Customer Reviews

Aircraft Wrecks in the Mountains and Deserts of California 1909-1996

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

While MacHa has obviously done a lot of research in this area he doesn't really share any of it.I was looking for stories of the hunt and this is a book of pretty much useless info.He lists a few sites with maps and a few more with map coordinates but the vast majority are pretty vague."1940s Consolidated PBY US Navy crashed in the Cady Mtns NE of Barstow.This site is marked and highly visible." doesn't really help much.How do I go about looking for this? Gary has some ideas in the front of the book but nothing useful.The Cady Mtns cover about 50 miles.This is simply a book of lists.A book it seems of redundant lists...In Region 5 there is:(pp42)"Date Unknown.Douglas A-4 US Navy crashed in the Cady Mtns north of Hwy 40. Wreck scattered." Then:(pp43)"1/1/64 Douglas A-4 US Navy is visible and marked north of Hwy 40 near the Cady Mtns."And:(pp43)"1964 Douglas A-4 Navy/Marine Reserve crashed in Bristol Mtns north of Hwy 40.This site is visible and marked." The Bristol and Cady Mtns are right next to each other...All the same plane? And lastly,I've been to A crash site in the Cady Mtns and the plane mentioned(?) above is an Air Force F-4 phantom. Without coordinates,I don't know if we've discovered a new crash or simply a mislabeled one.Maybe there's just a huge pile out there...

I had hoped that this book would provide for a descriptive analysis of the event surrounding an aircrafts demise, this was not the case. I essentially found the book of very little value for actually exploring sites on my own. The bulletized crash statements tell as much about an air crash as a simple headstone says about a person.
The book was a disappointment.

The sub title "A guidebook for locating historical aircraft sites in California." is misleading at best. This book won't locate "squat". It gives vague lists of aircraft with NO location directions / maps. (I counted 3 actual directions in the entire book) No maps, latitude, longitude or Township Range & section, nothing for the rest. Example: "1940s North American P51D #44-73698 USAAF is located in Providance mountains. Site is unmarked." Well,... Gee thanks, now I have only to search the entire mountain range. The book breaks CA down into regions of about 22,500 square miles, maybe I'll just search the entire area and blunder upon the aircraft listed. The author knows a lot but does not share it. If you want to locate aircraft, save your money.

Gary Macha's Tour de force. The Bible for airplane crashes in Southern California, Macha's text is well-organized and complete so far as individual crashes go. Several notorious private plane crashes are identified, but discretely left undescribed. The aficionado would prefer more GPS readings, but maybe that will be done with 3rd edition.

Aircraft Wrecks is about the hundreds of aircraft which still remain where they crashed, some dating back to 1923. It lists the date, aircraft type, and general location. In also includes addresses if you disire further information.