We here at the Yukon's Member Organization of the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association - still look for the missing Skymaster every year. Including just this August. This is a vast territory but, we hope some day we'll be able to bring closure to the families of the missing. We have not forgotten them
Thanks for your continued efforts in the Skymaster search, kudos to your team. Does your organization have any information about this particular missing aircraft on a page on your web site, i.e. perhaps a Google Earth layer showing areas searched? I mentioned a possible .kml file of the proposed/supposed flight path in a reply above, do you know if anyone has created such?
Asking the obvious here maybe but maybe not. With the lack of aviation nav acknowledged, rudimentry at best, and even meterology, what were the winds , direction, estimated speeds , both aloft and near ground level like on that eve of the missing craft? Accounting for wind drift, and the variance of winds aloft, aircraft projected speed and course, it would look as though to me ( multi engine rated here) that it just burned in abruptly with no time to flip the emergency switch . The gent who saw the snow slide and the carrion eating birds who did make the report and the RCMP only flew around the site area/region, may have been the only actual witness to happened across it.
I’ve never heard of this plane missing so I was glued. I appreciate your honest approach in your videos. Just facts no added drama or speculation. Thank you.
Back in 1959 I was on a C-119 returning from Elmendorf AFB and recall flying for what seemed like hours over western Canada and never seeing a light on the ground. It was a moonlit night and I could see enough of the ground to make out that it was full of ravines. It was not a place I wished to go down in.
1947 a British passenger plane named “Stardust” crashed in to a glacier in the Argentine Andes and was completely covered. It was not found until an engine appeared out of the glacier in the 1990s and more and more parts have turned up as the glacier moves. Maybe that is what happened here too? Great video and lovely dogs in the background!
Ah yes, the famous Stendec story. I remember seeing the BBC Horizon episode about that. The film was, of course, very good. I was struck especially by three things. 1. the time period...one where times seemed technologically and scientifically advanced...there were atomic bombs for crying out loud, BUT we're often not as "advanced" as we think. Despite all the flying done prior to and during WW2, humans still didn't really understand the atmosphere, especially not the jet stream..which is what "got" them 2. after people reported the Rolls Royce engines appearing, people from the Argentine army set off to investigate. And even they, in the late 20th century had difficulty getting there, as did the poor mules they brought along. Poor mules. Even had anyone survived the crash..getting back to a town....oh boy. I'd rather go instantly 3. The Andes? Right? They just have outrageously high up volcanoes.
@@adventuresgonewrongI just had a quick look over the area and think I see the shape of a plane wreck here. Looks like it was facing towards the west, but these things happen. www.google.com/maps/@62.2286559,-140.6115083,73m/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e4?entry=ttu
Just found your channel today and I love the way you tell these stories. There is a calm, curious vibe, which I very much appreciate as I suffer from anxiety but long for adventure.
Over the decades, what I've noticed with hunters, loggers and geologists who have stories of finding old crash sites. When asked if they reported it, NO they didn't, as there weren't any human remains. No doubt, many were tall tales that never happened, but I certainly hope this day and age anyone finding wreckage in the bush, would at least shoot an email to the NTSB. Unraveling mysteries like this could take far less time.
Another tragic story of an aircraft just vanishing, great video covering the incident which I'd never heard about before. Way back in the late 70's I was attending an aviation college in New Hampshire when a corporate jet, just a few years old, took off from an airport in NH for a short flight to upper-state New York. The route was over some mountains and large wooded areas but NH is nowhere near as remote as where this story takes place. The biz-jet vanished about an hour into it's flight, just poof...gone. Me and a lot of other students at my college who had already earned their pilots licenses used the schools planes to aid in what was a very large search that went on for weeks. To this day not a trace of this aircraft has been found. There were several large lakes on it's route, they were all searched and have been numerous times since including with sonar...nothing. Sometimes aircraft just vanish.
That was an interesting story but very tragic for the victims and their familes. I had never heard this story, so I appreciate you telling us about it. I hope they one day find an answer to what happened.
Its extremely sad that this story has been lost to time. Ive never heard of this at all and it seems many others havent either. I hope it was swift and that no one suffered and that they can rest in peace. Hopefully what happened will eventually be discovered. Thank you for the wonderful video!
Thank you for your video. You are such a great and engaging storyteller. This is a really tragic story. 44 people out there for over 70 years and no answers for their families. Hope they are found one day.
@@adventuresgonewrongI’m not sure if there’s any weight to this as I haven’t seen it be discussed by anyone else, but if you google “MIA recoveries” and the planes serial number 42-72469, they have a report from where they traveled to near Burwash Landing and they apparently found a crash site of a plane (they have photos on their website) in 2020 which was pending analysis to see if it was indeed the missing skymaster. According to them they think most of the wreckage is now under a glacier. I found it very interesting that the nearest town is where the guy who saw the snow slide and carrion birds that you mentioned.
The wreckage got covered by snow and stayed covered until the snow melted and possibly covered in deep snow. They use a technology in searching for deep sea wrecks that sends a signal based upon ferrous and non ferrous metals. I wonder if something like that would or could be useful in locating things buried under snow.
The radio report at Snag about some ice on the wings is likely the main clue as to what happened. I don't know what de-icing equipment they had on the C-54 and flying in Alaska and Canada would require knowledge and counter measures for icing but icing should never be taken casually. If they were experiencing icing and loosing altitude there certainly would have been time for the flight engineer/radio operator to signal the alarm as described. Maybe it is just one of those things we will neve know.
