C-46 at BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAIN Sept 20, 1944.

On September 20, 1944 a C-46 transport plane departed Syracuse Army Air Base on a night time training mission. The plane and its crew were not seen again for 11 months. In the spring of 1997 I am planning an expedition to find the exact resting place of this plane. Once found I will leave a historical marker describing the circumstances of this flight. Who were the men of the C-46 crew? What happened that tragic night? Where is the plane now?

C-46 FLIGHT PLAN:

C-46 SPECIFICATIONS:

FORECAST:

NEWS STORY 1: NEWS STORY 2: NEWS STORY 3:

MAP OF LOCATION:

ARMY REPORT:

LOCATION OF PLANE:

THE SWITCH FROM C-47 TO C-46 AIRPLANES:

FLIGHT PLAN

FLIGHT PLAN 7397

TYPE OF AIRCRAFT-C-46

PILOT, LAST NAME ONLY - BAROHN

POINT OF DEPARTURE - DSU

ROUTE - TO: WATERTOWN, DANSVILLE, NORWICH, DSU

PROPOSED TAKE OFF TIME: 1900 HOURS

FLIGHT TIME EN ROUTE: 4:00 HOURS

HOURS OF FUEL: 9

REMARKS: I am familiar with the danger and restricted areas along my route and have read the latest weekly notice to airmen. /s/ William R. Barohn.

TIME APPROVAL RECEIVED: 1859

ACTUAL TAKE OFF TIME: 1932

AIRCRAFT CLEARANCE

PILOTS NAME: BAROHN, W.R.

RANK: 2ND LT.

HOME STATION: DSU

ORGANIZATION: 5TH CARGO COMBAT SQUADRON

AIRCRAFT NUMBER: 7397

NAME, INITIALS, RANK OF OTHER OCCUPANTS:

  PATE, C.G. 2ND LT

  POSKA, E.V. T/SGT

FORECAST: Low scattered cumulus at 3/4 thousand feet. Lowering to 10/10 coverage near Watertown to 15-25 hundred Ft. with occasional broken 8/10 clouds at 7-8 thousand feet to DA. Lowering in south N.Y. (Norwich) to 1-2 thousand feet. Visibility 6-8 miles in smoke lowering to 3 - 4 miles in haze and smoke by 2130E. Light rain in vicinity of Norwich. Visibility 3-4 miles.

RATSCIO-12-3 RE: your teletype AFAFS 646-1 search for C-46 43-107397 was officially abandoned as of 12 November 1944 upon orders from headquarters army air forces. Absolutely no trace of any wreckage or reports on missing crew have been had.

THE POST-STANDARD

SYRACUSE, N.Y. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21,1944

MATTYDALE AIRBASE PLANE MISSING ON ROUTINE TRIP

TRANSPORT CRAFT OVERDUE DURING TRAINING FLIGHT

A large twin engined comouflaged transport plane was missing from the Mattydale army airbase last night, unreported since 2 a.m. on a routine training flight. Lt. Col. Harry P. Galligher, base commander, said that the flight pattern had included training missions over Watertown, Oswego, Dansville, Norwich, and Syracuse, and he asked residents of these areas to report immediately any information about the craft. Identities of the crewmen were not disclosed, and the airbase declined to tell how many had been aboard the ship when it went aloft.

According to Col. Galligher, the plane may be identified thru a number, 115, on the central section of its fuselage and the figures, 42-107397, on its tail. Moreover, he said, the nose of the transport is painted red. Since the plane took off at 2 a.m. yesterday, the colonel reported, there had been no word from it, and there was no information, on the direction it had taken after the takeoff. Several transports from the Mattydale field were sent up during the day to fly over the area of the missing plane's training pattern, but no clues had been sighted up to late last night.

