Near Coalinga in Fresno County, California — The American West (Pacific Coastal)
1948 Fresno County Plane Crash
Los Gatos Canyon
Photographed by Craig Baker
1. 1948 Fresno County Plane Crash Marker
On the morning of January 28, 1948, a plane went down across the road from this memorial Killing 28 Bracero workers, 3 crew members and an immigration officer. The plane crash was observed by convicts from the Fresno County Road Camp and local canyon residents. The witnesses saw white vapor and then fire streaming from the left engine of the aircraft. The left wing broke free and the airplane fell to the earth crashing down in a fireball visible all the way to Coalinga. This plaque was placed here in 2023, 75 years later, in remembrance of what was one of the largest aircraft disasters of the time in California, and it is dedicated to all the families whose lives were forever affected by this tragedy.
The sky plane caught fire over Los Gatos Canyon…
-Woody Guthrie, "Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportee)"
The echoes of Godforsaken screams cast out in the air just seconds ago are still reverberating...
From All They Will Call You, by Tim Z. Hernandez
Erected 2023.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Air & Space • Civil Rights • Disasters
this page online
Location. 36° 14.25′ N, 120° 35.124′ W. Marker is near Coalinga, California, in Fresno County. It is on Los Gatos Creek Road 14 miles west of Derrick Avenue, on the right when traveling west. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 46582 Los Gatos Creek Rd, Coalinga CA 93210, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the San Joaquin Valley, specifically in the Central Valley, and in the Sierra Nevada. It is also on the American Pacific Coast. Globally, it is in North America, on the Ring of Fire, on the Pacific Rim, in the Western Hemisphere, in the Western World, and in the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain and also Mexico’s Alta California.
Other nearby markers. At least 2 other markers are within 14 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Benitoite (approx. 7.4 miles away); Raymond F. Eade (approx. 14 miles away).
Regarding 1948 Fresno County Plane Crash. On January 28, 1948, a DC-3 aircraft operated by Airline Transport Carriers with 32 persons
Photographed by Craig Baker
2. 1948 Fresno County Plane Crash Marker
Some of the passengers were being returned to Mexico at the termination of their bracero contracts, while others were undocumented immigrants being deported. Initial news reports listed only the three crew members and an INS guard, with the remainder listed only as "deportees." The Mexican victims of the accident were placed in a mass grave at Holy Cross Cemetery in Fresno, with their grave marked only as "Mexican Nationals".
The investigation by the Civil Aeronautics Board discovered that a fuel leak in the left engine's fuel pump had ignited and the slipstream fanned the flames to a white hot intensity. The ensuing fire, acting like a torch, burned through the wingspar and caused the crash.
Singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie wrote a poem in 1948 lamenting the anonymity of the workers killed in the crash, identified only as "deportees" in media reports. When Guthrie's poem was set to music a decade later by college student Martin Hoffman, it became the folk song "Deportee (Plane
Photographed by Craig Baker
3. Gravesite Marker
The song was popularized by Pete Seeger, and was subsequently performed by Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, The Byrds, and others.
On September 2, 2013 (Labor Day), a Deportee Memorial Headstone was unveiled at the mass grave in Holy Cross Cemetery in Fresno. The memorial includes all twenty-eight names of the migrant workers.
-from Wikipedia
from Wikimedia Commons
4. Improved Gravesite Marker
Credits. This page was last revised on September 6, 2026. It was originally submitted on September 6, 2026, by Craig Baker of Sylmar, California. This page has been viewed 44 times since then. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on September 6, 2026, by Craig Baker of Sylmar, California.