As an Aussie who's never heard of this before, and as someone who has keenly followed many aircraft crash investigations, the info that really jumped out at me the most was the native guy who spotted the ice slide, and the scavenger birds hanging around that same area. I'm surprised no-one has followed up on those leads more closely.. Or have they?
Sooo sad and extremely interesting. I’ve never heard about this unfortunate event. Crashing is awful. Crashing into snow is horrendous. Crashing into the snow and an ice lake…I can’t imagine the nightmare. Thank you. Bless the souls.
There is an amazing doco about a plane that crashed in Antarctica. Everyone died but all these young people had to spend weeks out there to retrieve the bodies, which often had to be cut out of the ice. It sounded horrific. They had to eat with the same gloves they were wearing while carrying dead bodies all day.
The multiple reports of flares for several days at the BC-Montana border, are both intriguing and disturbing about whatever happened there, since a search was never carried out
My grandfather established all the flying roots in Alaska his name was James Maurice King. He went down in yakutat flying scientist to the Seward glacier. Still missing. Nice of you to remember these people
Great presentation: ) A cut above the usual because you faced the audience and used original stuff, clearly you did your research. You piqued our interest about the Skymaster and even more so when you mentioned the The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" with the A bomb (maybe) that went down due to icing on Feb 14, 1950 Hope someday the wreckage of the Skymaster will be found
man, when they said "all good, just a bit of ice on the wing" it's so eerie. So easy to underestimate how dangerous a bit of ice on the wing can be. I'm curious what anti-icing, if any, the DC4 had
Some years ago we were coming in to land at Bembridge airport on the Isle of Wight. We were flying in a twin engine Piper Navajo and the pilot in command was a very experienced man, qualified to fly a Lear Jet as well as all the other company planes. As we were on final approach the plane lurched. When I asked the pilot, who I was sat next to in the co-pilots seat, what was that, he said just a bit of ice has detached from the tail plane, about an eighth of an inch thick probably. The plane had full deicing boots on the leading surfaces and heating on the propeller blades. In winter before take off from Bembridge in the afternoon he would be seen checking the wing surfaces for frost deposits. There was a large, pump up garden sprayer in the hand luggage space at the back just in case he had to de-ice the wings and tail prior to take off. Not a problem once airborne but a serious risk on take off. I remember the first time we saw this sprayer we joked about killing green fly and no he said, it´s full of de-icing fluid for clearing frost off the control surfaces. In icing condit6ions when the deicing was turned on, the rubber boots on the wing leading edges could be seen constantly swelling and deflating as air pumped in. The ice, looking like a thin coating of clear varnish, would then flake off before it could become a danger. I wonder whether planes were so equipped 70 years ago?
@ericvantassell6809 If you know if this plane had any de-icing technology, share your information. If you don't know, don't be sarcastic to OP. Don't be petty. Your comment sticks out like a sore thumb in this comment section.
I'm a casual aviation enthusiast but I've never heard this story before. Thanks for covering it! Kinda surprised Mentour Pilot hasnt covered it yet (to my knowledge) 😸
It's a much older case than what he normally does, the plane was never found, and I guess we didn't learn anything from the crash, because it can't be investigated.
I doubt Petter would cover this crash as he normally deals with detailed breakdowns of what causes the disaster. Imguessing with this crash remaining a mystery for so long he wouldn't be able to do his normal detailed analysis.
How awful for the families I really hope with all the technology we have now that the wreckage will be found and the 44 souls on board can finally rest in peace and the families get the closure they need.
Novelist Ernest Gann recounted how on one post-war flight as a pilot in a DC-4 (a civilianised C-54) the plane was behaving strangely* throughout the flight: on landing, he was informed that he had avoided being killed by a just-discovered fault in the aircraft's elevator design that was thought to have been behind other DC-4 total-loss crashes in which the planes had suddenly dived into the ground. The fault was corrected and such accidents ended. * a recurrent vibration
Thanks for watching! Because it's local, I've been interested in this story for years. Would love for someone to find it and for the families to have some answers.
First time I have seen this channel. Great job! I have been involved in search and rescue for many years. First with the ground searchers and then 8 years with the RCMP search dogs. Fantastic training with both and my mind was ticking off with the searches as you wee explaining. Thanks for the excellent job. 🇨🇦
I know little of mountain rescue and even less of aviation. But, I've lived in the mountains for a few years and know how easily the snow can disappear things. I can't help thinking, back in the 50's, glaciers were still advancing, and with a short day length in January they couldn't search until the next day. Also, a plane crash is a pretty good excuse for an avalanche, even though, at that time of year an avalanche wouldn't be top to bottom (through the snow layer to the ice), but just the surface dust. It would still be enough to hide a wreck. If that is what happened and an avalanche ended up on a glacier. It would be too dangerous to search for and, under snow fall, impossible to see from the air. I don't think 50's metal detectors could find aluminium anyway. I do hope that CASRA find it one day.
icing could have brought them down closer to snag. but i would have expected the radio mayday. but for how icing occurs insidiously quickly. a distracted pilot might not notice the plane would still be moving forward at the proper indicated airspeed but dropping 1000-3000 fpm. generally the planes pancake. a pilot would instinctively head towards flat ground probably a frozen lakelet 10000ft to zero in 3 -7 minutes out from Snag. probably more likely to be one of the smaller lakes after wellesley.lake. 450 km/h makes it 20-50km outta Snag.
