Modoc Fire Patrol Aircraft Accident Fatalities 1920

On July 10, 1920, a forest fire detection patrol aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff from Alturas, California, killing Wayman Haney (Army pilot), Benjamin Robie (Forest Service aerial observer) and Antonio Salcido (Army pilot). 

The flight was part of an aerial detection flight program using military pilots and former military aircraft with Forest Service observers. The program was initiated in 1919, and had three bases of operation in the state: Fresno (five aircraft), Red Bluff (five aircraft) and Sacramento (eight aircraft). This flight originated in Red Bluff at around 0900 and flew to Alturas in Modoc County in a De Havilland DH-4. After landing and refueling in Alturas, the aircraft took off at around 1430 and quickly developed flight control problems, crashing about a mile from the airport. Newspaper accounts disagree on whether the crash took place in the vicinity of a forest fire or in an open field. Regardless, the aircraft was destroyed by fire and all occupants were killed either in the crash or from the fire that consumed the plane. 

This crash in Alturas, California, is considered the first fatal accident in the history of US Forest Service aviation.