Piper Super Cruiser geiger counter crash in southern AZ March 22, 1955
Copyright © Chris McDoniel
Prospecting for uranium via a Piper Super Cruiser. In the Atomic Age of the 1950's, uranium was important for the development of nuclear wearpons. There was a "uranium rush" and the Atomic Energy Commission offered financial incentivites for "prospectors" who located new uranium deposits. On the morning of March 22, 1955, two aviators took off from Tucson's Downtown airport in a modified Piper Super Cruiser to search for uranium. The Piper Super Cruiser had a geiger counter attached to the wing. One man flew the aircraft while the other monitored results of the geiger counter. As the aircraft was making a low pass over rough country in the Santa Rita mountains, a wing struck an outcropping causing the aircract to crash and burn.
Special thanks to Dan D for his involvement with the search, and research, of this crash.
Two men lost their lives in the crash:
John Spande Coleman
Aubrey Lee Johnson
Landing gear and possible firewall. Photo from my personal collection.
Landing gear from a recent trip to revisit the crash site.
Might have been a battery box. I don’t think it was an ammo can.
Door Lock mechanism? It was hard to read.
Original crash site photo from my personal collection.
Portion of the wing. (P-38.com was my old website.)
Scattered debris at B-18 crash site.
Agassiz Peak