__NOTOC__
On 26 January 1950, the
Douglas C-54 Skymaster
The Douglas C-54 Skymaster is a four-engined transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces in World War II and the Korean War. Like the Douglas C-47 Skytrain derived from the DC-3, the C-54 Skymaster was derived from a civilian a ...
serial number
A serial number is a unique identifier assigned incrementally or sequentially to an item, to ''uniquely'' identify it.
Serial numbers need not be strictly numerical. They may contain letters and other typographical symbols, or may consist enti ...
''42-72469'' disappeared en route from Alaska to Montana, with 44 people aboard.
The aircraft made its last radio contact two hours into its eight-hour flight. Despite one of the largest rescue efforts carried out by a joint effort between Canadian and US military forces, no trace of the aircraft has ever been found.
[
]
Flight
The aircraft was part of the First Strategic Support Squadron, Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...
, out of Biggs AFB, Texas. In addition to its eight-man crew, it was carrying 36 passengers, including two civilians: a woman and her infant son.Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...
to Great Falls, Montana
Great Falls is the third most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Cascade County. The population was 60,442 according to the 2020 census. The city covers an area of and is the principal city of the Great Falls, M ...
. Two hours after its eventual departure, the flight marked its first scheduled check-in over Snag, Yukon
Snag is a village located on a small, dry-weather sideroad off the Alaska Highway, east of Beaver Creek, Yukon, Canada. The village of Snag is located in a bowl-shaped valley of the White River and its tributaries, including Snag Creek. It ...
, where the pilot reported that the plane was on schedule with no issues to report. However, the flight never checked in with its second destination, Aishihik, Yukon
Aishihik (Also known as Äshèyi) is a village of the Southern Tutchone people at the north end of Äshèyi Män ( Aishihik Lake) in Yukon. It continues to be the home of the Äshèyi people. Champagne and Aishihik First Nations continue to us ...
, and was never heard from again.
Search
After the plane failed to arrive in Montana, a search-and-rescue
Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...
effort launched, combining as many as 85 American and Canadian planes, in addition to 7,000 personnel, searching 350,000 square mile
The square mile (abbreviated as sq mi and sometimes as mi2)Rowlett, Russ (September 1, 2004) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved February 22, 2012. is an imperial and US unit of measure for area. One square mile is an are ...
s of the Pacific Northwest.war games
A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to s ...
scenario.
The operation confounded searchers, giving many false positive
A false positive is an error in binary classification in which a test result incorrectly indicates the presence of a condition (such as a disease when the disease is not present), while a false negative is the opposite error, where the test result ...
reports of smoke signal
The smoke signal is one of the oldest forms of long-distance communication. It is a form of visual communication used over a long distance. In general smoke signals are used to transmit news, signal danger, or to gather people to a common area ...
s and garbled radio communications.[Leyland Cecco]
Can a new film help solve Canada's 70-year mystery of vanished US plane?
''The Guardian'' (August 31, 2020). Search efforts were hindered by the lack of pilot training in search-and-rescue tactics; defined search patterns were not used, for example.[
Three planes crashed during the search mission; although all crew survived, the incidents reflected the dangers of the Yukon terrain:][
* On 30 January, a C-47, Air Force serial number ''45-1015'' from the ]57th Fighter Wing
The 57th Wing (57 WG) is an operational unit of the United States Air Force (USAF) Warfare Center, stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.
The 57 WG's mission is to provide well trained and well equipped combat forces ready to deploy ...
, that had been participating in the search, stalled and crashed in the McClintoc mountains near Whitehorse
Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...
. Its crew members were injured, but there were no fatalities. The pilot walked 13 km to the