1950 disappearance of C-54 s/n 42-72469

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I was reading about the 26 January 1950 disappearance of C-54 s/n 42-72469. The search was called off on 20 February 1950, and the wreckage has never been found.

The crew sent a normal message after passing over Snag, YT. According to another article, the report said the flight was expected to reach the next radio station in Aishihik, YT in about 30 minutes. Per the Wikipedia article:

On 2 February it was reported that two planes and two radio stations in the Yukon area had heard unintelligible radio signals but attempts to acquire a fix on the position were fruitless. Likewise, an isolated settler had reported seeing a large plane over his cabin at Beaver Lake in the interior of British Columbia located 500 miles south of the Yukon boundary-250 miles northeast of Vancouver and 200 miles west of the Alaska Highway air route.

Here is a Google map, showing Snag, YT in the upper-left, and Beaver Lake (Recreation Site – it’s the best I could do), BC in the mid-lower-right.

In 2012, families of the missing people petitioned the U.S. Government to resurrect the search. The We The People petition site was shut down 20 January 2021.

With satellite imagery and many thousands of people who have time to look at them, wouldn’t it be great if someone found the wreckage? ISTR there was a search several years ago where people did just this in search of a missing aircraft. (I don’t recall how it turned out.)

ETA: A documentary aired on CBC last month.

2

The stretch from Alaska to Montana contains some pretty desolate and isolated territory. It could of crashed on a lake, broken through the ice, and froze over again without leaving a trace. The technology in 1950 was, basically, crap in terms of searching out something like that. By 2012, there wouldn’t have been enough left to detect even with all the modern tech we have.

3

Many crashes in the Yukon are fairly-well preserved. Google image search.

Here’s a story of finding a 50-year-old wreck.

4

I’m surprised it wouldn’t rust away over that much time.

5

Aircraft are largely made of aluminum. :wink:

6

Here’s what a 70 year old crash of a C-54 looks like on a naked hillside. Now imagine those tiny pieces spread over the forests and lakes of the Yukon or British Columbia.

7

:rofl: CIA plane! Area 51! :rofl:

Of course not all aircraft are more or less intact. Still even this one was found.

8

I’ve been waiting for a glacier to spit out this Cessna 310 for the last 50 years.

9

Note that the Beaver Lake point you’ve marked is about 440 miles north of the point described in the Wiki article: “… 500 miles south of the Yukon boundary-250 miles northeast of Vancouver and 200 miles west of the Alaska Highway air route.” I imagine BC has plenty of Beaver Lakes.

I’m sure that some metal from that wrecked airplane persists to this day. Finding it in what is probably a very remote area - perhaps under multi-year snow & ice - seems unlikely.

ETA: The flight was in late January, when all lakes (of which there are a great many in that area) would have been frozen. The pilot of a plane with engine (or other) trouble would have found a frozen lake attractive for a forced landing. If this landing went badly, the plane may well be at the bottom of that lake.