Brings to mind Air France flight 477 from Brazil to France that disappeared over the Atlantic. In this case, it was determined by extensive research and recreation of the flight from looking at the known, computerized coordinates & flight data that the most likely scenario was the pitot tubes, which are located outside on the front of the plane and determine the plane’s speed, got filled with ice, thereby not allowing the pilots to know what speed they were flying at. The end result was they flew too slow and never realized they were in a downward path. This could have happened to the missing plane. With the weather the way it was/is up there, the plane could have been covered by snow and ice. Of. Purse, it’s all conjecture at this point. It is so tragic for everyone who lost loved ones, but none more so than the man who lost his 2 yr. old son and a pregnant wife. I can’t help but wonder what became of him, if he remarried, had more children, etc. 😢
Had never heard of this story, how tragic for the families and those lost. It baffles me how they said they were really no issues even with having ice on the wings, I don't fly but I do know that is a very bad thing to have ice on the wings. And flying in temps such as those were bad too. May the victims RIP.
Excellent presentation on every level. I had never heard of this sad disappearance of the Skymaster. The story of the 4 aircraft downed during the search for it are interesting stories within this story. Gratitude for sharing🙏💙.
I'm no wreckage expert but would guess it had to hit a mountain and go into many pieces or be underwater. To not ever be spotted with that much traffic it must not be mostly intact if on land. This is an interesting mystery and feel sadness for the families. Great video quality as well.
Two of my favorite topics in one video - wilderness adventures gone wrong and aviation mishaps. Oh, it’s a mystery so there’s a third! Thank you for providing such great engaging and educational content…love your channel ❤
Amazing that in the period of a 30 min between check-ins it could vanish. Would seem unlikely it would skip a check-in, and 30 mins at 240mph means you expect it within 120 miles of Snag in an arc focussed around Whitehorse … but clearly that has been searched many times. I wonder if a magnetometer scan might find it … although not a lot of ferrous metals I guess…
Assuming the the navigator was right about their location when he checked in. As a former USAF radar operator before gps they were usually off . The airliners would put a stewardess on the radio to distract us while the navigator tried to get a better fix
I was a child in Anchorage in 1981 when I saw a Cessna in the sky vanish. I was on the playground at elementary school when I stopped to watch the small airplane flying through the sky. ( I still do and imagine how the pilot is having more fun than me!) - then the Cessna stopped in a bright triangle of light. I looked for a few seconds to see if it really had stopped - it was frozen in place with the triangle of light brighter than the sky. I took my eyes off to grab closest friend and pointed at sky shouting "look!" - when he looked, the sky was empty. No trace of any aircraft. I will never forget that airplane abduction I saw happen in Anchorage in my childhood. - with ❣️ from Montana
As soon as I heard "...ice on the wings.." it immediately brought to mind a video I had just watched by Mentour Pilot about Air Florida Flight 90 in 1982.
Great vid! Looking forward to the next one! I think the local indigenous guy who said there was a snow slide and scavenger birds and flares going off. I think the plane is there!
I never heard of this and it was very interesting. How tragic that was. So strange it's never been found. I'm binging your videos when I walk on the treadmill! .
This happened in AK in the Mat Su valley as well a dc3 type plane with 56 people had crashed into an ice field they just found the wreck after something like 65 years Alaska is a big place lots of crashes to explore
Such Sad Story oft repeated unfortunatly. Been to the Yukon two times driving adventures not many days pass were I do not think of this place called the Yukon as I am stuck here in the rat race of southern Ontario, Thank You For the Scenery a Spectacular place indeed !
Thank you. Great research and coverage of a tragic tale. Crazy that the plane was never found -- but sounds like after the initial search, little effort and funding were put into finding it.
Kind of similar story to what happened to an airliner flying out of Vancouver in about 1956/7. That one was a Northstar 4 engine. Same scenario in that despite a very heavy search it wasn't found. However the wreckage was found about early 90's I believe when a forestry crew found the remanants. It had crashed into a cliff face just below the very top of a mountain just east of Hope BC. It appeared to have totally blown up or disintegrated with the remnants falling into tall timber below. Very likely a similar story in this missing plane, except there aren't any tall trees or timber at altitude in the Yukon, so likely went in pieces into a crevice or under a glacier. Going into a lake because of icing would have given time to send out a radio call.
I watched another video about a plane that crashed into a mountainside in the 1940s or 1950s. There was heavy snowfall and it covered the plane for decades. A similar thing could have happened in this case.
This was really interesting. I had never heard the story before - Canadian living in BC. You did a good job at recounting the details. Wonder if there was any possibility of friendly fire taking down the plane? You mentioned the huge joint military exercise going on in the area at the same time. And also it seems that death certificates were issued very quickly - less than a year later. It would be something the military would want to hide and maybe get rid of any evidence. Sounds like whatever happened, happened very quickly. No mayday or distress signalling. hope the loss of life was quick.
That had to be hard for Robert to say goodbye to pregnant wife and never seeing them again I could not imagine how he dealt with that the rest of his life
If the Radio Operator had gone for a 'break' he would not have been able to flick the switch. To reduce icing they would have probably descended and that could have been the big mistake and the plane went straight into a mountain in the dark and is now part of a glacier and will only be found when it melts. Sadly, the human remains might not be there any more as scavenging birds, bears and wolves would have taken them.
How do we get in touch with you to recommend a current ongoing story ? I'd love to have you follow it and maybe make a video about it later. I'm sure the guy involved would agree (or maybe not; it's pretty gory but he's still pushing forward).
Could that search with that new remote sensing laser light scanning called "Lidar" that has greatly helped find lost Mayan cities in the jungles of South America find the plane that way? Thanks for the very interesting video. I've never heard of this tragedy. Thanks for your very well designed video!