The unreported ship is similar to those that have flown over Central New York for months, and Col. Galligher said that this fact should be noted by area residents believing they had information on the craft's fate. A plane appeared over Watertown about 8 p.m., Tuesday, showing the usual red and green signal lights. It appeared from the southwest, flying at first almost directly north but swung to the northwest when about over Public sq. At the time a brilliant white light appeared along the rear edge of the left wing. The plane disappeared toward the St. Lawrence river. A plane was heard over Watertown twice at 10 and 10:30 p.m. but no one has reported its direction.

THE POST-STANDARD

SYRACUSE, N.Y., FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1944

SCORES OF REPORTS ON PLANE YIELD NO REAL AID TO SEARCH

Since announcement was made by Lt. Col. Harry P. Galligher, commanding officer of Syracuse army air base, that a base transport, was missing, scores of reports have come in from persons who heard the big plane, but none has yielded a tangible clue. The plane left the airbase at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and was to have flown over Watertown, Oswego, Dansville, and Norwich. Since then other fliers have traced hte flight pattern constantly and also have flown where residents of the areas thought they heard the missing ship.

Not a single trace had been found. Meanwhile the airbase has notified next of kin of the three missing men. Aboard the plane were:

Second Lt. William R. Barohn, whose wife, Mrs. Leona Barohn lives in Syracuse;
Second Lt. Charles G. Pate, son of Mrs. J.I. Pate of pine Bluff, Ark.;
T/Sgt. Edward V. Paska, son of Mrs. Helen Poska of Hartford, Conn.

Col. Galligher issued a second appeal to residents of Upstate New York to search for the plane and to report if they saw the ship or heard anything unusual. It was a two-engined transport, similar to those used by base fliers all spring and summer, and its nose was painted red. On the fuselage were painted the numbers 115 and on its tail section was painted 42-107397.

  OSWEGO PALLADIUM-TIMES, MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 1945

ARMY TRANSPORT PLANE, MISSING MONTHS, FOUND

THREE DECOMPOSED BODIES DISCOVERED IN WRECKAGE IN ADIRONDACKS.

ROME(AP) - Search continued today for a civilian plane, missing since July 18, after forest rangers last night reached a wrecked army transport with three decomposed bodies inside on Snowy Mountain, about 15 miles from Indian Lake Village and 10 miles south of Lewey Lake.

Authorities of the Rome Air field said soldiers would attempt to reach the wrecked transport, tentatively identified as a C-46 sometime today.

A C-46 disappeared last Sept. 20 on a routine flight from the Syracuse Army Air base, Army officials said. Aboard it were 2nd Lt. William R. Barohn, Syracuse; 2nd Lt. C.C. Pate, Pine Bluff, Ark., and Tech Sgt. Edward V. Paska, Hartford, Conn.

A civilian pilot, searching for the civilian plane which disappeared on a flight from Lake Placid to Boonville, spotted the transport. Fred MacLane, Conservation department pilot, directed the Rangers to the scene from the air by walkie-talkie.

The civilian plane was piloted by Ray Giles, Camden, and carried the Misses Shirley Whitey and Jeanne Adams of Rome.

Lewey Lake, Hamilton County is 13 miles north of Speculator and is the halfway mark to Indian Lake Village. It outlets into the Jessup River which forms Indian Lake.

Snowy Mountain, 3,900 feet, and one of the high peaks in the Adirondacks, stands near the southwesterly end of Lewey Lake, well known to hundreds of fishermen and hunters in the state. It is a densely wooded mountainous section.

Lewey Lake is 87 miles from Utica by highway. Its shores are state owned except for a small hotel and camps operated by Edward Galuska. Its inlet is the Miami River, a small winding stream which motorists cross in traveling the Speculator-Indian Lake highway.

At the time of the disappearance of the transport plane last fall, several clues were furnished to officers at the Syracuse base which carried on the search, though none pointed to the Long Lake region. It was felt that the plane had fallen in Lake Ontario.

During the night of the flight Watertown residents reported hearing and seeing the lights of the craft intermittently from about 9 to 10:30 p.m., and it was last seen heading northwest towards the St. Lawrence river. The last radio contact with Syracuse was about 2 a.m. the morning of the 20th.

