Coffee Camp Fire Air Tanker Crash Fatality 1958

At 1630 on August 19, 1958, a Grumman TBM-1C Avenger air tanker registered N9394H crashed while engage in suppression operations on the Coffee Camp Fire on the Sequoia National Forest east of Springville, California. The sole pilot, Joseph Anthony, was killed in the accident. According to media reports, the Avenger hit the top of a steep cliff face in full view of the firefighters working to suppress the fire. The plane then fell to the base of the cliff where it burst into flames. Anthony was on his third drop of the day when the accident occurred.