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:

A Curtiss Commando R5C military transport plane, carrying 32 servicemen, disappeared on December 10, 1946, while flying from San Diego to Seattle, encountering a severe winter storm over Washington.
The wreckage was discovered months later in July 1947 on Mount Rainier's South Tahoma Glacier, with the crushed nose section and the bodies of 11 men revealed in August 1947 as snow melted.
Due to the extremely dangerous and unstable conditions on the glacier, the families of the lost servicemen requested the military to abandon further recovery attempts, leaving the 32 men entombed on Mount Rainier.

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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.