For several weeks, transports from Syracuse base combed the area covering the scheduled flight of the missing plane which included Watertown, Dansville, Oswego, Norwich and Syracuse.

Following the routine army search from the Syracuse base, Mrs. Ambrose, sister of T. Sgt Poska and Mrs. Leona Barohn of Erie, Pa., wife of Lt Barohn, directed an intensive air and ground search, conducted over several periods and centering in Worth and Lorraine, Jefferson county, and in the Redfield forest tract.

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Barohn of Erie, parents of the lieutenant, resumed the search in May in the Redfield tract, but abandoned it because of the dense foliage, planning to renew it this fall.
When McLane started search for the Stinson, he received a request from Mrs. Poska to keep a watch for the wreckage of the C-46. Until yesterday approximately one third of the 3,000,000 acres of the Adirondacks had been covered with no clue as to the two planes.

(click for larger image)

THE POST STANDARD

SYRACUSE, N.Y., MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 1945

WRECKAGE OF ARMY PLANE FOUND IN THE ADIRONDACKS

HOLDS 3 BODIES, BELIEVED FROM SYRACUSE BASE....

WOODSMEN TREK THRU FOREST TO SCENE OF CRASH...

Cutting their way thru the dense undergrowth of Blue Ridge mountain, near Indian Lake, seven forest rangers and state troopers found the wreckage of a twin-engined C-46 transport holding the skeletons of its three-man crew yesterday afternoon.

The plane, lodged in a gully where it crashed without burning, was identified tentatively in first reports from the Rome air service command as the craft which disappeared from Syracuse army air base last Sept. 20.

SPOTTED BY FLIER

Spotted Saturday by CAP Pilot Harold Scott of Inlet and his two observers, CAP Lt. Bovard and Capt. Howard Partlow, both of Utica, the wreckage is abut three miles from the nearest clearing in a spot which has been scanned hundreds of times in the search for a Boonville cabin plane lost July 18, according to Capt. Lloyd Reeves of the army rescue control center, at Manchester, N.H., directing the cabin plane search.

Leaving Lewey lake house, a resort closest to the wreckage yesterday afternoon equipped with cutting tools and a walkie-talkie, the searching party was led by District Ranger Elmer Cole of Northville and Sgt. Schermerhorn of Troop B, state police, at Malone.

Overhead in the state conservation plane Maj. Fred McLane circled the wreckage and guided the party by radio thru five and a half hours of hiking.

The dense underbrush was so thick that the progress of the ground party could not be followed from the air, and after reaching the top of the ridge, the searchers had to appeal for compass directions by radio on three occasions.

Directed to build smudge fires so that their position could be located by McLane and Petty, the rangers received their directions from the plane thru Ranger John Hickey of Keene, who finally guided the party to within 300 feet of the wreckage by compass.

Reaching the plane, the party found three skeletons and identified the craft, and army officials at Rome air field were notified within 15 minutes of the finding, according to reports.

One of the fliers was identified last night, according to Capt. Reeves, tho army censorship held up release of information until next of kin are notified.

REMAIN AT SCENE

The searching party, composed of four troopers and three rangers, stayed at the wreckage last night and will remain on the spot until army officials from Rome inspect the wreckage and remove the skeletons today. They are in constant contact by radio with Ranger Orville Betters of Saranac Lake, who is posted at Lewey lake house and who

After Scott spotted the wreckage and took pictures, an army reconnaissance plane from Rome air field flew over the crash scene, according to Maj. Edwin C. Stein, Public relations officer of Rome air field.

The army personnel on the flight reported that the plane was too large for the missing Boonville plane and that the wreckage could be that of the camouflaged transport which was lost while on routine flight from Syracuse Army Air Base last September.

Aboard that plane were Second Lt. William R. Barohn, whose wife was living in Syracuse at the time of the plane's disappearance; Second Lt. Charles G. Pate of Pine Bluff, Ark., and T/Sgt. Edward V. Poska of Hartford, Conn.

