In 1944 , a military B-24 Liberator heavy bomber crashed in the Squilchuck Basin.  Here is a quote from the sign next to a mounted wing:  “On a stormy night of September 30, 1944, Flight Crew 22, on a training mission from Walla Walla Army air base, found itself off course and lost above the rugged Cascade Mountain Range. They were flying a B-24 “Liberator” heavy bomber. The night was rainy and the valley enshrouded with heavy fog…and (the plane) crashed.” 

The news release continues:  The Liberator failed to clear the mountain where the ski area is now located by 500 feet and all six crew members aboard were killed. In memory of that crash, and to honor those serving to protect our country’s freedom, the mountain above the crash was named Mission Peak. The ski area built upon that history, adopting such names as Bomber Bowl (an open bowl within the resort popular among intermediate skiers) and the B-24 Terrain Park (a place where kids on snowboards and twin-tipped skis continue to crash and burn).

These images are from the wreckage today located in the valley below the mounted wing and sign.  Larger pieces have slipped farther down the mountain to the slope just above the opening to the run known as “Ka Wham”

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