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In Search of SB2C-4 Helldiver - Buno. 82858
Story and photography by Timothy Cox
After five hours of hiking though the woods and performing a search pattern in the area that I suspected hid the crash site of a SB2C-4 82858 it was time to shoot a reverse bearing on the compass and head out of the woods. There was
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extreme disappointment over not finding the aircraft wreckage but we had not prepared to spend the night in the woods and wanted to make sure we were able to navigate our way out of the woods before nightfall. Along for the hike was my friend Aaron, while not an aviation junkie, he was looking forward to a trail blazing adventure to a crash site that was well off the beaten path. As we reversed our course, it was not five minutes before we saw some landmarks that indicated we might be close to the crash site. I looked over the map and said, "keep your eyes open".
I took three more steps when he asked, "Is this what we where looking for?" I looked over and he was pointing to a twisted piece of aluminum structure painted olive drab on one side and light blue
on the other. We had found the site!
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The story begins over a year before when the topic of a wreck chase came up for the New England area. Several possible sites were discussed but one really caught my attention. It was an SB2C-4 Helldiver crash site that was deep in the woods of Vermont. After countless hours of Internet searches I could not find any information on where it. That only heightened the interest in the site for me because I previously went to a B-47 crash site that had been picked clean by hikers over the last 30 years. By contacting a few people that knew about the site I was able to find out the general area that it is located. One of the individuals had a hand drawn map that showed the crash site in great detail and had terrain features of the area I was able to get a picture of. This map would be priceless in trying to pinpoint the location on the mountain.
As the summer weekends filled in with other appointments and engagements the thought of wondering through the woods got put off, even forgotten until the following spring. That spring I had some time on my hands to seek some much-needed adventure that I longed for so often. In preparation for the hike I had studied the hand drawn map of the site and the topographical map for hours trying to match the location. I felt confident that I had found the location.
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