, the airplane suffered a structural failure of a wing spar causing the left wing to separate in flight. Killed in the accident were the instructor pilot and two Test Pilot School engineering students.

This Douglas A-26B was built as S/N 44-34653 and was modified to a variable stability test bed in the early 1960s by the Air Force Research Lab. The instructor pilot would sit in the left seat with the student in the right with flight controls that could be programmed to simulate the flight characteristics of a variety of airplanes. This airplane and its sister ship the A-26B S/N 44-34165 N9146H were approaching their end of useful service life and were due to be replaced with a Learjet with the next Test Pilot School class.

Driving to the area I believe the crash site is located.

On the hike. My plan is hike into the area and just look around hoping that I can spot something. Thought that the odds of finding it were low, but it was a nice day out and was in the mood to spend the day in the desert.

After searching for about an hour, I spotted something about half a mile away using 10X50 binoculars. Turned out to be this big white rock. The good thing was, from here using the binoculars I could barely make out something shinny off in the distance.

What I spotted was this wreckage that looks like it is from one of the engines and it's nacelle. This must be the place the left wing came down after it separated from the airplane.

Another view of the wreckage.

Closer view showing a couple of engine mounts, one with a piece of the engine still attached.

The fitting in the center looks like it was connected to the exhaust. No idea what the electrical component is. Looks like this is from the firewall.

This might be one of the cowl flaps with the linkage attached.

Same wreckage from the other side.

This looks like it could be a hinge from one of the main landing gear doors.

A piece from an engine cylinder head with a rocker cover.

A vacuum pump.

Piece from an engine's induction chamber with an intake manifold and engine mount attached.

Closer view of the engine mount.

Valve pushrod tube. Found a few of these scattered in the area.

Engine intake manifold.

Found a lot of pieces with red paint, which covered most of the A-26B.

Another piece from a cylinder head.

Engine gear, no idea what it's for.

The black paint on this piece indicates that it is from one of the engine nacelles.

Guessing that this is a generator.

The impeller from the supercharger.

Large fitting from a flex hose.

Found a few of these pieces of rebar in this area. Must have something to do with the accident investigation.

After checking out the area the wing landed, starting searching for the main crash site. Found this piece about a hundred yards from the wing area. Must be heading in the right direction.

Piece from a window.

More wreckage.

The impact crater. This is looking in the direction the plane came from. It's about three hundred yards west from where the wing came to rest.

The impact crater was full of small pieces.

Another view of the crater and the debris field beyond.

Valve rocker in the crater.

Valve springs also in the crater.

View of the debris field beyond the crater. There are hundreds of small pieces scattered for about a hundred yards in a circular pattern.

Large piece of armor plate.

Cylinder head.

Judging by the large size, I think that this tire is from one of the main gears. The desert packrats have made a home from it.

This might be an actuator from one of the main gears.

Thought that this was one of the main gear brake assemblies, but it doesn't match photos of A-26 brakes I found online. Not sure what it is. It's about twenty inches in diameter.

Closer view of the assembly.

Another actuator.

This area had a lot of pieces.

Three smashed oxygen bottles. These are about four feet long.

Closer view of one of the bottles.

One of the exhaust manifolds.

A high pressure bottle, not sure what it would be used for.

This is the only sign of fire I found at the site. Looks like the wire beads from the nose wheel tire.

More pieces of armor plate.