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On 6/26/72, two Navy F-4J Phantoms #158379 and #158364 collided over the Coso Range east of the Owens Valley . Both aircraft went down. The good thing is that both crews were able to eject safely . I been wanting to look for these for over a year, but never had any real info on where they were other than somewhere in the Coso Range. Finally found a photo of the crash site that showed a ridge line in the background. Didn’t think I had much of a chance finding anything but it was worth a try. Got lucky is time and was able to find pieces of #158379 . Photos at http://community.webshots.com/album/548918306oOhGAR
mtflyer, those are amazing pictures! Congratulations on your quest! The pieces of the aircraft are so huge.
I'm a little confused, though, on the part of the Navy - surely debris this large is visible from the air. They retrieved the crews who ejected so they know the area the aircraft went down... does the Navy plan on just leaving the debris indefinately? Is this standard?
Don't know what the miltary's procedures are, but from what I've seen they remove the ones that are easy to get to and just take the weapons on the others. This one is just outside of the China Lake Naval Weapons Center. I'm glad that at times they do leave the wreckage. Some people may see them as trash , but to me it's like finding treasure . Always loved airplanes from as far back as I can remember. It's kind of like divers checking out sunken ships. Lot of the fun is doing the research it takes to find them. The info is usually in bits and pieces. I put in over twenty hours researching this one.
. Both aircraft went down. The good thing is that both crews were able to eject safely 
. I been wanting to look for these for over a year, but never had any real info on where they were other than somewhere in the Coso Range. Finally found a photo of the crash site that showed a ridge line in the background. Didn’t think I had much of a chance finding anything but it was worth a try. Got lucky is time and was able to find pieces of #158379 
, but to me it's like finding treasure 
. Always loved airplanes from as far back as I can remember. It's kind of like divers checking out sunken ships. Lot of the fun is doing the research it takes to find them. The info is usually in bits and pieces. I put in over twenty hours researching this one.