Edwards Airforce base history.....
http://www.edwards.af.mil/about_edwards/index.html
The final entry in Glen Edwards’ diary, on June 3, was both ebullient and thoughtful: "What a wonderful day this has been! Got off two flights on the YB-49, a lovely flight on the DC-6, one on the C-74—and I’m bushed…Col. Boyd flew the YB-49 for the first time today and wasn’t too impressed. We all share the same views. A passable airplane in ideal circumstances."
That was the last entry in the diary. Two days later, on June 5, 1948, Edwards and four others were killed in the crash of their YB-49.
Just before 8 a.m. on that Saturday morning, a motorist on State Road 466 saw huge pieces of metal plummeting to earth northwest of Muroc Air Force Base.
YB-49 s/n 42-102368, undergoing a series of performance evaluations, had departed controlled flight and experienced a catastrophic failure in the air.
The center section containing the cockpit and crew stations crashed within view of the base; the outer wing panels fluttered to earth some distance away.
Capt. Glen W. Edwards and Maj. Daniel H. Forbes Jr. were the pilots that day; 1st Lt. Edward L. Swindell, Mr. Clare C. Lesser, and Mr. C.H. LaFountain were also aboard. The exact chain of events leading to the bomber’s loss of control remains a matter of some controversy.