One of the unique things about skiing Mission Ridge near Wenatchee, Washington is that it is also the site of a military plane crash. In fact, non-skiers may not know that many of the ski area's run names and geographic features are named for the semi-famous plane crash. Mission Ridge itself, like Mission Peak and Mission Creek, gets its name from catholic missionaries who served in the area during settlement times.
On September 30, 1944 a flight crew flying a bomber from the Walla Walla army base crashed on the ridge after getting lost due to darkness and bad weather.
MISSION VALLEY
There is a section of the bomber's wing mounted at the ski area (and people can still occasionally find other remnants of the wreckage) with a plaque on it saying:
"On a stormy night of September 30, 1944, Flight Crew 22, on a training mission from Walla Walla Army Air Base, found itself off course and lost above the rugged Cascade Mountain Range. They were flying a B - 24 "Liberator" Heavy Bomber. The night was rainy and the valley was enshrouded with heavy fog. Around 8:00 p.m. the Beehive Lookout reported Hearing the drone of a plane's engines as it passed directly overhead. Within moments a fire was seen faintly illuminating the fog, alerting the lookout that the plane had probably crashed. Due to the darkness, weather, and terrain, search efforts were delayed. The next morning when a rescue party reached this rocky bowl, just 500 feet below the crest of Mission Ridge, they found the flames had been extinguished by the heavy rainfall from the previous night. Pieces of the wreckage were strewn hundreds of yards across the slope and the bodies of all six crew members were found. There were no survivors."
USFS,
Vets of Foreign Wars of the U.S., Mission Ridge,
Boy Scout Troop 5"
Some of the names that the Mission Ridge Ski Area has given in honor of the plane crash are; The Liberator Express Chair Lift, Bomber Bowl, Bomber Pass, Bomber Chutes, Bomber Cliffs, among others. Very few ski areas are also actual historic sites too.
Mission Ridge - Ski Area And Historic Site MISSION VALLEY
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