Page 14 - Aerotech News and Review May 5 2017

High Desert Hangar Stories with Bob Alvis
Last flight!
Special to Aerotech News
Those of us who grew up in the Antelope Valley are familiar with that marine layer that hugs the tops of the mountains south of Palmdale.
Come the months of May and June, the so-called “June gloom” makes our weather a bit of a rollercoaster, as wind, heat and cold all find a home here in the Valley and in the foothills.
During the year the clouds can roll across our hills at any time, like a mystical tidal wave whenever condi- tions permit. Many years ago, it cre- ated a hazard that today — thanks to technology — is a rare occurrence. Today as we look to our south, old- timers in the A.V. might think of the tops of those peaceful looking moun- tains as a brutal reminder of the mis- takes of man ...
Lockheed test pilot George Dory had a scheduled check-out of a PV-1 Ventra twin tail, twin engine World War II era bomber that required him to fly up to Palmdale Army Airfield (Plant 42 nowadays), and then a quick turnaround and back to Burbank.
The date was Feb. 2, 1944, and his crew of three gathered late in the morning for the scheduled check out flight. The weather was gray overcast and the routine flight to Palmdale was just another trip out of the many that was flown under the same conditions many times before. George, Paul Sunday, James Seargent and Donald Jackson settled into their routines, the aircraft door closed up and the engines spun to life, little knowing that tragedy was just a hilltop away
The PV-1 Lockheed Ventura bomber.
north of Acton.
Wheels up at 1 p.m., the course
was set and the climb into the “soup” started, as the complacency in the cockpit gave all a sense of well-being.
Courtesy photograph
ley through the clouds. The gray that anxiety. In a split second, all would be shrouded the cockpit windscreens
gave no indication of danger, so the over on a fog-covered hilltop.
last minutes of life would have had no Mount Hauser had claimed four occasion to cause the crew feelings of See BOB, Page 15
Photograph courtesy of Joe Idoni
The approach into Palmdale Army airfield over Mount Hauser and what it looked like to the ill-fated aircraft.
Mount Hauser and McDill south of Palmdale shrouded in cloud cover.
Nobody will ever know if the routine nature of the task caused the crew to let down their guard and just take the flight for granted, as they climbed to cross over into the Antelope Val-
Courtesy photograph
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