---
title: "Vintage Plane With WWII-Era Luftwaffe Markings Crash Lands on California Highway"
description: "Ever show up to a Halloween party and find out you're the only one wearing a costume? It could be worse."
date: "2018-10-23"
modified: "2018-10-24"
authors:
  - name: "Kyle Cheromcha"
    job_title: "Editor-in-Chief"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kyle-cheromcha"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/24406/vintage-wwii-era-plane-with-luftwaffe-markings-crash-lands-on-california-highway"
categories:
  - "News"
tags:
  - "Aviation"
  - "California"
  - "Luftwaffe"
  - "Plane Crash"
  - "vintage"
  - "World War II"
---

# Vintage Plane With WWII-Era Luftwaffe Markings Crash Lands on California Highway

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2018/10/luftwaffe-crash.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Ever show up to a Halloween party and find out you're the only one wearing a costume? It could be worse. You could have [crash-landed](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/15924/crash-diary-podcast-what-it-feels-like-to-survive-an-airplane-crash>) your World War II-era warplane in full Luftwaffe regalia on a busy highway in one of the most progressive areas in the country—like this unfortunate (and uninjured, thankfully) gentleman in southern California on Tuesday afternoon.

[*KLTA* reports the plane](<https://ktla.com/2018/10/23/small-plane-down-on-northbound-101-freeway-in-agoura-hills/>)—identified by our Tyler Rogoway as a North American AT-6 Texan—went down on the 101 Freeway just outside Los Angeles around 2pm local time, striking the center divider before coming to rest nose-down in the northbound lanes. Early pictures from witnesses show the T-6's structure stayed remarkably intact during the crash landing, but a fire quickly broke out and eventually consumed the entire body, leaving just the wings and a charred engine behind.

https://twitter.com/_/status/1054841169547427840

https://twitter.com/_/status/1054843178711314432

[*The New York Times* reports](<https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/10/23/us/ap-us-plane-crash-the-latest.html?partner=IFTTT>) the AT-6 [trainer](<https://www.twz.com/23598/air-force-says-it-knows-why-t-6-trainers-are-choking-pilots-but-itll-take-years-to-fix>) was part of a local vintage aircraft group known as the Condor Squadron. The group's president told the Times that the unidentified pilot, who flies for Alaska Airlines, did an excellent job bringing the plane down without hitting any cars or endangering anyone else. The road will be closed in both directions for an undetermined amount of time, according to the California Highway Patrol.

As to why it's bearing the markings of the Nazis' famed air force, the Condor Squadron reportedly performs mock dogfights at air shows. Lower-value vintage planes like the AT-6 are often dressed up to look like WWII-era fighters, so this isn't actually a case of highly questionable cosplay gone awry. Still, no one wants to be the guy crashing a Nazi plane on a California highway.

This is the second time in less than a week [that a plane has ended up on a public road in the state](<https://abc7.com/small-plane-lands-on-freeway-in-san-diego-county/4518772/>)—on Friday, a flight instructor gave his student a crash course in emergency landings when he was forced to ditch on Interstate 8 outside San Diego. C'mon guys, [the traffic is bad enough](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/17025/californians-are-the-worst-drivers-in-the-united-states-study-finds>) down here already.

https://twitter.com/_/status/1054847347602087936

https://twitter.com/_/status/1054844456518602753

## Author
Overseeing an expert staff of writers and editors from his lair in Los Angeles, Kyle shapes The Drive’s singular approach to covering the automotive industry and car culture. He’s been with the site as a writer since 2017, taking over as editor in 2019. On a daily basis, Kyle is responsible for directing The Drive's editorial news and car review content strategies, setting special coverage priorities, managing complex reporting projects, and ensuring what you read on the page meets our high internal standards for quality and trustworthiness. He is also the executive producer of The Drive's YouTube channel, which was relaunched in February 2024 to great acclaim and has accumulated over 14M new views in its first year back on the scene. He hosts a biweekly series on the channel where he breaks down fascinating and complicated stories from the automotive world.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/kylecheromcha.bsky.social>)  
[Instagram](<https://www.instagram.com/kylecheromcha>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-cheromcha-1550248a/>)