A-35B Crash East of Tucson on March 8, 1944


Flight Officer Kenneth V. Sartwell took off alone from El Paso, Texas, in an A-35B, on a ferry flight to Phoenix, Arizona. At approximately 1245 MST while flying at 12,000 feet, Flight Officer Sartwell was about 10 minutes past Cochise when he reported engine problems which worsened until he bailed out. The aircraft was destroyed on ground impact 30 miles southeast of Tucson. 

Small scattered debris remains at the crash site today.  (If you make it to this crash site and you find a pair of glasses, give me a call.)
 

Little debris remains of the A-35, but I did come across the gun sight.

A common practice by the Army Air Forces was to burn or bury debris although at the A-35 crash site, debris was "buried" in voids in the limestone.

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