Date:	Monday 6 December 1943
Time:	09:50
Type:	Consolidated B-24H Liberator
Owner/operator:	United States Army Air Force (USAAF)
Registration:	42-7674
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 8
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Huntington Lake, Fresno County, CA -   United States of America
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Hammer Field/Fresno, CA
Destination airport:	return to same

Narrative:
Crashed. B-24H Liberator #42-7674, assigned to the 766th Squadron, 461st Bomb Group, on the morning of December 6, 1943, was dispatched along with seven other planes out of Hammer Field, in Fresno, California to search for another B-24 that was missing from a training flight from the evening before. As his bomber flew over the Sierra Nevada range, it developed engine troubles and Captain Darden ordered his crew to bail out. But only two crewmembers parachuted out of the crippled plane in time before it crashed into Huntington Lake, high in the Sierra National Forest, east-southeast of Oakhurst. Six Army fliers perished. Some speculation was that Captain Darden mistook the long, thin, snow covered lake as a meadow and attempted a crash landing, and then the airplane fell through the ice. The bomber was not found until August, 1955, when the lake was drained for dam repairs, and at which time the remains of the six crew who perished were removed. The other B-24 they were searching for, was not discovered until July, 1960, in a lake nearly 100 miles to the southeast of where Captain Darden's crew was lost. That crashsite (B-24 #41-28463) would later in history become known as the Hester Lake B-24 incident.
The wreckage of the plane was never retrieved. Attempts were made, during the lowering of the lake in 1955, but failed. Another retrieval attempt was made in the 1980's, but was only moderately successful, bringing up some engines and other smaller parts.

The plane sank in Huntington Lake on December 6, 1943 while on a joint search and rescue operation for another plane in the area.

Killed were:

Capt. William H. Darden, O-389288, VA, Pilot/Squadron Commander
2nd Lt. Samuel J. Schlosser, O-797409, NY, Navigator
Sgt. Erwin Mayo, 35448517, NY, Asst. Flight Engineer
S/Sgt. Franklin C. Nyswonger, 16009396, WI, Flight Engineer
Sgt. Richard L. Spangle, 19103003, CA, Gunner
Sgt. Donald C. Vande Plasch, 36279044, WI, Gunner

The co-pilot and radio operator survived by parachuting prior to the crash landing.

http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/db.asp
Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945, Anthony J. Mireles
http://usaafdata.com/?q=search&page=1606&order=field..
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/2811319/samuel-j-schlosser
[LINK NOT WORKING ANYMORE:http://www.sacbee.com/2013/07/25/5597294/world-war-ii-b-24-bomber-crash.html]

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
13-Jun-2014 11:55	gerard57	Updated [Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Phase, Source, Narrative]
07-Nov-2020 08:28	Anon.	Updated [Narrative]
11-Apr-2021 20:42	TB	Updated [Location]
11-Apr-2021 20:48	TB	Updated [Departure airport]
11-Apr-2021 20:49	TB	Updated [Narrative]
14-Mar-2022 06:46	Gumby778	Updated [Time, Location, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category]