In 1993 Alan and I moved to Yuba City, which is about 30 miles south of Oroville. About 20 miles east of Yuba City is Beale Air Force Base. Beale is the home of the U-2 Reconnaissance Plane (The Dragon Lady), that has been in operation since the late 1950's.

During the 80's I had worked in Marysville, which is just across the Feather River from Yuba City and had visited Beale AFB many times when I was tasked to give retirement briefings to the soon-to-be-released personnel.

Out in front of the base headquarters was a U-2 that had been placed on a pedestal. It had been involved in an accident just north of Oroville back on January 31, 1980.

I remember when that happened. I was driving home from work in Chico and was just north of Oroville when I came across a group of highly armed Air Force Security personnel (pointing M-16's) who had staked out the area near the freeway. The U-2 had crash landed out in the volcanic rock area west of the freeway. The area is flat and the pilot was not seriously injured. I am not sure of the circumstances but rumor had it that the pilot had passed out and the plane was so aerodynamic that it crashed landed itself. Apparently just then the pilot woke up, panicked, and ejected from the ground! His only injury was a broken nose.

The above information lays the groundwork for the following story that involves a U-2, the Oroville Mercury Register, the personnel of Beale and the people of Oroville. The devastating incident effected them all, but especially it changed the lives of all Oroville Mercury employees and destroyed the lives of two other people.

Amazingly, it has now been over a decade since this tragedy. But time has not diminished the terror of it.

This web site is dedicated to the victims and their families. It is also dedicated to those who came to their aid in this deadly incident.

Larry Matthews

She spoke for awhile with Dusty Smith. Receptionist Sherri Ott was also there in the front office.

Jeri finished her business and went out the front door into the sunshine. Just then she heard a loud "pop" and looked up. She saw something flaming and black, heading right down toward her......and it weighed 40,000 pounds.

U. S. AIR FORCE CAPTAIN RANDY ROBY, had taken off from Beale Air Force Base at about 2 P.M. on this Wednesday afternoon. His U-2 aircraft had recently undergone routine maintenance. Roby was doing a functional check of the plane.

The Captain headed northwest from Beale and approached Oroville.

He was 15 minutes into his flight when something went terribly wrong. Captain Roby relayed to Beale that he had an in-flight emergency. Suddenly there was an explosion.

People on the ground have described the noise as a "pop" but it must have been quite a large explosion. Almost immediately, Captain Roby grabbed the ejection release. He felt the thrust amid the noise and smoke as he was launched into the air.

An explosion and fire ripped through the building, knocking employees off chairs in a blinding flash. Employees facing the wall of flames inside the paper's office had no idea what caused the devastation. Picking themselves up, they headed for an exit as fast as possible. The office was dark and smoky and all the lights went out. Most of the 17 employees could only think of one thing - to get out as fast as possible.

Outside, the wreckage was scattered in a widening circle from where the plane was still sitting, nose down, after impacting with an employee's car. The blackened plane looking like a fused lawn dart.

The employees could not believe what had happened. They saw the aircraft, a 12 foot high pile of rubble that protruded from the paved lot to just above the roofline of the building. That was all that was left of the 63 foot aircraft.

But it had been a miracle! The plane had just missed entering the Mercury building and had just missed 3 homes on Second Street. Another 30 feet to the west and everyone in the newspaper would have been killed.

VARIOUS WITNESSES SAW THE PLANE COME DOWN:

A reporter thought he heard a sonic boom, but it was the explosion of the aircraft. He looked up to see the spiraling aircraft, one wing engulfed in flames as it plummeted almost straight down.

Faint crackling noises could be heard as the aircraft dropped lower and lower. Then another smaller explosion was heard just prior to it hitting the ground. Then the ground suddenly shook and there was a loud roar accompanied with billowing black smoke.

"We were sitting in the office (of the forestry station) and the walls started shaking, literally and then "Boom!" The whole damn building just shook and we ran out and saw the fireball. My heart just sank. I thought that thing had gone right into the Mercury and at the same time I heard it was a U-2. We could see the parachute coming down and so everyone knew what we had to do. We got our wits together and got in the engines.", stated JEFF MCINTURF, California Department of Forestry.

"What I heard was a rumble and saw a shadow going over the building. Then I saw the explosion and I ran out to the sidewalk and saw a parachute coming down. At first I thought it was a bomb, but then I saw the parachute and then I thought, "Oh no, it's an airplane," stated GLORIA WARING, Butte County Adult Services Department.

"The pilot landed right next to us in this grass field. When we got there, he was just coming down. As I got closer, I could see his head injury, which was significant and the position of his neck. He had lost his helmet. The fact that the strength of the blast took his helmet off, if I was cognizant I would have realized that there was no way someone could have survived. At that time he was landing and the parachute was billowing behind him. Mike just took that and covered the gentleman," stated JANET MARSHALL, California Department of Forestry dispatcher.

Captain Roby was pronounced dead at the scene. His body was covered with the parachute where he landed. He had landed directly in front of the Department of Forestry on Nelson Avenue, about a quarter-mile northeast of the crash site.

Nelson Avenue in front of the CDF office - August 2002. Where the pilot came down.

Beale AFB officials from the 9th Support Group indicated that they had found wreckage from the plane up to a quarter of a mile from the impact area.

The overall scene was described by California Highway Patrol Officer, MIKE TICKNOR, "My first thought was that a propane tank or something else had exploded. As we looked out the window we saw this ball of flames coming from the Mercury. Then we saw this parachute and a pilot, or what we assume is a pilot, coming down. When we were looking up at him, it didn't seem like he was moving. Initially, we jumped in our patrol cars, since we are only a block away and drove over to the accident scene. Civilians, kids, everyone was trying to pick up pieces and parts of the airplane and nobody even thought about a possible second explosion, which could have easily killed more people. Cars were engulfed, not to mention the airplane. Within minutes we had hundreds of people and cars trying to look. I just kept thinking, god, the highway patrol office is only a couple hundred yards away. I'm just thankful we're alive."

A FINAL THOUGHT

I visited the crash site about a week after the event. From a distance the building, blackened and wrecked, seemed to be in another world from what I had remembered the area to look like.

The reconditioned front of the Mercury building. August 2002.

I revisited the building in August 2002. In place of the parking lot in the front of the building is now a little park with benches and a trickling fountain. There is no memorial plaque.

The Mercury Building - August 2002.

In looking at that now quiet, peaceful area I think of the tragedy that occured on that otherwise beautiful summer day. A day that was filled with brave, caring people. A day where the death toll could have been much, much worse.

THIS WEB SITE WAS ESTABLISHED AUGUST 7, 2002.

THIS WEB SITE WAS LAST UPDATED OCTOBER 20, 2007.