The mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle had blown our minds but how about Sierra Nevada?
A little geography before I deep dive into Sierra Nevada, The Sierra Nevada is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily in Nevada.
The Sierra Nevada is part of the American Cordillera, an almost continuous chain of mountain ranges that forms the western "backbone" of the Americas.
There are around 2000 planes gone missing in Nevada Triangle, no wreckage, no remains of the passengers it's like they vanished into thin air, Whooshed
One of the most famous incidents was disappearance of the billionaire Steve Fossett on September 3, 2007. He was a modern day adventurer, Steve was an experienced pilot he was the first to fly travel around the world,also he travelled around the world non stop 5 times with a balloon all by himself. So calling him an experienced pilot is underestimating his piloting skills
Steve disappeared in the early hours of Labor Day, he was flying with a small plane from Nevada to California, when he didn't arrive, there was a search for him and his aircraft and rescue teams returned back empty handed.
Most people thought Steve either faked his own death or his plane got shot inside Area 51
Nothing was found until the end of September 2008, a year later, after his disappearance, a hiker discovered bone fragments and that led researchers the wreckage of the plane
The final report of the investigation attributed the wreck to strong winds and current geographic conditions , but when he left the air condition was nice and the conclusion was a bit suspicious
According to experts aircrafts are likely to have incidents due to the wind & air conditions in the are. Also the turbulent winds rugged landscape makes skilled pilots cautious,
However everyone forgets one critical factor that Area 51 is at the heart of the Nevada Triangle.
Also Area 51 is highly classified air base, also ground zero for the military’s most closely guarded secrets.The most famous “secret” air base is that of Area 51 is located inside of the Sierra Nevada, As you know it's heavily guarded, you can't get near without being stopped by heavily armed guards, but what happens if a plane gets near Area 51 accidentally? They'll most possibly be shut down and probably covered up
Steve Fossett's disappearance is just one of the famous but Sierra Nevada still hides many tragedies.
The Missing B-24 Bomber
The Missing B-24 Bomber is most probably one of the earliest planes that has been reported missing. B-24 Bomber had been reported missing was on December 5, 1943
When the B-24 bomber disappeared. It was on a routine night training that began from Fresno, California, to Bakersfield, California, then to Tucson, Arizona, and back.
The bomber was carrying pilot 2nd Lieutenant Willis Turvey and co-pilot 2nd Lieutenant Robert M. Hester, along with four other crew members – 2nd Lieutenant William Thomas Cronin, 2nd Lieutenant Ellis H. Fish, Sergeant Robert Bursey, and Sergeant Howard A. Wandtke.
The next day they have started the research with 9 B-24 Bombers, but one of the B-24 Bombers carrying Squadron Commander Captain William Darden along with his crew also went missing during the search.
Commander Captain William Darden's plane wasn’t found until 1955 when Huntington Lake reservoir was drained in order to make repairs to the dam. At 190 feet below the water, the five crew members were still sitting in their stations inside of the aircraft.
Two of the crew members, however, parachuted from the plane and survived. The survivors statement was that the pilot must have mistakenly thought that the water was frozen and decided that it was a good place to land, but the lake was not frozen and the bomber ended up at the bottom of lake.
The Original B-24 bomber that had gone missing on December 5th was finally found in July 1960 by geological survey researchers, the wreckage in and near Hester Lake.
The Gambler’s Special
On February 18, 1969, Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708 – nicknamed the Gambler’s Special was traveling from Long Beach, to Burbank, and then to Hawthorne, carrying people to gamble and have fun. Gambler's Special gone missing with the 35 people on board,During the search efforts, five more people died. Rescue team finally found the wreckage at Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the Sierra Nevadas. The final reports claim. There was no evidence of any mechanical or electrical malfunction so it’s unclear as to what caused the plane to crash.
The 1957 Disappearance Of A Training Jet
Yet another disappearance of another Jet. On May 9, 1957, yet another military plane went missing when Air Force Lieutenant David Steeves was flying a T-33 training jet from Hamilton Air Force Base near San Francisco on route to Arizona
He was officially declared death when his plane himself couldn't be found after an extensive search, but miraculously 54 days later, the pilot made his way to a camp in Kings Canyon National Park.
He told to officials that his plane his plane had exploded and he had to eject from the aircraft, during landing he badly injured himself and wrapped into his parachute to keep him warm as he crawled more than 20 miles in freezing temperatures at a high altitude for 15 days without shelter or food.
He later on found an abandoned National Park Service cabin where he found some food to eat and was able to fish and hunt until he gathered enough strength to keep on going and eventually found civilization.
Boy Scouts found the canopy of his jet un 1977, but there was no sign of the wreckage has ever been found.
In 1941, Lieutenant Leonard C. Lydon was flying his Army fighter squadron over the mountains when he had to parachute out of the aircraft He landed within a mile of where.the plane had crashed but to this day nobody had found the remains of his plane
In August of 1964, Charles Ogle a wealthy real estate developer named took off from Oakland, California but vanished on his way to Las Vegas. He was a trained pilot with the Marine Corps, Neither him nor his plane has ever been found.
On July 11, 1986, Major Ross Mulhare flew an F-117 into a mountain near Bakersfield, California. The cause of the crash has never been officially revealed.
Image credit Andre Wadman
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