It has a Transponder but the Transponder was defective.
I remember reading about the Meteor, and early fighter jet and the large percentage of airframes lost when it did not see that much Combat.
Back in WW2 Colorado seemed to be a favourite place for Bomber training, a lot of crashes, not sure they have found all of them. I suppose it is inevitable if you are on the edge with Aircraft design there is going to be a higher failure rate. We get a lot of high altitude low level stuff here.
When I was at School we used to go flying, RAF Chipmunks, very very old even then but tried and trusted. The last time I went the safety checks took forever, they had a crash and the student did not make it. You sat in the back and the pilot pulled the canopy back and went and then you had to do your bit.