1952 Mount Gannett C-124 crash
McChord Air Force Base, Washington | |
Destination | Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska |
---|---|
Passengers | 41 |
Crew | 11 |
Fatalities | 52 |
Survivors | 0 |
The 1952 Mount Gannett C-124 crash was an accident in which a Douglas C-124 Globemaster II military transport aircraft of the United States Air Force crashed into Mount Gannett, a peak in the Chugach Mountains in the American state of Alaska, on November 22, 1952. All of the 52 people on board were killed.
Accident
The C-124 departed McChord Air Base in Washington state en route to Elmendorf Air Force Base near
The severe weather continued for three days, so searching was only able to begin on November 25. Thirty-two military aircraft searched the surrounding mountains and four Coast Guard vessels searched Prince William Sound. The wreckage of the aircraft was found on November 28, 1952, on the south side of Mount Gannett by
Moore, who was a mountaineer and pilot as well as president of the
Moore reported finding blood on a blanket and noted the "sickly-sweet smell of death" at the site.[2] It seemed clear that there were no survivors. Sullivan noted that recovery of remains would be very difficult as the glacier was already covered by fresh snow eight feet deep. Near the remains of the aircraft, drifted snow was piled up to hundreds of feet. Apparently, the crash had also triggered avalanches that had further buried the remains.[3] Because of the difficult conditions, the recovery effort was terminated after a week and the victims' families were told they would have no remains to bury.[4] The debris was then covered by snow and ice, and was lost for the next 60 years.
At the time, this was only the second fatal accident for the C-124, and was by far the worst. However, the following year saw even more deadly crashes at Moses Lake, Washington, and Tachikawa, Japan, Overall, this was the fourth-worst accident involving a Douglas C-124.
Discovery of remains
On June 9, 2012, the crew of an Alaska Army National Guard helicopter on a training mission noticed a large yellow survival raft on the surface of the Colony Glacier above Inner Lake George.[2][3][5] The site was nearly 14 miles from the 1952 crash location.[2] The National Guard sent a team on foot to examine the site and they retrieved items that were identified as being from the crashed C-124. On June 13, 2012, Deputy Chief Rick Stone, J-2 Intelligence Directorate at the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, was assigned to investigate the wreckage.[4]
On June 28, 2012, the US military announced the discovery of the wreckage.[2][6][7]
The recovery operation was then taken over by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, whose primary role is to search for US military personnel missing overseas.[4] On June 18, 2014, after two seasons of operations on the glacier, the Department of Defense announced that the remains of 17 of the victims had been identified and would be returned to their families for burial.[7] By 2019, the Department of Defense had increased the number of sets of remains identified to 40.[8]
See also
- 1952 Moses Lake C-124 crash, another C-124 crash less than a month later that killed 87 people and was at that time the deadliest-ever aviation accident.
- Tachikawa air disaster, a June 1953 air accident also involving a C-124.
Notes
- ^ a b c Grove, Casey; Dunham, Mike (June 27, 2012). "Aircraft debris found on glacier 12 miles from 1952 crash site". Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
- ^ a b c d e Nelson, Laura J. (June 28, 2012). "After 60 years, Alaska glacier gives up wreckage from 1952 crash". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
- ^ a b c Demer, Lisa (July 6, 2013). "Search persists for remnants of 1952 glacier plane crash". Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
- ^ a b c Usborne, David (June 19, 2014). "Crash site of American military plane found in melting glacier more than 60 years on". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
- ^ "DOD Recovers Remains of 17 From 1952 Aircraft Crash in Alaska". American Forces Press Service. June 18, 2014. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
- KTUU. Archived from the originalon 2014-07-22. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
- ^ a b "Military IDs remains of 17 service members killed in 1952 plane crash near Colony Glacier". Anchorage Daily News. July 18, 2014. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
- ^ "Operation Colony Glacier: A feel-good story or something greater?". Anchorage Daily News. June 14, 2019. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
Further reading
- Scott, Steve (2013). The Longest Flight Home. Author House. ISBN 148177266X.
- Tonja Anderson-Dell (2017). Gifts From a Glacier. Richter Publishing. ISBN 1945812133
External links