On 2/25/55 the Beechcraft 35 Bonanza N576C went missing in a snow storm while on a flight from Reno, Nevada to Los Angeles, California with a planed stop at Las Vegas. Onboard was the pilot Hal C. Howard, vice president of the Music Corp of America (MCA) and his assistant Dave Silver. An intensive air search was started when the airplane failed to arrive at Las Vegas. The search included 22 Civil Air Patrol and 35 military aircraft from the Air Force, Navy, Marine, Army and National Guard. After six days, the search was abandoned when no sign of the airplane was located. The missing airplane was finally found about 30 miles northwest of Bishop, California in the eastern Sierra Mountains on 7/17/55, nearly five months after it disappeared when it's wreckage was spotted on a mountainside by two men hiking in the area. The wreckage was scattered over a large area, both men were killed on impact.

Driving up a 4X4 road to the place that I will spend the night and start the hike from. Was lucky to find this road that will take me up to over 9,000 feet, it will make reaching the area I believed the crash site is located much easier.

My camp spot by a lake. I was able to collect some clues to the crash site's location from several newspaper articles. In the morning I will make my way up a nearby mountain that I believe the site is located on.

On the hike. Came upon some old mining equipment.

Even though my main interest these days is locating crash sites, it's always cool finding any old stuff.

Looking up ahead, the map shows a small lake past the upcoming steep section.

The lake was bone dry. The Sierra snowpack was low this past winter leaving many of the smaller lakes and streams low or dry. Crossing the lakebed made for some easy hiking for a little while.

I was starting to wonder if I was going to be able to locate the site when I came upon these first pieces of wreckage. One of the of the newspaper articles stated that the airplane crashed at 10,500 feet but I found these above 11,000 feet.

The engine's intake manifold.

I could tell that this piece was from the right wing by the section of the wing walk. A little bit of blue paint can also be seen which is a good sign that these pieces are from the airplane that I'm searching for. One of the newspaper articles stated that the Bonanza was white with blue trim.

Continuing up the mountain side, I was finding more small pieces.

This area had a lot of small pine trees in which the wreckage was scattered in.

This piece is about three feet across and is the largest I found up to this point. I have no idea what wreckage remains at the site, but I was hoping to find something that will confirm that it's the Bonanza that I'm searching for.

Fuselage bulkhead.

This looks like a piece from the wing with a little of the rubber fuel tank liner remaining.

Tuning the piece over shows the white and blue paint. The opening has the fuel filler.

Finally came upon a large piece of wreckage, it's one of the wings.

Looking down the wing forwards the tip. This is the upside down left wing, the landing gear well can be seen.

Slightly different view shows the impact damage.

Landing light opening in the leading edge.

Damage on leading edge.

Wing tip.

View from the wing tip.

Wing tip.

Piece from the fuselage with an opening for an access door. I haven't been able to match this opening to any of the Bonanza photos that I have, so couldn't figure out which section of the fuselage this is from.

This photo shows the landing gear well and part of the mangled fuselage piece.

Another view of the piece of fuselage.

Different view from the rear of the wing.

Closer view.

This piece of upholstery is how I figured out that the mangled metal was from the fuselage.

Part from the main landing gear assembly.

Wing skin with the opening for the fuel filler.

This looks like a piece of a window frame.

The cabin door. The crushing angle of the damage seems to match that on the wing.

A view of the other side.

Close up showing the door handle.

Finding more pieces scattered in the area.

This part has sockets for light bulbs.

The fuselage tail cone.

Close up shows the area for the missing navigation light.

Still finding pieces.

This piece has some of the upholstery from the cabin. From here I could see another large piece of wreckage through the trees, but couldn't tell what it was.

The large piece I spotted turned out to be the Bonanza's V tail. Up to this point I was pretty sure that the wreckage was from the plane I was searching for due to the location and the white and blue paint, but finding this confirmed it for me.

Closer view of the tail, both of the ruddervators are missing.

Bottom side of the left stabilizer. The tail end of the fuselage is still attached.

This close up shows where the tail cone that I found earlier was attached, a little bit of it is still remains.

Closer view showing the control horns and linkage for the ruddervators.

View from the other side shows the adjustable stops for the control horns. The horns are against the full up position.