Need help identifying possible military aircraft crash site

[yak18pilot]

While out hiking last week in California's Bay Area, I stumbled across a very old plane wreck site. It most likely was civilian and most likely occurred in the late 1950's early 1960's time frame and the site appears to have been cleaned up, but on multiple remaining pieces of the wreck is a coat of silver paint as used on military aircraft of the 1940's & 50's. Below the silver is a coat of tan paint. Overlaid on top of the silver are red and yellow coats of paint. The coat of silver paint suggests it may have been an aircraft requisitioned during WWII. The remains at the crash site indicate a radial engine, steel tube fuselage and fabric covered wood wings. There are multiple small pieces at the site and it looks like the aircraft hit the impact site hard and evidence inidicates it was a fatal wreck. The site is in a regional park but the park archaeologist has no record of it, and there are no NTSB records of this crash going back to 1962(the earliest year records are available online).
I've posted photos below hoping the hive mind here on WIX could at least figure out what type of aircraft it is. Thanks for any and all help!

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Wreck Steel Tube.jpeg (70.18 KiB) Viewed 3076 times

[yak18pilot]

Here's a small handle I also found at the wreck site. It has a partially legible part number:

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Wreck handle.jpeg (46.68 KiB) Viewed 3075 times

[yak18pilot]

Here some more pieces from the wreck site

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[JohnB]

Don't discount the possibility that the silver was a primer.

[Chris Brame]

I posted a link to this thread on the Wreckchasing forum - someone there should know.

ETA: https://wreckchasing.websitetoolbox.com ... 1322273564

Last edited by Chris Brame on Mon Jan 18, 2021 10:51 am, edited 1 time in total.

[yak18pilot]

Chris;
Thanks for forwarding this.

John B;
I've thought about silver as a primer coat. That is possible. It is on top of a light tan coat of paint. I also found other small paint chips that had a deep blue on top of the silver which might have indicated insignia blue (or a more complex civilian paint scheme).

It is amazing that this site is 30 feet off a trail that I've probably hiked 100 times in the last 15 years and just happened to walk off the trail in the right place to stumble into it...

[LysanderUK]

I can't help with an ID, but the red and yellow paint makes me think water bomber of some kind. Just a hunch.

[JohnB]

If you are thinking it is a civil type used (impressed) into military service, How about this...
Navy trainers had lots of yellow.
Instrument trainers had red bands.
So how about a Howard GH/NH a type often used as instrument trainers?

If that piece of cloth is an interior piece and it was a military aircraft at the time of the crash, the color would suggest a former civil ship, I would have thought a purpose built military AC would have a darker interior.
Anyone know the interior colors of Navy GH/GBs?

Last edited by JohnB on Mon Jan 18, 2021 10:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[bdk]

Notice also the wrapped and soldered control cable. The bracket attached to the cable looks like it may have been part of a wooden aileron. This suggests a pre-WW2 aircraft, but that cable splicing method could have been used for a repair part.

https://nc3397.blogspot.com/2011/01/flu ... wires.html

[yak18pilot]

The picture of yellow vinyl appears to be interior trim. There were several small pieces scattered around the wreck site. I think it is a post-war crash as there is a suitcase tag belonging to a woman who lived in Fresno, CA at the address indicated from 1952-1956. She was not killed in the crash (and I don't think she was even aboard) and passed away in 1988. There's also an Avon lipstick tube and a women's wristwatch. A Howard DGA is a possibility. I haven't been able to match up the piece of steel tubular fuselage I found to any photos of DGA fuselage. There are sadly still human remains at the site...

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Wreck part 3.jpeg (96.36 KiB) Viewed 2403 times

Wreck tag.jpeg (89.38 KiB) Viewed 2403 times

[CoastieJohn]

FWIW.......

https://www.planecrashmap.com/map/ca/

[Chris Brame]

Some newspaper archive digging so far has turned up a Mrs. Frank Wharton, Jr. at that address; Frank Wharton of Fresno shows up later as being killed in an auto accident there on March 20, 1961. I tried "Francis Wharton" but it didn't turn anything up.

[yak18pilot]

CoastieJohn; thanks for the map. Unfortunately, this crash is not on there, nor is the Bearcat crash site about 4 miles to the northeast...

Chris; I've already researched the Wharton's and neither Frank or Ava died in this crash. Ava's sister did die in 1961, but so far I have not yet been able to link that death to the crash. Pat Macha says it is not in his records going back to 1959. So far it is a mystery...

[CoastieJohn]

CoastieJohn; thanks for the map. Unfortunately, this crash is not on there, nor is the Bearcat crash site about 4 miles to the northeast...

Chris; I've already researched the Wharton's and neither Frank or Ava died in this crash. Ava's sister did die in 1961, but so far I have not yet been able to link that death to the crash. Pat Macha says it is not in his records going back to 1959. So far it is a mystery...

Here is some info you may/may not have located yet. You should have enough info to find some family members. You can reach out to them and see what they know, maybe they have some newspaper clippings of the mishap?? I'd reach out to the Wharton family in Kansas first to see if by some odd chance it was Frank who may have perished in the mishap. Other possibilities....it was Iva D. who was on that mishap....or possibly Frank or Amy gave away or sold that piece of luggage that had the ID tag on it to someone else and they were on the mishap aircraft.

I haven't gone much past this. Good luck.....

Here's what I found so far.

A Franklin G. Wharton Jr died in 1959 "near Fresno" in someone's family tree (Very suspect info). Cali Death Index says 20 Mar 1961, VA Headstone confirms date 3/21/61, buried at the Oakley Cemetery in Oakley, Thomas County, Kansas.
His spouse at one time was Amy Eva Wharton (Jasperson). Marriage was OOA Aug 16, 1936. The Morning Chronicle, Manhattan, KS 8/19/36. Don't know if they had any kids.
In 1955, a Frank Wharton was at the address on that ID tag, no Amy E. listed. City Directory. I suspect they divorced.
An Amy Jasperson got married on Aug 7th, 1971 in Fresno to Arne Jalonen. Cali Marriage Index, Arne's death 8/29/2000
An Amy J. (Jasperson?) Jalonen passed on 3/17/1998. LKA - 93630 Kerman, Fresno, California, USA SSN Death Index
Iva Dorthy Jasperson (Amy's sister) died in Orange County, Cali. Someone's family tree. Will need to confirm that.
Iva got married in 1936 in KS.

[marine air]

I was thinking of a civilian aircraft built for the military, surpluses soon after and given a splash of civilian paint. The tubing looks like landing gear to me. The handle is a great clue.