B-17 Crash Wreckage - Near Crown Point, Colorado

[barmtrail]

How far is this crash from Canon city?

[rdsherwood]

@barmtrail Quite a ways. It's about 30 miles northwest of Fort Collins, so roughly 175 miles from Canon City.

[rhett443]

My mind wanders for ever when i think about, who ws in this plane, how did it crash and why

[rdsherwood]

@rhett443 Please read my earliest comments. I provide a little history about the crash and the crewmen.

[datzfast]

should be able to spot it on google earth

[rdsherwood]

@datzfast Maybe. I believe Google Earth has a 2-meter resolution (I may be wrong on that), and I'm not sure any of the prices are bigger than 2 meters.

[humvee600]

is it still there?

[rdsherwood]

@humvee600

Yes

[urbantomcatburban22r]

this was only 1 of 2 b17 crashes that day. this was was mostly intact, till the army blew it up in feer that people would think it was a "new" plane crash, granted it happened 60+ years agao, people wouldn't think that now. 6 people onboard, 3 lived and 3 died. I flew over and found it in my twin, but didn't have the lat and lon. it's only a 10 mile hike round trip from the csu ropes course. The other one that crashed was destroyed cause of landing in boulder field. it's AWESOME to hike it.

[choptopsled]

GPS location anyone? id love to go check it out!

[rdsherwood]

GPS coordinates, maps and a detailed hike description are posted on my Colorado Hiking Trails web site. I apparently can't put a web site URL in comments here, but go to coloradohikingtrails (dot) net, click on Trails Index, and look for Crown Point B-17 Crash Site-Old Flowers Trail 939. It should have all the info you need to get there.

[choptopsled]

i think the sites down...

[rdsherwood]

Seems to be working fine now. Please try it again.

[ingz1993]

why the hell did i think of lego when i saw this? xD

great vid though

[nolifemerc]

any guns or ammo left? why dont tussaf remove this.

[rdsherwood]

No, I think they were removed or destroyed by the AF shortly after the crash.

[100thbombgroup]

Fantastic and very interesting.Thanks for posting.

It would be good to know that some of the items found would go to a musuem.

thanks.

[rdsherwood]

I've not heard any discussion of placing any of the tiems in a museum - but who knows. The wreck site gets a lot of foot traffic, but fortunately it is in a very remote area (a fairly strenuous 6-mile hike from the trailhead), so it doesn't appear to be pilfered or looted - too much work to get the items out!

Thanks for your comments. Glad you enjoyed the video.

[100thbombgroup]

Thanks for getting back to me regarding this.

To think that most of this B-17 is still there after 60+ years,it looks like it was only there for a few days.

If a was lucky to be living in the area I would walk the 6 miles or more just to look at it.

Thanks

[rdsherwood]

Here are some more details of the crash:

On June 13, 1944, the B-17 left Minot, North Dakota on a flight to Denver, Colorado. The route took them Southwest, but they veered too far West, over the mountains of northern Colorado, rather than over the plains of eastern Colorado. It was dark, and the plane hit the north-facing mountainside at about 10,750 feet elevation. The pilot, copilot, navigator and tailgunner were killed. 6 crewmen survived.

[rdsherwood]

The next morning, two of the crewmen walked downslope about 2 miles, where they encountered two fishermen who drove them to Ft Collins, where they notified authorities, who rescured the remaining four survivors at the crash site.

The wreck was demolished by the Army with dynamite 6 weeks after the wreck. Lots of small pieces, engines, gear, wingtips, wing pieces, and the top turret cage survive.