2 Die as Vintage Aircraft Crashes in Rugged Terrain

Two people were killed Monday when a World War II-vintage single-engine airplane crashed for unknown reasons in the Angeles National Forest, authorities said.

Authorities had not released the names of the victims late Monday, but members of the Condor Squadron, a Van Nuys flying club made up of vintage aircraft, believed one of the dead was a member of their group.

The plane, a two-seat AT-6 trainer, went down in a remote area near San Francisquito Canyon Road just south of Green Valley, said Joe Ziegler, a Los Angeles County Fire Department dispatch supervisor. Green Valley is located between the Golden State and Antelope Valley freeways about 17 miles southwest of Lancaster.

Residents on Calle Rosalito told firefighters that pieces of the plane had landed on their street, but did not cause any injuries, Ziegler said.

The plane left Van Nuys Airport about 1 p.m., apparently on its way to Edwards Air Force Base, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said.

Residents of Green Valley, about 20 miles from Edwards, began calling the Fire Department to report the crash about 1:40 p.m., Ziegler said.

Three hours later, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s helicopter spotted the wreckage on a steep hillside, Ziegler said.

“The plane was demolished,” Ziegler said. “But it was fairly easily identifiable, meaning it didn’t break up in a lot of pieces.”

Firefighters and U. S. Forest Service personnel had to cut a path through about half a mile of thick brush to reach the plane.

Several members of the Condor Squadron gathered at the group’s clubhouse Monday night, but declined to talk to the media.

The group, formed in 1962 by pilots who fought in American wars, seek downed aircraft as a Civil Air Patrol squadron and stage mock dogfights at air shows.

Three of their planes, painted in the colors of a German Luftwaffe fighter group, and similar to the one that went down earlier in the day, were parked nearby on the runway.

Earlier in the day, a group member confirmed that one of their planes was missing.

An investigation of the crash will be conducted by members of the Federal Aviation Administation and National Transportation Safety Board.