I was in a remote section of the mountain this past weekend and found a big (4' diameter) aircraft tire ("Royal Air Insignia). It looked weathered but was in great shape otherwise.

Did a plane ever crash in the Black Mountain range?

I should have took a picture of it--wonder if its age/model could be easily determined?

Any Thoughts?

U.S. Rubber had (has?) a tire division called "US Royal"; they made car tires, motorcycle tires, truck tires, tractor tires, and airplane tires.

I wonder why you're confident it's not a truck tire (eg, from a logging skidder). The "Air" part of the name could just be marketing. A line of "US Royal Air Ride" tires {"the tire that ushered in the 'low-pressure era'"} was in production for a while; one model was used on the Corvette for a decade (but that model was only 27" tall).

On the other hand, there's this among possibly others

Never heard of a plane crash in the Blacks... but you can find some remains (but no tires that I can remember) of the crash of a small plane not too far from the summit of Calloway Peak, just off the trail on the Daniel Boone Scout Trail in the Grandfather Mountain State Park of NC.

I guess b/c its a BIG tire and the tread is completely smooth save 4-5 parallel grooves wrapping around the tire. A pattern I associate w/ aircraft tires.

There was a plane crash. Ron Tagliapietra's "The Southern Sixers" indicates that you can see wreckage from an airplane crash over a ridge on the left about one tenth of a mile beyond Big Tom on the BMCT. I've never seen the wreckage, though.

Interesting. Does RT's Southern Sixers give any info about plane type, when, etc?

Is it the crash Nartreb links?

Thx!
SS

Scoffster wrote:Is it the crash Nartreb links?

No, Nartreb's crash is on Green Knob, quite a few miles S of Big Tom. And Nartreb's was a B-24 with BIG tires, maybe even bigger than what you described.
http://www.questmasters.us/B-24_Page_7.html

I seem to recall that there was an aircraft accident on Big Butt, just across from Mitchell, also. But I could be wrong--the old memory's getting rusty.

Scoffster
I'm very interested in the site I think you found. I can't confirm it is the crash site I think But I think you found one of the mains off a B-24E that crashed in that area in 1944. Ten men died in that crash. I'd love more information on the location of it, but would prefer if you PM'd me as crash sites seem to get stripped by folks with little respect for them.

I can send you more info on the crash, or post it here if you would like.

You can check out some pictures I've taken around the east coast crash sites http://tailhook-studio.smugmug.com/History
I take only pictures!

Tim

Aww man, that sounds really interesting. Can you get some photos next time?

A B-24 Main tire is 56" in diameter. Looks like a close fit to me.

Tim

Can you mark a map and attach it and send it to me. My uncle told me about the crash and have searched for it for the past few years. My email is byrdrw72@yahoo.com. Thanks!

My father and 8 others were killed in a plane crash on Mt Mitchell October 5 1949. He was piloting an Air Force C-47; probably has a tire about that size. If you still have it please post a pic.

Thanks

DLSILVA sent me and email regarding the Oct 5 1949 crash but did not leave her email address. Please try again.
Thanks

johns wrote:DLSILVA sent me and email regarding the Oct 5 1949 crash but did not leave her email address. Please try again.
Thanks

Did you try this?
http://www.summitpost.org/users/dlsilva/102764#