Rock Creek Knob airplane crash (Nov 4, 1998)

I was in the Tennessee Civil Air Patrol for 29 years. I never went home without us finding the missing person or missing aircraft in all those years...well except for one boy but I believe a relative took him across state lines. Anyway...here is one airplane that we thought got away. We looked for Walter Barker for 6 years. Never did find him during the official search. After the three week search was suspended I kept on looking along with the pilots son. Jerome and I spent many days hiking, flying and researching to no avail. Finally in October 2004 a bear hunter hiking along the Wilderness Area boundary of Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock, happened upon the crash site. In the picture above the son of the missing pilot and I are looking for human remains. On the first day we did not find any. But in the days after we located clothing and other items of the pilot (change, denture, zipper, shoes, jacket, pants, etc.) We also dug about 6 inches into the duff and found parts of bone.

The crash is at about 3300' on the Wilderness Area boundary. He crashed into a rhododendron thicket. During the search I flew over the crash site at least four times but never saw it.

Here is the two sons minutes after we along with FBI, USFS and county SO arrived on the scene. It was a highlight of my life. I had spent 6 years looking, praying and researching and here it was...right in front of me.

I took this photo on board a SAR aircraft a week or so after the "find". The crash site is in this picture but cannot be seen from the air. From Maple Springs parking area walk up the Haoe Lead trail (?) to the point where the trail makes a hard left at the Wilderness Boundary. Instead of turning left with the trail, go right along the spine of the draw down about 15 minutes. Look to your left just inside the wilderness and into the rhodo.