Lockheed P-80A-1-LO 44-85048 Crash Site (Los Angeles, California)

 place with historical importance, historical layer / disappeared object, aircraft crash site

This is the site where Richard Bong, America's #1 fighter ace, died in an experimental jet crash on August 6, 1945.

After serving three combat tours in the Southwest Pacific as a fighter pilot flying the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Major Richard I. Bong, USAAF, was assigned as an Air Force acceptance test pilot for new Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star jet fighters at the Lockheed Air Terminal, Burbank, California.

The P-80A was a brand new jet fighter, and Major Bong had flown just 4 hours, 15 minutes in the type during 12 flights.

Shortly after takeoff the primary fuel pump for the turbojet engine failed.
A back-up fuel pump was not turned on. The Shooting Star rolled upside down and Bong bailed out, but he was too low for his parachute to open and he was killed. The jet crashed at the intersection of Oxnard Street and Satsuma Avenue, North Hollywood, California, and exploded.