How Many Military Planes Have Crashed On Mt. Franklin In All?

A lot of El Pasoans are familiar with the story of a B-36 crashing into the Franklin Mountains back in the 50's.

The B-36 incident is not the only one of its kind involving military aircraft and the Franklin Mountains.

Throughout the Southwest in general, there have been many military crashes.

First, the more well known crash that occurred December 11th, 1953. A B 36 bomber headed for Biggs Army Airfield began circling over the city during a heavy snow storm.

It was due to arrive at 2:35pm, the tower lost radio contact with the plane about 2:30pm and the plane slammed into the mountain minutes later.

The snowstorm greatly hindered rescue efforts and the rough, mountain terrain made it impossible for crash trucks to reach the scene. All 9 crewmen aboard were killed.

You can hike to the crash site where wreckage from the plane can still be easily spotted.

Another bomber had previously struck the mountain, on the other side, about 10 years before, in July of 1943.

I couldn't find much about this one other than that it was around dusk as the plane embarked on a night training mission. All 7 crewman died. You can see a picture of them, with the plane, here.

Each of these 3 crashes are briefly mentioned about 30 minutes into this video.

March 23rd, 1944, it happened again to a B 24 Liberator.

The plane took off from Biggs Army Airfield but didn't get high enough to clear the mountain and flew right into it.

This crash site, near the base of Ranger Peak, is also accessible via a short, but rough, hike.

As far as directions, "halfway up the mountain above Memphis street" was the best I could do.