C-124 disaster at Anchorage

The crew of the aircraft consisted of 11 people ^[1] :

• The captain of the ship is a 37-year-old captain Kenneth J. Duval ( eng. Kenneth J. Duvall )
• Assistant Commander - 35-year-old captain Alger M. Cheney ( Eng. Alger M. Cheney )
• Navigator - Senior Lieutenant William Irwin Turner ( English William Irvin Turner )
• Flight Engineer - Sergeant Engolf W. Hagen ( Engolf W. Hagen )
• Flight Engineer - Corporal Conrad N. Sprague ( Conrad N. Sprague )
• Flight Engineer - Junior Sergeant Eugene R. Costley ( Eugene R. Costley )
• Short - haired man - Corporal Robert A. Owen ( eng. Robert A. Owen )
• Short - haired man - Corporal Marlon L. Scott ( born Marlon L. Scott )
• Loading Engineer - Corporal George M. Ingram ( eng. George M. Ingram )
• Flight Attendant - Corporal Wayne Dean Jackson ( born Wayne Dean Jackson )
• Flight Attendant - Corporal James R. Kimball ( eng. James R. Kimball )
• Flight Director - Sergeant Sergeant Leonard G. Unger ( eng. Leonard G. Unger ) - service passenger

That day, the crew was supposed to fly from its McCord airbase , that is from Tacoma ( WA ), to Elmendorf , that from Anchorage ( Alaska ), with a route length of about 1,400 miles (2,300 km ). The plane was a Douglas C-124A-DL with registration number 51-107A (51-107 and 51-0107 were also found in various sources), with a total of 11 crew members and 41 passengers on board - flight crews. At about 3:30 pm PST "Douglas" flew out of McCord and headed for Alaska; the estimated duration of the flight was about 7 hours ^[1] .

At 21:47 PST, after 6 hours and 17 minutes from the moment of departure, the crew reported on the flight of the island of Middleton ( Gulf of Alaska ) at an altitude of 6000 feet (1800 m ) and the estimated achievement of Anchorage after 46 minutes. But the 51-107A did not arrive in Anchorage, and all attempts to contact the crew were unsuccessful; the plane has disappeared. At that time there were difficult weather conditions in the region, including low clouds, fog, and light rain. Because of this, it was impossible to start searching immediately ^[1] .

Only three days later, on November 25, searches of the 51-107A were started, during which 32 aircraft and 4 ships of the coast guard were combing Prince William Strait , near which the plane was located during the last radio exchange with the land. Finally, three days later, on November 28, lieutenants Thomas Sullivan ( born Thomas Sullivan ) and Terris Moore ( born Terris Moore ) from a search plane saw how Gannett (height 9649 feet (2941 m )) sticks out from under the snow the tail of the aircraft, according to the board number on which the missing "Douglas" was identified. On closer inspection, it became clear that the Glomaster was flying through the clouds at an altitude of about 8,100 feet (2,500 m ) and crashed at great speed into the mountainside, as a result of which its front part collapsed ^[2] . Further, the plane collapsing and exploding rolled down the slope, after which it was covered with an avalanche that came off the explosions ^[3] .

On November 29, a vessel landed from the Harrison fjord coast, from which a search party moved out to the scene. Due to bad weather and the danger of avalanches, people moved slowly and after a few days were forced to set up camp at an altitude of 5500 feet (1700 m ) and at a distance of 8 miles (13 km ) from the tail section detected from the aircraft. Only on December 9, in the conditions of a snowstorm, the group finally reached the fall site, where they did not find a single survivor, and then returned to the base camp. All 52 people on board were declared dead ^[2] .

On June 9, 2012, the Black Hawk helicopter of the Alaskan National Guard was performing a routine training flight when its crew, 45 miles (72 km ) east of Anchorage, when flying near Mount Gannett saw fragments of yellow spars on the slope at the lower edge of the glacier, as well as human remains. A version was expressed that they belong to the C-124A, which crashed 60 years ago, the place of fall of which, although located at a distance of 12 miles (19 km ) from the place of detection of debris, could have transferred the glacier ^[3] . Then, a week later, a group of five people arrived at the site, who from June 19 through 21 examined the debris. At the same time, we conducted a genetic examination to identify the detected human bodies, as a result of which 17 passengers of the airside 51-107A could be identified. After the investigation was officially announced the discovery of the crashed in 1952, Douglas C-124A Globemaster II ^{[4] [5]} .

• C-124 crash in Moses Lake - occurred in exactly 4 weeks

• ASN Aircraft Douglas C-124A-DL Globemaster II 51-0107 Anchorage, AK (English) . Aviation Safety Network . The appeal date is July 23, 2015.