Challenge for Aviation Nuts Everywhere

Ok aviation buffs, boys and girls, children of all ages. Have I got a challenge for you, but I'm betting this forum is up for it.

The only thing we know is this is part of an instrument panel. We have a radio callsign on part of it, but that's about it. It was found on a mountainside in California roughly 10 years ago. We don't need to necessarily know the exact airplane it came from, but we would at least like to know the TYPE of plane it came from. Once we know that, then we can probably find out what happened. A records search showed no crashes of any type for that area, so that's out for now.

Here are the two pics of the panel section:

The radio call says "289630". Using the hypothesis, that it was a U.S. military aircraft, the only matching serial number is 42-89630. According to Joe Baugher's site, this was a Vultee BT-13B "Valiant" trainer.

Looking at this photo of a BT-13 instrument front panel (or this one; rear cockpit), I'd count this as a hit . Minor differences might be due to different versions of the aircraft (BT-13 vs. BT-13B).

Hope this helps!

Regards
yf

I knew this forum was good, but yeesh that was fast! It sure looks like a good hit to me!

That is definitely from a BT-13. They were pretty much raining out of the sky during the early 1940s. The mountains and deserts of Califorinia are littered with them. It might help to know the general location of the crash site.

The aircraft type and serial number are enough to find the accident report if you need it.

I'll see if the person that asked me about this will post some more information as to where it was found. I'm curious now about what caused the crash.

I spoke to the owner of the piece. He said it was found about 10 miles North of Aguanga, California.

Somewhere near the center of this

You might check here for the accident report:

www.accident-report.com...

I didn't see that serial number listed in the index, however.