Loon Lake & the B-23 wreck

On January 29, 1943, a B-23 bomber on a coastal-patrol training flight got lost in a winter storm over Idaho and crash-landed on Loon Lake’s frozen shore; the nine crew survived eight days in the snow before walking out to telegraph lines — one of the era’s remarkable survival stories. The Air Force left the airframe; the wreck remains at the lake’s inlet under the Forest Service’s historical protection. The lake sits deep in the Payette National Forest, reached by trail or boat-in, and the crash site is the region’s favourite wilderness destination story. On January 29, 1943, a B-23 bomber on a coastal-patrol training flight got lost in a winter storm and crash-landed on Loon Lake’s frozen shore; all nine crew survived eight days in the snow before walking out to telegraph lines, and the Air Force left the airframe, which remains at the lake’s inlet under historical protection.