Botanist Searching for Rare Plants Found Crashed Plane from 1952

Crashed Plane from 1952

On a walk searching for rare limestone endemic plants in Death Valley, botanist and YouTuber Sheriff_Woody_PCT found the wreckage of a plane. After many hours of hiking and many exotic plants, he managed to scramble over to the wreck.

The plane has been there for 68 years! In January 1952 this SA-16 Albatross was flying from Idaho to San Diego carrying classified CIA Cold War operations when its left engine caught fire over Death Valley, California and the plane started losing altitude. The pilot gave the order to abandon the plane and all 6 people on board jumped out the back door! They parachuted and safely landed 14 miles north of Furnace Creek which they then hiked to. The abandoned plane then crashed into the steep limestone hillside in the Panamint Mountains and been there since.

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