By the late fall of 1944 residents of Corvallis were well
accustomed to the distant crash of artillery as soldiers trained
for combat at nearby Camp Adair. Nonetheless, few were prepared for
the huge window shattering blast that awoke them in the early
morning hours of November 18, 1944. Unlike normal artillery
training, it was evident that this blast was much closer to the
city than usual, and it was likely much larger. As there were no
civilian injuries nor significant damage to personal property, the
event, shrouded in military secrecy, soon faded from collective
memory. However, this was not before local residents had speculated
that this may have been the work of escaped German or Italian POWs
or even perhaps the explosion of a Japanese balloon bomb.
Imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon a large impact crater
all these years later. Initially, I thought it might be a meteor
impact crater. It was only after intense research and the benefit
of now declassified military documents that I have learned the
truth. I had found the location of that November 18, 1944
explosion. I further learned that this occurred as a consequence of
the inadvertent, errant discharge of a huge cannon, similar to a
naval sixteen inch gun, that the army was experimenting with at
Camp Adair.
I have now hidden a geocache at the spot where that shell
impacted and exploded. To find the geocache, the finder will have
to perform the necessary calculations based on these data: The
cannon was located at the coordinates that introduce this page, its
muzzle was elevated to an angle of 31.5 degrees, and the projectile
was propelled at an initial velocity of 328.796 meters per second.
The cannon was fired at a bearing of 219.6799 degrees. To determine
location of the impact, ignore factors of wind, terrain, etc. After
you have calculated distance, use your GPSr to project a waypoint
or use Ed Williams' Great Circle
Calculator to do so.
This cache is also placed to celebrate and commemorate the
service of the members of the U.S. Army’s 91st, 96th, 70th,
and 104th Infantry Divisions who trained at Camp Adair before
serving valiantly in the European and Pacific theaters of World War
II. We are all profoundly indebted to them for their service.