Date:	Sunday 20 February 1944
Time:	12:00
Type:	Curtiss C-46A-10-CU Commando
Owner/operator:	Western Air Lines, lsf United States Army Air Force - USAAF
Registration:	41-12363
MSN:	26490
Year of manufacture:	1943
Engine model:	Pratt & Whitney R-2800-51
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	32 km SE of Palmdale, CA -   United States of America
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	Wickenburg Municipal Airport, AZ
Destination airport:	Long Beach Municipal Airport, CA (LGB/KLGB)

Narrative:
The C-46 took off from Wickenburg, AZ at 07:43 on a training flight. The crew were performing an instrument let down to Long Beach when it flew into the side of Pallet Mountain at an altitude of 7300 feet. The wreckage was found on February 26, 1944.

Aviation Archaeological Investigation and Research (AAIR)
Plane wreck is located (Nevada State Journal, 1944-02-27)
Aircraft Wrecks in the Mountains and Deserts of the American West
Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945, Vol. 2: July 1943-July 1944 / Anthony J. Mireles

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