Never knew about this. @tetoncounty have you ever seen the wreckage in person?



While cruising by night and in foggy conditions, the aircraft hit the slope of the Mt Moran (12,605 feet high) located in the northwest part of Wyoming, south of the Yellowstone National Park. The aircraft departed Chico, California, at 1515LT, to Billings, Montana, carrying eight children, ten adults and a crew of three. The aircraft hit the mountain at approximately 1750LT. As the aircraft failed to arrive in Billings, SAR operations were conducted. The following day, farmers told the local authorities that fire was spotted in the mountain and that it was not possible to find anything burning at this period of the year except maybe the crashed aircraft. As the accident zone was unreachable, it took time to rescuers to find the wreckage. All 21 occupants have been killed.








This photograph was taken at the crash site of DC-3 N74586 in August 1951. The purpose of the gathering on Mt. Moran in the Grand Tetons was to pay respect to the twenty-one souls who perished there on November 21, 1950. The Park Service and the next of kin agreed, that because it was too dangerous, the bodies of the victims would remain on the mountain. Following a difficult six hour climb to reach the crash site a memorial service was held. Reverend J. Ruskin Garber, an ordained minister, who represented the New Tribes Mission conducted the memorial service. He is seen standing on the left, close to the wreckage of the DC-3. Joining him were Clifford Martz of the New Tribes Mission, three master mountaineers and guides:  Glenn Exum, Paul Petzolt, and Dick Emerson.  Also in attendance were several doctors, and an aeronautical engineer. This photo was provided by Sandra and John Garber, the daughter and son of Reverend Garber.

https://www.aircraftwrecks.com/pages/dc3.htm

https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-douglas-dc-3c-mt-moran-21-killed#

Both of these sites list different dates, on the 21st, one the 23rd

Interesting,  thanks

Wow. An incident like that has as much of a story to it as the Titanic. The numbers are different enough that it just fades into the past.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks OP. RIP All.

Bump for morning crew

I've been there several times over the years. The plane hit the east face of Moran above the Skillet Glacier.
Over the years avalanches have spread the wreckage down the glacier and over the terminal moraine. There's pieces of junk up there everywhere.

The crash was reported by folks living up in Moran. Blake Vanderwater, who was an NPS ranger, and Paul Petzoldt climbed to the site of the wreck. That was no mean feat in those days at that time of year in that weather.
Vanderwater was awarded the Park Service's highest award for heroism. He went on to run a general store in Jackson for many years, and had a nice ranch up Fish Creek. I knew him in his nineties when I built a deck on the old house. My wife helped him with some real estate stuff.

I've bivouacked on the Glacier before a climb. Kind of eerie to think about it.
A friend of mine climbed the Northeast Ridge some years ago. He said, while he was climbing, he found a finger bone with a ring on it. Left it right where he found it.

We have something like that here in Va.


On May 28, 1971, Audie Murphy, the most decorated US soldier in World War II, died in an airplane crash on the slopes of Brush Mountain, near New Castle, VA. Three years later, the Veterans of Foreign Wars placed a stone monument near the site of the crash. The monument may be approached in several ways. For those wanting only a short walk, you may drive up Brush Mountain, but be prepared for a winding, graveled road. The road ends at the parking lot and from there it is an easy 1/2 mile hike to the monument. After viewing the monument, take the short trail to the rocky overlook to get beautiful views of the Craig Creek Valley.

Also flight 349 Afton mtn flight 349

Thank you for sharing. Do you think leaving the finger was the right thing to do vs burying it?

Sixty years down the road, I imagine all the families of those involved are gone. Maybe not. What he told me is that he happened to see the ring in a crack while scrambling. It was just an odd chance. Northeast Ridge is a fourth class scramble and is actually above the site of the crash. Maybe it was blown there. Maybe a raven picked it up and dropped it.

Whatever else you might think about it, this is clear: Everything connected with that wreckage is in a National Park. The Park Service has run sting operations to catch people picking up arrowheads down at Jackson Lake just below Mt. Moran.  So I'd personally be cautious about picking up anything up there, and talking to the Park about it.

Reminds me of a c-124 that crashed here in 1952.  

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2020/06/28/more-fragments-from-1952-air-force-plane-crash-found-in-alaska-glacier/

This reminds me of a disappearance over northern Canada where I used to live. A C-54 tried to fly from Alaska to Montana in January of 1950. Never seen again. It amazes me what they considered a routine flight back then. Relatively low altitude, few navigational aids, through trackless mountain wilderness, in winter. This plane was lost somewhere over country so remote and so vast that you could drop an aircraft carrier into it and never find it in a hundred years.

After the 1988 Yellowstone fires they discovered a B 17 that had been missing since 1944, lost while crossing the country.

You can still see shimmers from the wreckage.  Crazy story, sucky way to go.

I’m from Driggs, on the west slope of the Tetons. Made the hike to see it in high school.