It sounds like the turbulence the experienced was owing to the mountains, The icing up they experienced,indicated that they were fling in icing conditions. They might have flown into a down draft from the mountains. The icing might have affected the engines and the aero dynamic efficiency of the wings as nd it flew into the side of a mountain.. I don't know the speed it was going but, coming to a " dead stop" wouldn't have left much visible. If I was doing a search, I'd fing out the wind direction of the day of the crash, find out which mountain range which could cause the turbulance as nd search around there. It might be between the last radio station they reported to and the the one they didn't see report to. If they got lost so they would have radioed for help. Down drafts from mountains etc are very dangerous. Mechanical altimeters tend to miss read the altitude ( when flying from hi to low, beware below) ie over read. It might show 10k feet but, 0the real height might be 6.5 k feet. If the altimeter was set at the take off point and the weather got colder and the pressure dropped ( the weather deteriorated) as it flew to its destination , it would have been flying a lot lower than it is thought is was. I don't know if the radio stations transmitted their pressure( QNE), to the aircraft, allowing the altimeter to be corrected.QNE. If this had been done, the accident might not have happened.
Those "radio checkpoints" were not necessarily for vocally checking in, they were ADF radios (automatic direction finder). 10,000ft without O2 is only an aviation law. The plane can fly higher than that, and hypoxia isn't really dangerous below 12 or 13,000ft
Possible scenario could be ice on radio antenna or damaged radio so no check point communication and flight continue on towards destination and then had trouble hundreds of miles past search area, or since no may day or communication they hit a mountain and buried by avalanche instantly sealing the site from view, poor souls. Cheers from Jacksonville Florida 🌞
Not continuing the search in the spring was a huge mistake. Probably crashed into a mountain and the remains fell into a crevice. Snow has accumulated and buried whats left.Sad !
@@adventuresgonewrong Yes it got covered in snow and cant be seen. If one could study the weather and other pilot reports in that period of time you may get an idea of where it isnt. It would seem it would require a significant snow front to cover it whole.Hope they are found someday. Thanks for the video.
We here at the Yukon's Member Organization of the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association - still look for the missing Skymaster every year. Including just this August. This is a vast territory but, we hope some day we'll be able to bring closure to the families of the missing. We have not forgotten them
It’s awesome you guys are still looking! And I hope to see closure on it one day soon.
Thanks for your continued efforts in the Skymaster search, kudos to your team.
Does your organization have any information about this particular missing aircraft on a page on your web site, i.e. perhaps a Google Earth layer showing areas searched? I mentioned a possible .kml file of the proposed/supposed flight path in a reply above, do you know if anyone has created such?
Asking the obvious here maybe but maybe not.
With the lack of aviation nav acknowledged, rudimentry at best, and even meterology, what were the winds , direction, estimated speeds , both aloft and near ground level like on that eve of the missing craft?
Accounting for wind drift, and the variance of winds aloft, aircraft projected speed and course, it would look as though to me ( multi engine rated here) that it just burned in abruptly with no time to flip the emergency switch .
The gent who saw the snow slide and the carrion eating birds who did make the report and the RCMP only flew around the site area/region, may have been the only actual witness to happened across it.
Any chance there's some magnetometer tech out there that could be deployed from the air?
Fascinating my grandfather went down around yakutat flying scientist to the Seward glacier and 58 I think his name was James Maurice King
I’ve never heard of this plane missing so I was glued. I appreciate your honest approach in your videos. Just facts no added drama or speculation. Thank you.
It's so fascinating, I'm excited new people are hearing about it. Maybe one day it'll be found.
Back in 1959 I was on a C-119 returning from Elmendorf AFB and recall flying for what seemed like hours over western Canada and never seeing a light on the ground. It was a moonlit night and I could see enough of the ground to make out that it was full of ravines. It was not a place I wished to go down in.
It's definitely desolate in some areas.
1947 a British passenger plane named “Stardust” crashed in to a glacier in the Argentine Andes and was completely covered. It was not found until an engine appeared out of the glacier in the 1990s and more and more parts have turned up as the glacier moves. Maybe that is what happened here too?
Great video and lovely dogs in the background!
Interesting! That could certainly be the case if it crashed in the icefields.
This is what I expect to happen, unless they are underwater. Note the climate change which might speed the recovery up.
Ah yes, the famous Stendec story.
I remember seeing the BBC Horizon episode about that. The film was, of course, very good. I was struck especially by three things.
1. the time period...one where times seemed technologically and scientifically advanced...there were atomic bombs for crying out loud, BUT we're often not as "advanced" as we think. Despite all the flying done prior to and during WW2, humans still didn't really understand the atmosphere, especially not the jet stream..which is what "got" them
2. after people reported the Rolls Royce engines appearing, people from the Argentine army set off to investigate. And even they, in the late 20th century had difficulty getting there, as did the poor mules they brought along. Poor mules. Even had anyone survived the crash..getting back to a town....oh boy. I'd rather go instantly
3. The Andes? Right? They just have outrageously high up volcanoes.
@@adventuresgonewrongI just had a quick look over the area and think I see the shape of a plane wreck here. Looks like it was facing towards the west, but these things happen. www.google.com/maps/@62.2286559,-140.6115083,73m/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e4?entry=ttu
This seems likely. Perhaps where the local guy saw the slide and vultures.
