WWII Bomber crash on Van Wyck (Catskills)

[Jay H]

Snowshoe points out that there is a WWII era bomber crash, fairly intact on Van Wyck. Anybody know roughly or precisely for that matter where it is? Only info I got from somebody at the Catskills Center was it's not a bomber and happened about 25 years below and hit a ridge below the summit.

Jay

 

[Rivet]

I heard there was some kind of marker or memorial for this crash near the summit of Van Wyck.
But never visited this mountain myself.

 

[funkyfreddy]

Now we'll have to go back there for another look, won't we Jay? Maybe we can do Woodhull mountain then climb Van Wyck from the east, or we could stay at the Table lean-to and try to search more of Van Wyck's circumference. I would like to go to that viewpoint again on a nice sunny day!

 

[Jay H]

Yeah, sounds fun to me... I guess you mean do Van Wyck from the west. That's the other viewpoint that we missed.

Actually that trip from Woodhull->Van Wyck->Table->Lone->Rocky->Balsam Cap->friday-> Cornell->Wittenerg sounds interesting...

Jay

 

[Tom Rankin]

Yeah, sounds fun to me... I guess you mean do Van Wyck from the west. That's the other viewpoint that we missed.

Actually that trip from Woodhull->Van Wyck->Table->Lone->Rocky->Balsam Cap->friday-> Cornell->Wittenerg sounds interesting...

Jay

ERD knows quite a bit about Catskill crashes... I'll tell him about this thread...

 

[erd]

Tom alerted me to this thread. I've been researching (in a somewhat haphazard way) the Catskill crashes for several years now. There are two crashes on Van Wyck. The higher of the two, just below the summit knob as you approach on the ridge from Peekamoose, is civilian, and bears a small memorial marker placed by the 3500 Club on a nearby tree. The other crash is not of a bomber but of a two-engine jet trainer, a Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star, and is situated lower on the ridge.

Perhaps the most spectacular crash in the Catskills is that of the B-25 Mitchell bomber (1948), to be found in the Friday-BC drainage. Thanks to a friend, I have the official report of that crash. I requested a report on the Lockheed incident from the Air Force, who were supposed to send it months ago., so I have few specifics until (if) that arrives.

There was a third crash in the Van Wyck vicinity, a Canadian air force plane that plunged into the VW-Table ridge. That was removed by the Canadians and though I have an approximate location, there is nothing much to be found at this point in time. Somewhere I have copies of newspaper articles on this.

All of these flights took lives, so the crash remains stand as a form of memorial, and should be treated with respect. This should go without saying, but some have spray painted the remains or scratched their names, or have carried bits away, etc.

Ted.

 

[funkyfreddy]

Thanks Erd for the info and Tom for alerting you. I try to be respectful of everything I find in the forest - plane crash sites, old ruins and grave sites, streams, trees, summits, etc., and try to leave no trace of my passing as best I can.

Jay, I did mean the west....... I'll have to be more careful when I post late at night after marathon recording sessions! Thanks, Fred

 

[Rivet]

I posted this in another thread, but was directed here.



I read that there is an airplane crash on Overlook Mountain below the trail just where you start to get views. Any body seen it?

 

[erd]

I'd be interested in hearing of an Overlook crash also. I have heard rumor of that possibility, but have never encountered it.

 

[snowshoe]

I also heard there was one somewhere in the Slide My vicinity.?

 

[daxs]

Fred/Jay send me an email or PM when you are going to do this bushwack. I'd be interested in that hike.

 

[Jay H]

Hey Carol, OK, Fred and I actually hiked Van Wyck on the 2nd but we keep saying that we'd like to do it again on a nice day. It was overcast when we did it then.

Guaging from the replies about other crashes, there is probably a bit of interest in crashes on other mtns too, but we're going to need more info on those.

Jay