The NC14935: Evidence of a 1936 Airplane Crash
Near Kellogg, Idaho
Background Research

Background research was conducted by TIGHAR members Bill Carter, Walt Holm, and Arthur Rypinski. They found that the circumstances of the crash had been rather heavily (although not always consistently) documented by local media as well as by the Bureau of Air Commerce. Based on accounts by members of the search party that found the wreck, the Kellogg Evening News reported that the aircraft, when found, was “a twisted piece of wreckage strewn along the rugged mountain ridge about 300 feet below the crest.” It went on to say that:

The giant motors were some distance above the body of the plane, evidently imbedded in the earth and rocks where the plane first struck. The body of the plane appeared to have rolled back down the steep slope some 50 feet. The wings were broken off and the tail of the ship was standing in the air.6
Another issue of the newspaper reported that:
The front end of the plane burst into flames and considerable of the wreckage was destroyed. Nine of the 16 mail sacks were burned … It was reported that very little of the wrecked plane could be salvaged, the terrific impact of the machine against the mountain reducing the plane to a mass of wreckage.7

These descriptions suggested that while the forward part of the aircraft had been destroyed by the crash, the after part of the fuselage may have rolled downhill away from the burning engines and fuel tanks, and been sufficiently well preserved to have permitted the recovery of some mail sacks. This piece of wreckage, it was thought, might preserve dados if they had been present.

The news accounts also provided enough locational detail to allow TIGHAR researchers to narrow the search area to the headwaters of three small west-flowing drainages above the 5,000 foot (1524 meter) elevation on the St. Joe Ranger District.


6 Kellogg Evening News, December 26, 1938
7 Kellogg Evening News, December 28, 1936

Introduction & Purpose Background Research Fieldwork Site Description Aircraft Parts Noted Interpretation
Research Results; Eligibility for National Register; Acknowledgements Bibliography Appendix 1: Advertisement for LUX Airplane Fire System

About TIGHAR Join TIGHAR TIGHAR Projects TIGHAR Publications Contract Services
The TIGHAR Store TIGHAR Forum Contact TIGHAR TIGHAR Home

TIGHAR logo

Copyright 2021 by TIGHAR, a non-profit foundation. No portion of the TIGHAR Website may be reproduced by xerographic, photographic, digital or any other means for any purpose. No portion of the TIGHAR Website may be stored in a retrieval system, copied, transmitted or transferred in any form or by any means, whether electronic, mechanical, digital, photographic, magnetic or otherwise, for any purpose without the express, written permission of TIGHAR. All rights reserved.

Contact us at: info@tighar.org  •   Phone: 610.467.1937   •   JOIN NOW