If you are getting ice on the wings...everything is not fine. 6:04
Just found your channel today and I love the way you tell these stories. There is a calm, curious vibe, which I very much appreciate as I suffer from anxiety but long for adventure.
Over the decades, what I've noticed with hunters, loggers and geologists who have stories of finding old crash sites. When asked if they reported it, NO they didn't, as there weren't any human remains. No doubt, many were tall tales that never happened, but I certainly hope this day and age anyone finding wreckage in the bush, would at least shoot an email to the NTSB. Unraveling mysteries like this could take far less time.
Another tragic story of an aircraft just vanishing, great video covering the incident which I'd never heard about before. Way back in the late 70's I was attending an aviation college in New Hampshire when a corporate jet, just a few years old, took off from an airport in NH for a short flight to upper-state New York. The route was over some mountains and large wooded areas but NH is nowhere near as remote as where this story takes place. The biz-jet vanished about an hour into it's flight, just poof...gone. Me and a lot of other students at my college who had already earned their pilots licenses used the schools planes to aid in what was a very large search that went on for weeks. To this day not a trace of this aircraft has been found. There were several large lakes on it's route, they were all searched and have been numerous times since including with sonar...nothing. Sometimes aircraft just vanish.
Wow, thanks for sharing that. Crazy it was never found either.
That was an interesting story but very tragic for the victims and their familes. I had never heard this story, so I appreciate you telling us about it. I hope they one day find an answer to what happened.
Its extremely sad that this story has been lost to time. Ive never heard of this at all and it seems many others havent either. I hope it was swift and that no one suffered and that they can rest in peace. Hopefully what happened will eventually be discovered. Thank you for the wonderful video!
Thank you for your video. You are such a great and engaging storyteller. This is a really tragic story. 44 people out there for over 70 years and no answers for their families. Hope they are found one day.
It’s so sad and such a mystery!
@@adventuresgonewrongI’m not sure if there’s any weight to this as I haven’t seen it be discussed by anyone else, but if you google “MIA recoveries” and the planes serial number 42-72469, they have a report from where they traveled to near Burwash Landing and they apparently found a crash site of a plane (they have photos on their website) in 2020 which was pending analysis to see if it was indeed the missing skymaster.
According to them they think most of the wreckage is now under a glacier.
I found it very interesting that the nearest town is where the guy who saw the snow slide and carrion birds that you mentioned.
The wreckage got covered by snow and stayed covered until the snow melted and possibly covered in deep snow. They use a technology in searching for deep sea wrecks that sends a signal based upon ferrous and non ferrous metals. I wonder if something like that would or could be useful in locating things buried under snow.
I love the way you tell the stories. I’m very happy I found your channel
The radio report at Snag about some ice on the wings is likely the main clue as to what happened. I don't know what de-icing equipment they had on the C-54 and flying in Alaska and Canada would require knowledge and counter measures for icing but icing should never be taken casually. If they were experiencing icing and loosing altitude there certainly would have been time for the flight engineer/radio operator to signal the alarm as described. Maybe it is just one of those things we will neve know.
As an Aussie who's never heard of this before, and as someone who has keenly followed many aircraft crash investigations, the info that really jumped out at me the most was the native guy who spotted the ice slide, and the scavenger birds hanging around that same area. I'm surprised no-one has followed up on those leads more closely.. Or have they?
You want a real head-scratcher look up the 1951 c124 disappearance
The ice cold temperatures cause , yes, icing but also collecting moister out of fuel…which freezes and shuts off fuel flow….shutting down the engines…
Still see these old ww2 planes flying around hauling cargo to this day in Alaska. Thank you for sharing, great vid!
We've got a C-54 in Ocean County NJ that's a flying museum for the Berlin Airlift.
I flew in one in and out of Goose Bay to McGuire AFB
Sooo sad and extremely interesting. I’ve never heard about this unfortunate event. Crashing is awful. Crashing into snow is horrendous. Crashing into the snow and an ice lake…I can’t imagine the nightmare. Thank you. Bless the souls.
There is an amazing doco about a plane that crashed in Antarctica. Everyone died but all these young people had to spend weeks out there to retrieve the bodies, which often had to be cut out of the ice. It sounded horrific. They had to eat with the same gloves they were wearing while carrying dead bodies all day.
The multiple reports of flares for several days at the BC-Montana border, are both intriguing and disturbing about whatever happened there, since a search was never carried out
And there is a contingency of folks out there who are absolutely convinced it's the missing plane.
So why can't they go look now?@@adventuresgonewrong
And no wreckage has ever been found
My grandfather established all the flying roots in Alaska his name was James Maurice King. He went down in yakutat flying scientist to the Seward glacier. Still missing. Nice of you to remember these people
That was my grandfather, yours was under mine
Great presentation: ) A cut above the usual because you faced the audience and used original stuff, clearly you did your research. You piqued our interest about the Skymaster and even more so when you mentioned the The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" with the A bomb (maybe) that went down due to icing on Feb 14, 1950 Hope someday the wreckage of the Skymaster will be found
Thanks, I am no aviation expert but I'd love to see this story get more recognition.
man, when they said "all good, just a bit of ice on the wing" it's so eerie. So easy to underestimate how dangerous a bit of ice on the wing can be. I'm curious what anti-icing, if any, the DC4 had
but not curious enough to google?
@@ericvantassell6809Google and Wikipedia are not ultimate oracles.
