Placing
the Stone.
A
Mystery Solved.
By:
Don R. Jordan
Copyright 2010
Printed by
permission from Ron Selin
Hiking partner Jim Rowan poses in front of the memorial stone inside
the cave at Independence Lake
Photo courtesy of Jim Rowan.
Quite often I receive email or letters from friends or family
members of
those killed in, or in some other way involved, in a long ago aircraft
accident. Sometimes the information they
provide may
make it necessary to write the original story which appears in our book
“Aircraft Wrecks In The Mountains And Deserts Of California.” G. Pat Macha and Don R. Jordan co-authored this
book, which was released in 2002. I have
decided to add some of these stories as Updates rather than rewrite and
republish the entire book.
This Update will explain how the memorial stone came to be
placed at the
crash site of Sgt. Rafferty’s C-47 accident site high above
Independence Lake
in Northern California. The co-pilot on this plane was Captain Richard
Luse. The original title on my web page is
as
follows:
The
Independence Lake C-47D
AAF # 43-49030
Missing October 26, 1950
Found May 31, 1951
Copyright 2000
by Don R. Jordan
2/22/05
High up on a rocky crag, above
Independence Lake in California are the remains of a C-47D, AAF #
43-49030. The pilot was Master Sergeant Thomas W.
Rafferty of
the 2924th Area Maintenance Group located at McClellan Field near
Sacramento.
M/Sgt. Rafferty, who was the last flying Sergeant in the Air Force, had
received his pilot's wings on February 24, 1933. At
that time
being an officer was not a requirement for pilot status.
At the time of this accident M/Sgt.
Rafferty had accumulated more than 9,350 hours of flying time,
with 996
hours in C-47 type aircraft, and more than 522 hours of instrument
flying
time. He was without doubt one of the most experienced pilots in
the
service at that time.
So how could a pilot of M/Sgt.
Rafferty's experience allow his aircraft to hit a solid rock
wall? We'll
never know for sure, but the investigating board felt that M/Sgt.
Rafferty
simply misjudged the winds aloft that day, and thinking he was
clear of
the Sierra Nevada Mountains, started down from altitude in cloudy
instrument
conditions. Unfortunately he was not clear, and at 8,200 above
sea level,
the clouds turned to solid rock!
The accident took the lives of
M/Sgt. Rafferty, Captain Richard N. Luse, copilot, T/ Sgt. William A.
Larsen,
Engineer, and Pfc. Dan L. Young who was simply catching a military ride
home. Pfc. Young had just been discharged from the Army, and
still
carried his discharge papers in his pocket. He was no doubt
thinking of
home and family in that last instant of life.
In my
story of this accident I mentioned that there was a memorial stone
place just
inside of the small natural cave at the base of the accident site. The inscription on the stone was dedicated to
the memory of Richard N. Luse. None of
us who were there on the day of our visit could figure out how that
heavy
granite stone could have been hauled all the way up that mountainside
and place
in that location. We just knew that it
had to be place there by a family member, and was a labor of love.
And
indeed we were correct on both
counts. In an email, Mr. Ron Selin,
Richard Luse’s son-in-law wrote the
following.
The
co-pilot on this plane, Richard Luse, was my father-in-law. My family,
his wife,
and three of his daughters made a trip up that mountain to see the
crash site
on July 10 1985. We took many photos and a movie. The Reno newspaper
sent a
team up with us. His wife and daughters are still living. He also has a
bother that
went with us, he is also still living. My mother-in-law made the first
trip up
just after his body was found (which was missing for many months until
the snow
melted) to place a stone at the sight.
My
wife was 5 years old, her sister was 3 years old and Jean,
Richard's wife,
was
carrying the third sister. She was born on Richard's birthday after the
bodies
were found, so she was named Richalene. When Jean learned the
plane was found, about 5 months after the plane
went
down, her dad flew to Sacramento to join the Air Force party to go with
them to
the plane crash site. He identified his son-in-law and made arranged to
fly him
to Denver for burial. While looking through the debris he found their
engraved
wedding ring. In September of 1951 Jean wanted to go to the site
to see for herself.
Her dad
and 3 uncles made the trip up the mountain carrying the 150 lbs. stone
in back
packs. They took turns carrying the stone.
In 1985 12 adults and 3 kids got together in Truckee, CA to make the
same trip
up the mountain. Jean with her now grown daughters and families, Uncle
Mel,
Richard’s brother, who was 64 years old at the time, and two people
from the
Reno Gazette-Journal. It took us 11 hours, but it was a great time for
the
whole family. We took many photos and brought back some parts of his
plane
along with great memories.
I am trying to gather as much of the information I can as we all are
getting
older and would like to pass this on to our children so they can have
memories
of their grandfather. I have a article from Air Classic magazine from
1983
called" Rafferty's Last Flight" by R.W.Koch. We also have copy of the
Reno Gazette from July 10,1985. My uncle also has some more information
I hope
to get from him. (Some original photos of the site.) Please sent me any
photos
you have, and how can I order a copy of your book?
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! for anything you can do help us remember
Grandfather
Luse.
Note: The full story of this
accident is in our book “Aircraft Wrecks in the Mountain and Desert of
California.” (3rd edition). Available at:
Order Page