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Dod-Cpt. Jamie D. Dobson / U.S. Army via Reuters
A specialized eight-person recovery team, with team members from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and Northern Warfare Training Center, searches for aircraft wreckage, remains, or other personal effects while conducting recovery operations on Knik Glacier on June 20.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The wreckage of a military plane found near Knik Glacier earlier this month has been identified as a Korean War-era Air Force cargo plane that crashed in the 1950s, killing all 52 people on board, NBC station KTUU of Anchorage reported Wednesday.
The identification brings closure to victims' families after nearly 60 years, KTUU said.
Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command spokesperson Capt. Jamie Dobson said the wreckage, discovered June 10 on Colony Glacier, about 45 miles east of Anchorage, by a UH-60 Blackhawk crew with the Alaska Army National Guard-- is that of a Douglas C-124A Globemaster II that crashed on Nov. 22, 1952.
See the original story at NBC station KTUU
While evidence collected by the eight-man team is en route to JPAC’s Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii for further analysis, Dobson told KTUU the plane was identifiable by materials found at the scene.
"Some of the evidence has already been positively correlated with this crash," Dobson told KTUU.
Harsh weather prevented a recovery at the time and later searchers could not locate it.
U.S. Air Force via AP, file
An undated photo of a C-124A Globemaster cargo aircraft similar to the plane that went down on the Colony Glacier in Alaska in 1952, killing all 52 people on board.
The Globemaster II entered Air Force service in 1950 as the world’s largest transport plane. Its forward loading ramp and aft cargo elevator, as well as its ability to carry 68,500 pounds of cargo or 200 passengers on two decks of seating, made it the Air Force's primary heavy-lift transport into the early 1960s, KTUU reported.
The four-propeller transport was eventually replaced by the C-141 Starlifter jet, but its name lives on in Alaska skies with the C-17 Globemaster III, operated by the 517th Airlift Squadron at Anchorage’s Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
Crash researcher Tonja Anderson, whose grandfather Airman Isaac Anderson died in the crash, told KTUU the cargo plane was on a flight from McChord Air Force Base in Washington to Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage when it crashed near the 8,000-foot level of Mount Gannett.
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Leave a Comment:
Back in the 60's we use to call the C124 "Old Shakey" because that is what it did
Yes thier engine mounting struts used to loosen and the torque reaction would cuase prop whirl, Eventually on some stuctual failer followed.
I love it when you "old" gents share this stuff. Thank you.
They should have added a couple of pix so every one could see what she looked like.
The article has an image of the wreckage as it looks after being crushed by 60 years of snow and ice, or can you not see the smashed wreckage in the photo? It's smashed flat from the weight of tons of precipitation. That's what happens over time. Look again for the human figures, they are tiny. The wreckage is at their feet. Remember that glaciers gave us lakes and gravel. Aluminum airplanes are less durable, unfortunately.
May their families find peace.
If I remember correctly, the biggest loss of life due to a military aircraft crash in American history was 18 June 1953 when a C-124 "Globemaster" crashed at Tachikawa Air Force Base in Japan, with 129 fatalities.
As an "Army brat", I grew up seeing C-124 "Globemaster" aircraft at Ashiya Air Force Base in Japan, and Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina.
On Armed Forces Day, there would be an open house, and we could actually walk through the aircraft.
Eventually, just as my father did, I too, became a soldier in the United States Army, and in 1972, having returned from Viet Nam, I caught a military hop on a C-124 "Globemaster" out of McChord Air Force Base, that was flying a cargo of two UH-1 "Iroquois" helicopters to Gray Army Airfield at Fort Hood, Texas, and then on to Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.
Since that aircraft was obsolete, I knew it wouldn't be around much longer, so I treasure the memory of having once flown on it.
When I was living in Washington, D.C at the Old Soldiers' Home, I used to love looking at a picture of a C-124 "Globemaster" mounted on a corridor wall, but somebody stole that picture.
One of the guys I used to eat chow with retired from the United States Air Force, where he'd been a crew chief on a C-124 "Globemaster", but one night, he unexpectedly died in his sleep, probably from a heart attack.