Some years ago we were coming in to land at Bembridge airport on the Isle of Wight. We were flying in a twin engine Piper Navajo and the pilot in command was a very experienced man, qualified to fly a Lear Jet as well as all the other company planes. As we were on final approach the plane lurched. When I asked the pilot, who I was sat next to in the co-pilots seat, what was that, he said just a bit of ice has detached from the tail plane, about an eighth of an inch thick probably. The plane had full deicing boots on the leading surfaces and heating on the propeller blades. In winter before take off from Bembridge in the afternoon he would be seen checking the wing surfaces for frost deposits. There was a large, pump up garden sprayer in the hand luggage space at the back just in case he had to de-ice the wings and tail prior to take off. Not a problem once airborne but a serious risk on take off. I remember the first time we saw this sprayer we joked about killing green fly and no he said, it´s full of de-icing fluid for clearing frost off the control surfaces. In icing condit6ions when the deicing was turned on, the rubber boots on the wing leading edges could be seen constantly swelling and deflating as air pumped in. The ice, looking like a thin coating of clear varnish, would then flake off before it could become a danger. I wonder whether planes were so equipped 70 years ago?
@@ericvantassell6809 - Would spoil the mystery!!
@ericvantassell6809 If you know if this plane had any de-icing technology, share your information. If you don't know, don't be sarcastic to OP.
Don't be petty. Your comment sticks out like a sore thumb in this comment section.
Your story telling is just excellent TY!
Just found your channel the other day and have now watched all of your videos. You are doing a great job and we look forward to more.
Awesome! Love to hear that, thx for the support!
Very well presented..no shouted melodrama, just calmly presented facts
Amazing video. Thank you for talking about this. I hope they find this plane one day. 😢
Fascinating story.Very nicely told. Beautiful but desolate land.
I really enjoy your stories. Thank you for sharing these amazing stories.
You're welcome and thanks for watching!
I'm a casual aviation enthusiast but I've never heard this story before. Thanks for covering it! Kinda surprised Mentour Pilot hasnt covered it yet (to my knowledge) 😸
It's a much older case than what he normally does, the plane was never found, and I guess we didn't learn anything from the crash, because it can't be investigated.
It’s sad, it’s like they’ve all just been forgotten.
I doubt Petter would cover this crash as he normally deals with detailed breakdowns of what causes the disaster. Imguessing with this crash remaining a mystery for so long he wouldn't be able to do his normal detailed analysis.
What a mystery! It’s so bizarre that an entire plane could go missing like that!
So many possibilities, but I think it’s in water somewhere.
So tragic for the victims and their loved ones! Great presentation Stacy! Looking forward to the next one.
Cool story, I'd never heard of this before. Thanks for making this great video!
How awful for the families I really hope with all the technology we have now that the wreckage will be found and the 44 souls on board can finally rest in peace and the families get the closure they need.
Novelist Ernest Gann recounted how on one post-war flight as a pilot in a DC-4 (a civilianised C-54) the plane was behaving strangely* throughout the flight: on landing, he was informed that he had avoided being killed by a just-discovered fault in the aircraft's elevator design that was thought to have been behind other DC-4 total-loss crashes in which the planes had suddenly dived into the ground. The fault was corrected and such accidents ended.
* a recurrent vibration
Wow. I'm a big fan of Gann. I never heard that story. Thank you so much for posting.
@@angelachouinard4581 I think he recounted this 'lucky escape' in his autobiographical memoir "Fate Is The Hunter" (ca. 1961).
I read about it in his book. Fascinating story
Well done! You gave us an amazing amount of information! Thank you! This is the first time I have heard this story.
Thanks for watching! Because it's local, I've been interested in this story for years. Would love for someone to find it and for the families to have some answers.
First time I have seen this channel. Great job! I have been involved in search and rescue for many years. First with the ground searchers and then 8 years with the RCMP search dogs. Fantastic training with both and my mind was ticking off with the searches as you wee explaining.
Thanks for the excellent job.
🇨🇦
Thanks for devoting your time to SAR!
I know little of mountain rescue and even less of aviation. But, I've lived in the mountains for a few years and know how easily the snow can disappear things. I can't help thinking, back in the 50's, glaciers were still advancing, and with a short day length in January they couldn't search until the next day. Also, a plane crash is a pretty good excuse for an avalanche, even though, at that time of year an avalanche wouldn't be top to bottom (through the snow layer to the ice), but just the surface dust. It would still be enough to hide a wreck. If that is what happened and an avalanche ended up on a glacier. It would be too dangerous to search for and, under snow fall, impossible to see from the air. I don't think 50's metal detectors could find aluminium anyway. I do hope that CASRA find it one day.
I'm so sorry to hear about the story it's so unbelievable to this day they haven't found that crash site God bless you for bringing us to everyone
icing could have brought them down closer to snag. but i would have expected the radio mayday. but for how icing occurs insidiously quickly. a distracted pilot might not notice the plane would still be moving forward at the proper indicated airspeed but dropping 1000-3000 fpm. generally the planes pancake. a pilot would instinctively head towards flat ground probably a frozen lakelet 10000ft to zero in 3 -7 minutes out from Snag. probably more likely to be one of the smaller lakes after wellesley.lake. 450 km/h makes it 20-50km outta Snag.
