For you Beech 18 fans

[olyinaz]

http://www.youtube.com/embed/h1qSzCnzXv ... detailpage

You can jump up to 13:00 if you're only interested in the flying. Run it in high def if you have the bandwidth to support that.

[Booger Bill]

I have a old beech 18 story that happened to me many years ago. I had wrote this up quite awhile ago and just posted it on another site a few days ago. Here it is again.
FINDING THE C-45
The best thing I found was a beachcraft twin airplane, better known as a C-45 or beach 18. Right after christmass of 1976 I was flying from searchlight nevada towards southern california. I spotted it groundlooped on a remote desert strip that really wasnt much more than a gravel trail or road. Soon as I spotted it I knew it was a drug runner. I buzzed it, checking the area and was satisfied there was no activity or a human in many miles and decided to land and check it out. I had spotted vehicle tracks going to and away from it before I landed. I was in CB contact with a couple of friends I had just left at a strip just south of searchlight and let them know what I was doing. I could see where the pilot had to land long due to a rain washed gully or ditch about a quarter way down the strip. That caused him to "run out" of strip and he had to ground loop it on purpose. He knocked down a jousha tree just in front of the rudder and emperage area when he spun it around. It bent the fueslage sort of like a broken wrist. The door was unlocked and I got in the plane. The dirt tracks all looked fresh and the 8 day clock was still running. The passenger seats were gone to just haul cargo. I got info off the paperwork and the plane was registered to a female in burbank california.
One of my pals that I dropped off at searchlight was also a pilot. My other friend was a aircraft mechanic and inspector and we all worked for lockheed aircraft at palmdale. We had been on a lark just boondocking over the holidays. They had a 4 WD with a camper. About a week prior we had flew the area known as the old woman mountains etc. They had a fantacy about exploreing, finding old buidings or a mine or whatever else. Really they were just getting away from their wives for a few days to do a little boondocking, gambling and drinking and had talked me into this adventure. The plan was they drove out first and was going to flnd a spot I could land in. I was working OT on christmass eve and going to fly out to them christmass day. Christmass eve before I was going to work (security guard) they called me and said they couldnt find a suitabel place for me to land as it had been raining hard and there were rain gullys all over. They said for me to just land near the town of searchlight and they would pick me up.
I took down the info on the plane and got up in the air and radio`ed them. They had the same flight sectional I did. I flew back to lancaster and reported my find to the FAA. They hadnt a report on it. My buddys got into it latter that night. They even fired up one engine. They were drunk and one fell into a cactus and the other pulled spines out of his butt! They were leaveing the area the next morning and met a truck with 2 men and a woman about 10 miles out headed towards the plane.
They turned around, gave them some time and drove back. They said they had the nose cone removed and was takeing stuff out!
They yelled over to them that they should leave the plane alone as they had a buddy that reported it. They said the people were armed and swore at them so they left. They drove out to I think essex and called the sheriffs. They had to wait hours on the sheriff to show and make a report.
The next day I got ahold of some FAA offical and asked about fileing salvage on the plane. He put me in touch with a los vegas detective. After a number of back and forth calls the detective told me he had been following this drug gang for over 6 months and that they had killed people etc. We went to a lawyer and basicly she said there was no "paperwork" to file! She pulled out a book on shipwreck laws and basicly said we could recover the wreckage and if the owners showed up we could charge them storage!
We did get back to plane a few times. I figured the first time our best bet would be new years eve, and 4 of us went in at midnight armed to the teeth. I even walked in the last mile or so by myself to see if there was any activity. Never will forget that hike! I did have a AR-15 though. No one was there. All the instruments were already removed! My buddy with the truck built a hoist on the back and we went again about a week latter at night again, another hike in and out by myself the last mile. I was dissapointed to find the plane laying on its belly with the engines gone! Oil was still dripping out of cut lines!
A few years latter I was at california city and spotted a similar plane. I made some joke to the FOB that I once owned one like it for a day! I told him the story and he told me he got burned on the deal too! Someone had hired him to recover the airplane and he did get it and got stiffed on his work!
We got next to nothing, but it was a good adventure!
Were it to happen again I would have put guards on it, get friends to repair it and fly it out! Some of that I did plan, but ran into trouble convinceing my friends in time.
Both my friends are dead now.

[Mac in Mo]

Great video. Thanks for posting.

Kevin

[lv2tinker]

I got my Multi Engine Rating in a Beech 18. They were a great ol plane to fly "if" you knew how handle it. Flew skydivers and freight in them for a few years back way back when.....

[Grizz]

Good views. thanks for posting

[Mescalero]

Booger,
You are crazier than a fly on a fat chick!
No way I would have gone near that thing!

[Booger Bill]

That was about 37 years ago when I was young and dumb. I had buzzed the area first and there wasnt a sign of habitation in many miles. The "strip" really just a road was called "Hart mine strip" on the sectional. I did have a s&w .357. (model 27-2 8 3/8"). It was quite a adventure with zero outcome or gain but fun. Were it to happen again I belive we could have owned that plane. I would have had friends guard it untill we could have people haul it off or even fix it right there and fly it out. In those days working for lockheed I knew a lot of aircraft mechanics, qualified pilots etc. I had one buddy back then a year or two later than that incident, that had retrieval equipment to do it. Jerry had this wild schem that he might find a tank buried by patton on dessert training manuvers. He figured by flying over the desert he could spot "patchs" of different vegatation made by the equipment being buried close under the surface kind of trapping the moisture.
He did talk me once into flying him around looking for a location on the mohave dessert. Somehow he suspected one spot not real far from edwards AFB and california city area. That was about 40 miles from where we lived. I flew over it and he pointed out the area. I noticed a old abanded area some speculators had laid out streets and the project was scrapped. I told jerry we could land on that, walk over to it and see it. I was dumb enough to do it and we did. Nothing come of it though. I guess we were into things like that more for fun than being serious about it back then. Oh well, its still some of my best memories now. Kind of like looking for lost gold mines?

[Mescalero]

Come on now, mine is not lost.
I know exactly where it is.

[Booger Bill]

Another hair brained plan I had in those years was to mark on sectional maps all the "ruins" that are marked on the maps. Surprisenly there are quite a few spots marked like that on sectional pilots maps mostly in nevada, california and maybe arizona. I had a group of friends that liked to boondock, some owned various 4 wd`s etc. Also most were well versed in mechanics, hunters, shooters etc. My plan was to buzz all those so marked areas, try to figure the best way into them by road and trails from the air etc. The plan didnt get far but several of us did have a lark just touching on it in the two incidents above. Now that I am retired I live here in utah closer to those areas to the west of us. Now I am better versed in GPS and own a good atv. Again I am in a ATV club of a bunch of old retired foggeys kind of like me and they are from all walks of life and occupations. We make many nice rides together exploring but I still havent thrown my old hair brained schem at them.
I havent flown in many years and am not sure I could even pass my physical to get flying again. However I still own the ideal airplane to do it. Its a citaberia that is being slowly rebuilt. I wrote of it before here. Its a long sad story, but still sort of a pipe dream of mine. Oh well.

[Mescalero]

Booger,
I, like many others think I might know where the Lost Adams Diggings might be.
Remember, I grew up in that country.
The story about an earthequake covering the entrance is NOT true.
A check with US geological survey with data back to the 1800's shows no significant siesmic activity in the area.
One of my hairy eye balled schemes.