He and I used to talk about those old aircraft.
john
I believe it was a C-5 crash in Vietnam. 311 on board, 153 died. In 1975.
@John Robert Mallernee, My Dad was in the Army Air Corp back in the 50s. I can remember walking through one of these Cargo Planes at an Air Show as a kid. Just off hand do you recall when the Air Corp spli and became the Army and the Air Force? My Dad stayed with the Air Force when it happened.
@6dogs - The The Dept of the Air Force was formed in 1947 when President Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947. Hope that was what you were looking for!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Act_of_1947
6Dogs, Sept 18, 1947 USAF seperated from US Army as it's own military service branch and Gen Nathan Twining was first USAF, Chief of Staff on the Joints Chiefs of Staff.
" Killing all 52 on board". Really msn, you did'nt find a crew member sitting there waiting to be rescued...duh!
Thank you for sharing this...John. I love hearing stories like this.
John, thank you for your service to our country.
Whatever comfort this brings to the families of those lost, they will at least have closure, and be able to bury the remains of their loved ones.
Thank you, John. It seems hard to believe that no trace of the crash was made until now.
Even though I love to travel and have no trouble flying (my father was a small plane pilot, so even the little ones don't bother me, I have trouble 'wrapping my head' around this plane EVER being able to get off the ground, let alone STAY up there!
I have the same trouble with aircraft carriers--don't really believe they can FLOAT either.
That said, I echo JonNotJohn's sentiment. Hope closure helps.
First thing I thought also, the wings sure look small to me. Thanks JRM, for your post-
While I was stationed at Moffett field [near San Jose, CA] in the late '50s, every time I watched one of these birds take off, I would swear that it would run out of runway. They always got off the ground, with room to spare.
We could ,also, tell where they were parked by the four oil puddles from the R4360s.
My dad was a aircraft mechanic in the post WWII AF in Korea and later SAC. He told me of an episode while assigned to the B-25 Bunch at Bolling: the aircraft were used to chauffer VIP types around the country. A pilot a little full of himself did his preflight walk around inspection of one of the aging B-25s walked over to an engine nacell and wiped his finger in the oil stain along its side by the exhaust. He turned and faced the Ground Crew Chief, and held up his oil stained finger. "Sergeant, does this engine use oil?" he asked indignantly. The Crew Chief quickly replied, "Yes sir! Gasoline too!"
One truism of these wonderful big round radial engines is that they WILL leak oil. I have to agree that those wings look awfully small in wing areaa to haul all the bulky stub nosed fuselage around.
I spent time working on Old Shakeys and we, too, marveled at how that big puppy flew on those skinny wings. Those big Pratt & Whitney's had enough power to force it into the air, I guess. I was a 7th Logger and we flew heavy equipment world-wide. Got all the crazies for pilots, too. We were basically a flying truck line. The Museum of the Air Force has one on static display; ramps down for walk-throughs.
MOmaid: When I was in the Air Force there was an old joke "with a big enough engine even a brick could fly". Hence the nickname for the F-4 as "The Flying Brick" since according to all rules of aerodynamics it should not be able to fly.
As the glaciers melt, maybe we will finally get to see all the other craft which fell into oblivion. Roswell, eat your heart out . .
This is a very interesting story that envolves a plane and another glacier. In this case new technology and the then unknown jet stream were the culprit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSAA_Star_Dust_accident
There is a Senator from Alaska Mark Begich who's father Nick a US House Represenative from Alaska has been missing and declared dead in a plane crash in the same area since 1972.
Then there was the one segment of "Ice Age" showing a flying (freezing?) saucer trapped in the ice.
And here I was just thinking how nice it was that no illiterate wingnut had injected political ideology into this story.
Curious why the military put of a recovery for 60 years. An initial snow storm or 2 shouldn't have left this in place for so many years. Shame for the dead, families and military how it was mishandled.
Glaciers move, although slowly, and the weather is more often bad than good. An aircraft hitting at a high enough speed would be turned into mostly fist sized peices of wreckage spread out over a vast area. Some localized snow and you have covered up the wreckage enough that it is very difficult to see. These old aircraft wrecks are sometimes seen only when the glacier area where they are trapped moves down to where significant melting occurs and the wreck "pops" into view.