Brings to mind Air France flight 477 from Brazil to France that disappeared over the Atlantic. In this case, it was determined by extensive research and recreation of the flight from looking at the known, computerized coordinates & flight data that the most likely scenario was the pitot tubes, which are located outside on the front of the plane and determine the plane’s speed, got filled with ice, thereby not allowing the pilots to know what speed they were flying at. The end result was they flew too slow and never realized they were in a downward path. This could have happened to the missing plane. With the weather the way it was/is up there, the plane could have been covered by snow and ice. Of. Purse, it’s all conjecture at this point. It is so tragic for everyone who lost loved ones, but none more so than the man who lost his 2 yr. old son and a pregnant wife. I can’t help but wonder what became of him, if he remarried, had more children, etc. 😢
2 daughters and 2 nd wife
Thanks so much that was incredible. I really appreciate all your work you put into this story. I knew nothing about this thank you
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great presentation thank you! This was just a SHAME!!!!! God bless these families; RIP to those who lost their lives.
It’s so sad, I hope the families get closure one day.
Had never heard of this story, how tragic for the families and those lost. It baffles me how they said they were really no issues even with having ice on the wings, I don't fly but I do know that is a very bad thing to have ice on the wings. And flying in temps such as those were bad too. May the victims RIP.
Could have been the inexperienced pilots not knowing how serious it was in those extremely cold conditions.
@@adventuresgonewrong Yes, they had to have been inexperienced, just crazy to attempt to fly in those conditions I would think.
Excellent presentation on every level. I had never heard of this sad disappearance of the Skymaster. The story of the 4 aircraft downed during the search for it are interesting stories within this story. Gratitude for sharing🙏💙.
I just love your site. You make every story so interesting yet never sensational. You seem like someone I would love to go on a hike with. Continue ❤
I'm no wreckage expert but would guess it had to hit a mountain and go into many pieces or be underwater. To not ever be spotted with that much traffic it must not be mostly intact if on land. This is an interesting mystery and feel sadness for the families. Great video quality as well.
Thanks for your respectful telling of this story .
Two of my favorite topics in one video - wilderness adventures gone wrong and aviation mishaps. Oh, it’s a mystery so there’s a third! Thank you for providing such great engaging and educational content…love your channel ❤
I live by the ocean in Bowser,BC. Every year a four engine C-54 flys bye and I am reminded of the tragic loss in Alaska...
Excellent reporting on this missing plane !
Wow! I never heard about this. Maybe it’s under water or in a glacier. So sad. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Thanks for watching, happy to get more awareness out there about the story.
Great story, sad ending, sure hope they find these folks one day.
I don't know how I missed this story. Loved it :)
I don't think I'd even get on a modern jetliner in Alaska in the winter! Especially flying over the Yukon.
Lol we do it all the time, but back in those days? Yikes!
Amazing that in the period of a 30 min between check-ins it could vanish. Would seem unlikely it would skip a check-in, and 30 mins at 240mph means you expect it within 120 miles of Snag in an arc focussed around Whitehorse … but clearly that has been searched many times. I wonder if a magnetometer scan might find it … although not a lot of ferrous metals I guess…
Assuming the the navigator was right about their location when he checked in.
As a former USAF radar operator before gps they were usually off . The airliners would put a stewardess on the radio to distract us while the navigator tried to get a better fix
I was a child in Anchorage in 1981 when I saw a Cessna in the sky vanish. I was on the playground at elementary school when I stopped to watch the small airplane flying through the sky. ( I still do and imagine how the pilot is having more fun than me!) - then the Cessna stopped in a bright triangle of light. I looked for a few seconds to see if it really had stopped - it was frozen in place with the triangle of light brighter than the sky. I took my eyes off to grab closest friend and pointed at sky shouting "look!" - when he looked, the sky was empty. No trace of any aircraft. I will never forget that airplane abduction I saw happen in Anchorage in my childhood. - with ❣️ from Montana
It was about 45 minutes after you found the mushrooms, right?
Interesting.
@@Mozart1220bit more respect would be nice.
As soon as I heard "...ice on the wings.." it immediately brought to mind a video I had just watched by Mentour Pilot about Air Florida Flight 90 in 1982.
Right on. Thanks for sharing.
Great vid! Looking forward to the next one! I think the local indigenous guy who said there was a snow slide and scavenger birds and flares going off. I think the plane is there!
Good job. Thorough coverage on the missing plane. I would think that an ID number could be taken from tail of the crashed plane in Montana.
Great video- I have never heard about this plane crash.
It’s crazy more people don’t know about it, 44 people and no one knows where they are.
Terrific report, thanks.
I never heard of this and it was very interesting. How tragic that was. So strange it's never been found. I'm binging your videos when I walk on the treadmill! .
Ha I love it!
Fascinating channel and great storytelling
Your dogs running around in the background are fun.
This happened in AK in the Mat Su valley as well a dc3 type plane with 56 people had crashed into an ice field they just found the wreck after something like 65 years Alaska is a big place lots of crashes to explore
There are so many crashed planes in the Yukon and Alaska!
Such Sad Story oft repeated unfortunatly. Been to the Yukon two times driving adventures not many days pass were I do not think of this place called the Yukon as I am stuck here in the rat race of southern Ontario, Thank You For the Scenery a Spectacular place indeed !
Thank you. Great research and coverage of a tragic tale. Crazy that the plane was never found -- but sounds like after the initial search, little effort and funding were put into finding it.
Fascinating story, and so well narrated.
Kind of similar story to what happened to an airliner flying out of Vancouver in about 1956/7. That one was a Northstar 4 engine. Same scenario in that despite a very heavy search it wasn't found. However the wreckage was found about early 90's I believe when a forestry crew found the remanants. It had crashed into a cliff face just below the very top of a mountain just east of Hope BC. It appeared to have totally blown up or disintegrated with the remnants falling into tall timber below.