At the time of the disappearance several clues were furnished officers at the Syracuse base which was carrying on the search, tho none pointed to the Long Lake region. It was felt that the plane had fallen into Lake Ontario.

During the night of the flight Watertown residents reported hearing and seeing the lights of the craft intermittently from about 9 to 10:30 p.m. and it was last seen heading northwest towards the St. Lawrence river. The last radio contact with Syracuse was about 2 a.m. the morning of the 20th.

WOODSMEN RETURN AFTER HACKING WAY TO PLANE

Three bruised and rain-soaked members of a nine-man party which hacked its way thru dense undergrowth of the Adirondacks in a missing C-46 plane on the side of Blue Ridge Mountain Sunday night returned to Indian Lake yesterday.

HARROWING TRIP

Led by District Ranger Elmer Cole of Northville, they told a harrowing tale of slashing file miles thru never before penetrated forest from Lewey Lake resort to the smashed transport.

Army personnel sent to slash a path to the wreckage early yesterday returned about 10:30 p.m. and said they had definitely identified the plane and its three occupants as those missing since Sept. 19, according to Maj. Edwin C. Stein, public relations officer at the Rome Air field.

The men said the plane apparently had crashed head-on into the mountain and did not burn, Maj. Stein said.

The civilian party was led into the Adirondacks by Cole and State Police Sgt. Henry N. Schermerhorn of Troop B. Malone.

Six members of the party remained behind to aid army personnel when it reached the scene, while Cole and his two companions returned at 6 p.m. yesterday.

AIDED BY PLANES

The search party, aided by planes circling the wreckage, reached the scene of the disaster at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Cole said.

It took the searchers seven hours to cut their way thru the underbrush from Lewey Lake. Constant communication was kept with the guiding planes by walkie-talkie.

At no time during the 10 month search for the transport had there been any thought that the plane might have fallen in the Adirondacks.

After the plane was reported found, fliers speculated that the pilot, missing Wheeler-Saxe field at Pine Camp, where his passage would have been recorded, continued on a course until disaster struck.

SOUGHT FOR MONTHS

Discovery of the missing transport ended a series of searches thru the Redfield forest area, conducted intermittently last fall, winter and spring......

Searchers said the spot where the transport was spotted by Scott had been flown over hundreds of times in the hunt for the lost cabin plane. Meanwhile, organized search for the Boonville ship was help up yesterday by poor visibility.

ARMY AIR FORCES

REPORT OF MAJOR ACCIDENT

AAF FORM NO. 14

SECTION M, ITEM 1

DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCIDENT

C-46A NO. 42-107397

At 1932 EWT 19 September 1944, 2nd Lt. William R. Barohn, 0-720991, departed from Syracuse Army Air Base in C-46 No. 42-107397, on a night navigation training mission. Other crew members were 2nd Lt. Charles G. Pate, 0-720556, co-pilot, and T/Sgt. Edward V. Poska, 1140975, engineer. The route of the proposed flight was Syracuse - Watertown - Danville - Norwich - Syracuse. After the aircraft departed from Syracuse, it was never heard from again until it was spotted by the pilot of a CAP aircraft 4 August 1945 while on a searching mission for another lost aircraft.

A ground and air search was initiated the morning after the aircraft id not return from its night flight, and a total of over 1000 hours flying time was spent with no results. The search was finally abandoned and the aircraft was given up as lost until it was sighted 4 August 1945 by a CAP pilot searching for a lost civilian aircraft.

The wrecked aircraft was found approximately 12 miles NNW of Speculator, New York which is 57 miles ENE of Rome Army Air Field.

The aircraft was flown directly into the NE slope of one of the southern ridges of Blue Ridge Mountain, striking the mountain approximately 400 ft. from the crest at an altitude of approximately 3200 ft. The terrain at the point of impact was solid rock, heavily wooded, sloping at approximately 50 degrees.

