Fairfax, California B-17 crash
U.S. Army B-17 Flying Fortress · Early on the morning of May 16, 1946, a U.S
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 2 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- Unknown
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Military
B-17 Flying Fortress
- Aircraft type
- B 17 FLYING FORTRESS
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- Unknown
- Operator
- U.S. Army
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
Early on the morning of May 16, 1946, a U.S. Army B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft crashed into White Hill (a.k.a. "White's Hill") near Fairfax, California. Two men were killed and six seriously injured. There were reports that the B-17 was carrying nuclear weapons materials for the Operation Crossroads tests at Bikini Atoll, but these reports were not confirmed. However, due to the behavior and activities of the military authorities at the crash site and the reports of several credible witnesses, including several of the crewmembers, questions about the plane's cargo remain.
Investigation and cause
Causes
The plane had the fuel capacity for a nonstop transcontinental flight, and had refueled near Los Angeles, just 400 miles south. However, the cause of the crash was laid to lack of fuel as well as pilot error.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Fairfax, California B-17 crash” (revision 1372254618, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Fairfax, California B-17 crash
- Revision
- 1372254618 · 2026-08-31 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q16820731
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Fairfax, California B-17 crash" (page 38922452, revision 1372254618)
- Date
- Wikipedia article text, read with AI assistance: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia article text, read with AI assistance: site
- Map position
- none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia article text, read with AI assistance: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator named as an armed force or military unit in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia article text, read with AI assistance: total_fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.