Very likely a similar story in this missing plane, except there aren't any tall trees or timber at altitude in the Yukon, so likely went in pieces into a crevice or under a glacier. Going into a lake because of icing would have given time to send out a radio call.
Fascinating video. Your channel is so informative and engaging .
The Douglas DC-4 always had 4 engines.
I watched another video about a plane that crashed into a mountainside in the 1940s or 1950s. There was heavy snowfall and it covered the plane for decades. A similar thing could have happened in this case.
For sure. Maybe one day it’ll be found.
This was really interesting. I had never heard the story before - Canadian living in BC. You did a good job at recounting the details.
Wonder if there was any possibility of friendly fire taking down the plane? You mentioned the huge joint military exercise going on in the area at the same time. And also it seems that death certificates were issued very quickly - less than a year later. It would be something the military would want to hide and maybe get rid of any evidence. Sounds like whatever happened, happened very quickly. No mayday or distress signalling.
hope the loss of life was quick.
A few people have mentioned that, but you’d think with the search, they’d still have found it. Unless it happened way off course.
Good video interesting history on this mystery. Thank you for doing this video. Somehow I missed it wasn’t paying attention.
Watched all your videos in 2 days. I'm from Anchorage Alaska
Great summary of this disappearance
Fascinating story. Nicely told.
That had to be hard for Robert to say goodbye to pregnant wife and never seeing them again I could not imagine how he dealt with that the rest of his life
What a wonderful educational video. Just the facts. Loved it.
Thanks for watching!
Like many others I never heard of this lost aircraft. Than you for telling the story
Very informative and well explained information about this tragedy. I wish i lived near there. I would search.
Thank you for this interesting story. I really enjoy the way you told it ❤
Seattle
If the Radio Operator had gone for a 'break' he would not have been able to flick the switch.
To reduce icing they would have probably descended and that could have been the big mistake and the plane went straight into a mountain in the dark and is now part of a glacier and will only be found when it melts.
Sadly, the human remains might not be there any more as scavenging birds, bears and wolves would have taken them.
Thanks for that-never heard of it [Aussie]-I remember a plane that was found after years as it worked it's way down the mountain [under ice].
4 key words...ICE ON THE WINGS! So sad! Ive never heard of this story. 😢
I know, it was just kind of said nonchalantly when ice on wings can never be a good thing.
How do we get in touch with you to recommend a current ongoing story ? I'd love to have you follow it and maybe make a video about it later. I'm sure the guy involved would agree (or maybe not; it's pretty gory but he's still pushing forward).
My email is in the about section and I totally welcome story suggestions!
Sad situation I hope it’s eventually found & relatives can finally find peace & closure.
Could that search with that new remote sensing laser light scanning called "Lidar" that has greatly helped find lost Mayan cities in the jungles of South America find the plane that way? Thanks for the very interesting video. I've never heard of this tragedy. Thanks for your very well designed video!
I have no idea but I'm sure there's others out there that do! My hope with this was to get more eyes on the story and maybe more people out searching.
It sounds like the turbulence the experienced was owing to the mountains, The icing up they experienced,indicated that they were fling in icing conditions. They might have flown into a down draft from the mountains. The icing might have affected the engines and the aero dynamic efficiency of the wings as nd it flew into the side of a mountain.. I don't know the speed it was going but, coming to a " dead stop" wouldn't have left much visible.
If I was doing a search, I'd fing out the wind direction of the day of the crash, find out which mountain range which could cause the turbulance as nd search around there. It might be between the last radio station they reported to and the the one they didn't see report to. If they got lost so they would have radioed for help.
Down drafts from mountains etc are very dangerous.
Mechanical altimeters tend to miss read the altitude ( when flying from hi to low, beware below) ie over read. It might show 10k feet but, 0the real height might be 6.5 k feet. If the altimeter was set at the take off point and the weather got colder and the pressure dropped ( the weather deteriorated) as it flew to its destination , it would have been flying a lot lower than it is thought is was. I don't know if the radio stations transmitted their pressure( QNE), to the aircraft, allowing the altimeter to be corrected.QNE. If this had been done, the accident might not have happened.
Surprised and puzzled there was no search in Spring after snow melt!?
The Montana area sounds like it needs to be thouroughly searched
What about infrared scans? LIDAR? FLIR? It finds ancient ruins under the canopy of thick jungles.
Yeah. Sounds like icing to me too. God Bless them.
Those "radio checkpoints" were not necessarily for vocally checking in, they were ADF radios (automatic direction finder). 10,000ft without O2 is only an aviation law. The plane can fly higher than that, and hypoxia isn't really dangerous below 12 or 13,000ft
RESPECT FOR TELLING THIS STORY, AT THIS DAY AND AGE IM SURPRISED ITS NOT BEEN FOUND, 😢 #SCOTLAND
Good job lady at presenting this story
Love the Yukon
Possible scenario could be ice on radio antenna or damaged radio so no check point communication and flight continue on towards destination and then had trouble hundreds of miles past search area, or since no may day or communication they hit a mountain and buried by avalanche instantly sealing the site from view, poor souls. Cheers from Jacksonville Florida 🌞
Not continuing the search in the spring was a huge mistake. Probably crashed into a mountain and the remains fell into a crevice. Snow has accumulated and buried whats left.Sad !
HUGE mistake!
@@adventuresgonewrong Yes it got covered in snow and cant be seen. If one could study the weather and other pilot reports in that period of time you may get an idea of where it isnt. It would seem it would require a significant snow front to cover it whole.Hope they are found someday. Thanks for the video.
Being a pilot in the northern latitudes is a dangerous occupation.