Date:  January 24, 1952

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Aircraft:  Grumman HU-16 Albatross (U.S. Navy/USAF/CIA utility amphibian)

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Agency Involved:  Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

 

Route:  Secret transfer flight from a remote facility in Idaho to a naval air station near San Diego

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Incident Location:  Over Death Valley, California while en route across the desolate terrain of Death Valley, the aircraft loses power in one of its radial engines.  With its remaining engine overheating and terrain rising sharply ahead, the pilot gives the order to bail out.  All six crew members including two pilots, a radio operator, and three intelligence officers successfully parachute into the desert.  The aircraft, still in flight, continues unmanned on a descending arc before crashing into the face of a remote mountain in the Panamint Range.  The crew survives and is rescued two days later by a search team from Edwards Air Force Base.  The crash site is unreachable by foot and remains classified.  The wreckage is never recovered.  Some claim it held sensitive reconnaissance equipment or documents related to early Cold War operations.  Rumors persist that the crew were on a mission tied to nuclear surveillance or defected Soviet scientists.