A lost airplane is simply that...lost. I am sure they did their best to locate it, but navigation and tracking were somewhat primitive in those days as compared to today, and of course there was no GPS. A few snowstorms and it is covered up for the duration.
The photo of the Globemaster is over San Francisco Bay with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. That particular plane had probably taken off from Hamilton AFB outside Novato, Calif., now closed and renamed Hamilton Landing and is now a business park and residential development. I lived there in the 70's and they had a MAC squadron based there. The old base housing is now used by the Coast Guard, the 1930's vintage hangars are now converted to office buildings, and the old flight line has been covered with dredge spoil and is in undergoing some strange attempt to convert it back to marshland that lies about 7 feet above sea level. I visited there recently and as a professional geologist all I can say is it looks like another expensive and typical bone headed project proposed by engineers who have about as much knowledge of earth systems as I do about brain surgery. No wonder California is going bankrupt. What's next? Building deserts up in the Redwood forests? Or maybe beachs up in the Sierra Nevada?
The wing loading on takeoff of this beast was about 80lbs per square foot at maximum takeoff weight of 194,500lbs with a wing surface area of 2506 sq ft. Compare that with 136lbs per sq ft on the C5A Galaxy which was found to have wing structure problems over time due to the excessive wing loading.
Due to a bad decision by the USAF to mandate changes to the original wing design before production.
The photo is actually a C124C model. Note the pod heater on the wings. They were a very good flying old bird. I know, I flew them. I used to equate flying them to sitting in your front room on the sofa and flying your house around. Fully loaded you had to watch IAS on climb out. If was not a plane to get behind the power curve. The R4360 was great engine, powerful and dependable. I remember bits and pieces, at 62.5 inches of mercury at max power, 52 at METO, and 45 at climb. You became real good at the MAC art of "step climbing".
Now the victims can recieve the proper burial near their families.
1952 the year I was born. Happy the families at least have closure now.
May they rest in peace.
Say, MSNBC.com copy writing staff: the correct wording in the caption should read "...personal effects..." and not "...personal affects..." as you've got it written. I know, I know... journalism is hard but at your level the correct distinction should be made.
@ Philo....that's asking a lot of MSNBC, but I see they have already make the correction. Nothing worse than reading a bunch of errors in something churned out by "journalists."
Had to go back anf re-read the beginning of the article.
"Harsh weather prevented a recovery at the time and later searchers could not locate it."
Do they have the site now? Or is all of this based on the June 10 contact?
These professional "journalists" look to have graduatef from the Emily Latella school.
Rest in Peace and thank you for your service to our Country.
I just find it hard to believe that this plane has been missing that long.
RIP and glad the families if still alive get some closure.
Glad to see that some will have a belated closure on the loss of their loved ones.
Speaking of MATS...I vaguely remember that when I flew from SEA/TAC up to Ladd AFB back in the middle 50's that the equipment used was a leased civilian DC-6B or DC-7 with MATS paint and rear facing seats. Can anyone verify this.
It would have most likely been a C118, the military version of a DC6.
We flew on a C-118 from Elmendorf to Kenai when I was stationed at Elmendorf in the 60's. Sure beat the return trip -- on a C-47.
They still had one of those planes when I was stationed there in 1973-1975. Didn't fly much. They kept it in a hanger where Nixon (in 1972) and Ford (1974) made stopovers and speeches on thier way to China. I was in the 21st Security Police Squadron at the time.
I love comment pieces like this one. Thanks to all who offered their experiences and first hand knowledge. Mudrake 2 the story about your dad was a great way to start my day, I bet he never had to buy a beer that night!
It's like the movie "The Grey" just came true!
When all the world's Glaciers are gone we'll find a lot of stuff that has been hidden.
Which would mean that glacier growth and melt is cyclical and completely normal and natural.
What a horrible end to our sons and fathers. May they and their survivors find peace in knowing what finally happenned to their loved ones.
I for one, am curious to know just how the government announced to their families ( at the time of the accident )what they thought had happenned?