A Commando Entombed on Mount Rainier

On December 10, 1946, 32 Marines were lost in the deadliest aviation accident in history on Mount Rainier in Washington state. They, and the aircraft, are still there.

Meg Godlewski

Friday, December 10, 2021 at 09:52 AM ET

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A Curtis R5C "Commando" in flight. Courtesy: U.S. Air Force

Key Takeaways:

On December 10, 1946, a Curtiss Commando R5C carrying 32 men (3 crew, 29 Marines) disappeared during a severe winter storm while on a flight from San Diego to Seattle.
The wreckage was discovered in July 1947 on Mount Rainier's South Tahoma Glacier, confirming the plane had crashed. The crushed nose section and the bodies of 11 men were found in August 1947 as snow melted.
Due to extremely hazardous and unstable glacier conditions, recovering the remaining bodies was deemed too dangerous. At the request of the families, search efforts were abandoned, leaving the 32 servicemen entombed on Mount Rainier to this day.

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It’s been 75 years since a Curtiss Commando R5C, military identification No. 39528, disappeared while on a flight from San Diego, California, to Seattle, Washington. The morning of December 10, 1946, the aircraft—part of a flight of six—departed from El Toro Marine Air Station near San Diego. The destination was Naval Air Station Seattle, located at Sand Point on the west side of Lake Washington. There were a total of 32 men on board the aircraft.

They never made it, and 75 years later, they still haven’t moved from where they were found.