History Blog: Small Airplane Crashes in Alvarado

Commercial airplane crashes make big news and are remembered for years. Small plane crashes rarely are remembered in the long term. After researching commercial air crashes in Union City, I heard a few people refer to other plane crashes. Here are a few that have been long forgotten.

In January, 1942, an Army P-40 fighter crashed in a field between Newark and Alvarado, killing the pilot. The newspaper reported that this was the second P-40 crash in the area. The P-40 was flying out of Moffet airfield, then controlled by the Army. Later in June, another Army pilot had to make an emergency landing near the sugar mill. The aircraft had minimal damage and the pilot walked away.

In May, 1948, a Luscomb Model 8A aircraft had an engine failure at 3,000 feet over Alvarado. The pilot tried to restart the engine by putting the plane into a dive, but the engine failed to start. While making the landing, the plane flipped over in a field of barley just north of Alvarado. Both occupants walked away.

In September, 1948, an instructor pilot teaching his student how to recover from a spin failed to get the aircraft to fully come out of the spin until just above the ground and the plane made a big splash in a salt pond. The pilot and student were able to get out of the aircraft, and wade or swim to the nearest levee, where they were picked up by salt workers and taken to a local hospital.

In September, 1957, Wes Leneville was flying his crop duster over Alvarado when the engine failed. On landing in a field near Fair Ranch Road, his wheels dug into the soft earth and the plane nosed over. Police and an ambulance were called as some feared the worst. Wes calmly got out of his plane, had some locals helped him flip it back over and was able to get the plane back into the air.