Hiking Around Las Vegas, Spring Mountains NRA
 Middle Route showing crash site (view SW from gentle slopes) |
The Carole Lombard Crash Site is one of those quintessential Las Vegas experiences. A playground for the rich and famous, Las Vegas attracts many celebrities; some never make it home. In 1942, a plane carrying Carole Lombard (famous movie star and wife of Clark Gable) crashed high on the east face of Mt. Potosi. The site is now a footnote in history, visited occasionally by plane crash buffs, Carole Lombard fans, and tough Las Vegas hikers. For information on getting to the crash site, see the Direct Route or the Long-Steep-Road Route. On this page, do a little armchair mountaineering and enjoy the photos. |
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The largest pieces of wreckage include engine parts and landing gear, which mostly are in the gully below the impact site. People already recovered the large aluminum parts (body and wings), so those are gone. However, thousands of small pieces of aluminum, lots of cabling, lots of fuel or hydraulic lines, bits of glass and ceramics, rubber hoses, and many other metallic parts litter the ground. People have been collecting the more interesting artifacts for decades, so what remains is too big to carry or not particularly interesting. There are also many interesting shell fossils in the rocks at the crash site. |
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MT. POTOSI, NEVADA Note: This plaque was placed illegally and has since been removed. |
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The illegally placed plaque was removed by person or persons unknown, but damage to the rock face (bolt holes and glue) remains. |
 Crash site (view S) |
 Crash site (view SE) |
 Smashed rock at impact site (view SE) |
 Las Vegas (view NE from crash site) |
 Bolts on this DC-3 engine piston cylinder stripped under the force of the crash as the cylinder was nearly broken away. |
 Details of wired nuts on the engine. Wires through the nuts ensured that they could not vibrate loose and fall off the bolt. |
 Bits and pieces of wreckage |
 Bits and pieces of wreckage |
 Bits and pieces of wreckage |
 Bits and pieces of wreckage |
 Bits and pieces of wreckage |
 Brown and white objects in the rock are Paleozoic coral fossils |
 Flipped over, the DC-3 engine in 2009 |
 Final resting place for a 1942, DC-3 engine (2004) |
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Happy Hiking! All distances, elevations, and other facts are approximate.
; Last updated 240330
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