Santa Clarita Valley History In Pictures

2 U.S. Forest Rangers Killed in Plane Crash.

Routine fire patrol ends at 7,000-foot level of Frazier Mountain.


Webmaster's note.

Chuchupate Ranger Station is located at 34580 Lockwood Valley Road, approximately 1 mile from the Frazier Mountain Park Road turnoff.


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Recover 2 Bodies from Plane Crash on Frazier Mtn.

The wreckage of a converted U.S.F.S. T-6 aircraft which crashed Tuesday night into Winegar Canyon on the east slope of Frazier mountain, was located by a helicopter early Wednesday. The plane completely disintegrated upon impact killing its two occupants, pilot Edwin Benson, 37, and Lynn Freed, 52, both of the Chu Chu Pate ranger station in the Frazier mountain area. The craft was said to have been under charter by the U.S.F.S.

Preliminary reports indicated that the plane was on a water bombing mission and hit the mountain at the 7,500-ft. level at 6 p.m. An 8-man rescue party from the ranger station reached the wreckage at 10 a.m. Wednesday, along with the Ventura county coroner and identification personnel

Weather conditions at the time of the accident were reported to have been somewhat hazardous with electrical storms in the area.


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Bodies of 2 Air Rangers Recovered.

The bodies of two Forest Service rangers who wen killed when their light plane crashed late Tuesday were recovered late Wednesday from Frazier Mountain, about eight miles northwest of Gorman in Ventura County.

The victims were Edward Benson, 43, the pilot and Los Padres National Forest fire control officer, and his assistant, Lynn Freed, 56, who was acting as observer.

Robert F. Jones, supervisor of Los Padres, said Benson and Freed took off in the former Army AT-6 reconnaissance plane Tuesday afternoon from Lincoln airstrip in Lockwood Valley on a routine fire patrol. When the plane failed to return that night, a ground search was organized. The wreckage was found at the 7,000-ft. level of the 8,800-ft. mountain shortly before noon by one of the searchers, Charles Scott.


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