7x9-inch ACME Telephoto from an unidentified newspaper archive.
Plane crashed 5-16-1938; photograph dated 5-19-1938. Cutline (see below):
LA448959
TRAGIC END OF HUGE AIRLINER'S FLIGHT
SAUGUS, CAL. — The broken and fire-scarred wreckage of the huge Lockheed transport plane which crashed into Stone
Mountain, 20 miles north of here, pictured in Mint Canyon, where it was discovered by a rancher two days after it had
disappeared while on a delivery flight from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, Nev. The nine persons aboard, two of them children,
perished in the flaming wreckage.
Credit Line (ACME) 5/19/1938 NY FOR
From Aircraft Wrecks: 5/18/1938 [Error: s/b 5/16/1938].
Lockheed Super Electra Model 14H c/n 1439, NC-17394 of Northwest Airlines hit Stroh Peak 1.5 miles north of Mint Canyon Road, killing all nine
on board. Bad weather was a factor in this crash. Wreck is mostly removed from its 2,200' impact site.
From Aircraft Crashes Record Office:
Date & Time: 16 MAY 1938 at 0207LT
Type of Aircraft: Lockheed 14-H2 Super Electra
Registration: NC17394
Location: Palmdale
Schedule: Hollywood - Las Vegas - Minneapolis - Chicago
Construction number: 1439
Year of manufacture: 1938
Crew on board: 3
Pax on board: 6
Crew fatalities: 3
Pax fatalities: 6
Other fatalities: 0
Total fatalities: 9
Circumstances: 24 minutes after its departure from Hollywood-Burbank airport, while cruising at night, aircraft hit Mt Stroh located in the Mint Canyon, southwest from Palmdale. Crew was performing a special flight to Las Vegas to show this new aircraft to the president of the company. All nine occupants were killed.
Causes: Crew did not follow published procedures and was cruising at an unsafe altitude to overfly the mountainous region.
From Aviation Safety Network:
Date: Monday 16 May 1938
Time: 14:07
Type: Lockheed 14-H2 Super Electra
Operator: Northwest Airlines
Registration: NC17394
C/n / msn: 1439
First flight: 1938
Crew: Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Passengers: Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7
Total: Fatalities: 9 / Occupants: 9
Airplane damage: Damaged beyond repair
Location: near Saugus, CA ( United States of America)
Phase: En route (ENR)
Nature: Ferry/positioning
Departure airport: Burbank Airport, CA (BUR/KBUR), United States of America
Destination airport: Las Vegas McCarran Field, NV (LSV/KLSV), United States of America
Narrative: Struck Stroh Peak at 3,300 feet in Mint Canyon 27 minutes after taking off from Burbank Airport for Las Vegas and on the way to Saint Paul.
The brand new Lockheed was on its delivery flight from Burbank to its new owners, Northwest Airlines.
It was being flown by a Lockheed test pilot Sidney Wiley (36) and the vice-president of Northwest Frederick Whittlemore (42), who was a pilot.
Flying in foggy conditions it struck the first of a series of ridges and bounced off two others, disintegrating on the way, before coming to rest and burning out on a hill called Stroh Peak.
LW2877: 9600 dpi jpeg from original photograph purchased 2017 by Leon Worden.