At 6:30pm on 5/31/45 the North American B-25H Mitchell bomber #43-4648 crashed in the San Bernardino Mountains, California. Killed in the accident was the crew of three, pilot 2Lt. August P. Parks, co-pilot F/O Charles F. Cizek and engineer Sgt. Orville V. Barton.

The flight had taken off from March Field, Riverside, California on an instrument training flight to Victorville Army Air Field, Victorville, California, and a low level bombing mission on the Victorville Bombing Range. The bomber landed at Victorville Army Air Field and the crew was briefed on bombing range use and procedures. The bomber took off at 5:20pm cleared to operate on the bombing range and an instrument flight to March Field. The bomber failed to arrive at the bombing range and failed to return to March Field. The bomber was found to have crashed in a box canyon that it could not out climb or turn around in exploding into flames upon impact.

Tom and Mike at the start of the hike.

Our visit to this crash site was made possible by Pat J. Macha who was able to solve the mystery of it's location. I've known about this B-25H for about ten years, but couldn't collect enough information on it's location to make the effort to locate it. The Army Air Force report was vague and it could have been in one of several mountain canyons.

One of the five mylar balloons we came upon during the hike. Tend to find these things on almost every hike I been on. We packed them all out..

The first piece I found, the crash site must be nearby.

Another piece. After finding this, I heard Tom calling out that they had found the crash site.

Tom and Mike at the crash site. Most of the wreckage has been removed long ago, but there was still a lot of interesting items remaining.

A group of small parts and pieces. First thing I notched was a links for the 50cal ammo. The B-25H has armed with up to fourteen 50cal machine guns. It also had a 75mm cannon mounted in the nose.

Closer look at a couple of the links.

There was a lot of 50cal casings scatted in the area. This one has been fired.

This one must have been live and cooked off in the postcrash fire. Most of the casing at the site looked like this.

The headstamp code indicates that it was manufactured at St. Louis Ordnance Plant in St. Louis, Missouri in 1944.

A couple of turnbuckles from control cables.

Piece of plexiglass from one of the windows..

These pieces have a hinge and corner guards. Looks like they are from a small suitcase.

Group of small pieces.

This was the largest piece of wreckage remaining at the site. It's about two feet long.

The other side of the same piece.

We were able to find some part numbers. The pre-fix number of 98 indicates that it's from a B-25H. It's always good finding something that confirms the site is what you believe it is.

The pre-fix number of 62 is from a early B-25 model. The pre-fixes on parts stay the same on newer models unless the part is new to that model.

Looks like a piece from one of the landing lights.

A ceramic insulator. Maybe for a wire antenna.

When I first saw these, thought they might be a couple of old beer cans.

But after taking a closer look, started thinking that they may might be smoke grenades.

Tom found a couple of these lids near the cans. They maybe from containers for the smoke grenades.

One of the few large parts at the site.

Tag on the same part.

This ring is about a foot across, looks like it's from one of the fuel tanks.

This is the remains of one of the concrete practice bombs that the bomber was carrying, but never dropped at the Victorville Bombing Range as planned.

This is a bomb spotting charge firing mechanism that is mounted on the tail end of the bombs. The thing that looks like a bent nail with a spring is the arming pin which is pulled out as the bomb dropped.

Tailfins from another bomb.

This was the most complete practice bomb we found at the site. One of the suspension lugs can be seen on this one.

Top view showing the smashed fins.

This is one of the few small pieces from the engines found at the site.

Thick piece of rubber, probably from one of the tires.

One of the last pieces I came upon at the site. Has Dzus fasteners on it so guessing that it's from one of the engine nacelles or an access panel.

On the drive home in stop and go traffic on I-15 in the Cajon Pass.

This turned out to be an interesting micro site and one that I wanted to do for a long time..

THE END