The aircraft had flown directly into the face of this ridge in normal level flight and with power on, from a north-easterly direction. Approximately 50 sq. yd. area of undergrowth of the mountain had been knocked down, with the exception of several trees which withstood the impact. One large tree in particular remained standing, with the wreckage completely encircling it.

The forward portion of the fuselage as far back as the rear of the radio room was completely demolished, with the remainder of the fuselage being buckled and split open, and only the tail section maintained any of its normal shape. The wings had been broken from the fuselage and in several pieces. Both engines had been torn free and laying approximately 100 and 150 feet further up the slope. There were indications of a secondary explosion of gasoline fumes and only indications of a very minor fire after the crash. Both engines were badly damaged by the crash, with the nose section completely broken from the left engine and the right engine had one blade left on the propeller hub. Neither engine showed any sign of mechanical failure or fire and the propeller of the right engine had not been feathered...the safety belts of the three occupants of the plane had not been fastened at the time of the crash and that no parachutes were being worn by any of the occupants....the aircraft was not in perfect mechanical condition, under full control and power at the time of the impact with the mountainside.

.....(several paragraphs have been blacked out due to censorship)...

The remains of what were the bodies of the three occupants of the aircraft were found in front and up the mountainside, a short distance from the location of the initial impact of the plane. Lt. Barohn's body was directly in front of the aircraft and approximately 15 feet from the tree around which the aircraft had wrapped itself. He was positively identified by his pocketbook and his AGO pass which were removed from the clothing still attached to the remains. Lt. Pate's body was found approximately 25 feet forward and slightly to the left of Lt Barohn's body. Positive identification was made of these remains by dog tag and pocketbook containing positive identification removed from among the remains. Sgt. Poska's body was approximately 100 feet ahead of the scene of the impact and slightly to the left, in the direction of which all radio equipment had been thrown. Positive identification was made by an identification bracelet removed from one of the bones and contents of the wallet removed from the remains of his clothing. All three bodies were badly broken up and various portions completely dismembered. Poska's body had been broken completely in two when it had hit a fallen tree slightly forward of the point of impact. Evidence was conclusive that death in all three cases had been instantaneous.

CONFIDENTIAL

HEADQUARTERS

SECOND COMBAT CARGO GROUP

SYRACUSE ARMY AIR FIELD

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK

The period covering the three months of August, September, and October, 1944 in the life of the 2nd Combat Cargo Group saw the accomplishment of three major tasks, First, the completion of the training program prescribed for C-47 organizations. Second, the conversion to and completion of training in C-46 aircraft. Third, the movement of the Group and Squadrons through the staging area and to the ports of embarkation.

10 August, 1944 will long be remembered by personnel of the 2nd Combat Cargo Group, for on this date our Group was visited by and inspected by General Henry H. Arnold, Commanding General, Army Air Forces. Not only was the fact of the presence of so distinguished a person important to the Group but the result of the visit was reaching in its effect upon its future.

General Arnold desired that the 2nd and 4th Combat Cargo Groups, both conducting their training at Syracuse AAB, Syracuse, N.Y., convert to the use of C-46 aircraft. General Arnold directed that an immediate survey be instituted to determine the time necessary to accomplish the conversion process and the completion of a C-46 training program.

PICTURES FROM 1945 AT THE CRASH SITE!!

WHAT HAVE I LEARNED ABOUT THE BLUE RIDGE C-46?

1) A forest ranger named Bob Barton knows about the crash. An old bush pilot took him for a ride in a plane and showed him the site of the crash. He states that it is at the headwaters of the Freemont Brook in a gully.

2) The coordinates for the plane are approximately 43°37'50" North Latitude, and 74°28'20" West Longitude.

3) I purchased an aerial photograph of the area which shows the rivers and mountains, but the scale is too large to show the airplane if it is visible ( 1:12,500)

4) I have searched for members of the original search team and haven't found any of them. Many of the members have since passed away.