I could not locate a larger section of the wing, but maybe its around somewhere, however the engines and landing gear are all within a 100′ area, my guess is the rest of the wing burned as there is evidence of fire on some of the remaining structure and the trees around the crash.
The crash in Oregon near Walla Walla, Washington and is located in a wilderness area in the Blue Mountains.
I was guided to the site by my brothers geology proffessor who had spoken and recieved a written history of the crash from a young lookout in one of the areas numerous fire towers. During the summer of 1943 they were to record all aircraft over thier towers with relation to speed, direction and type. He had become quite used to the B-17’s flying over as there was a training field in Walla Walla. However the noise of the aircraft did not seem right. He saw it making a very slow spiral decesnt apparently with engine problems. The aircraft was descending slow enough to strike three crewman after they had bailed out, killing all three. He does not know if any other got out. He says it took sometime for the aircraft to impact upon which it started a small forest fire. I imagine the fuselage and rest of the aircraft is somewhere in the area, probably in the creek drainage… Maybe some time I’ll get abck and have a more time to explore. I’ll try to scan the fire lookouts report and post it.
I’ll post some larger pics when i get a chance if there is interest.
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