Key Takeaways:
- A team of volunteers and investigators is using artificial intelligence and satellite technology to search for a U.S. Air Force transport plane that disappeared over the Yukon 75 years ago with 44 people aboard.
- The plane, a Douglas C-54 Skymaster, was carrying 42 service members and two civilians, including a pregnant military wife and her toddler son, when it vanished on January 26, 1950.
- The Air Force conducted an extensive search at the time but was unable to find the plane, and the case was eventually closed.
- The new search effort is being led by Michael Luers, Jim Thoreson, and Nelson Mattie, who are using advanced technologies such as synthetic aperture radar, multispectral satellite imagery, and LiDAR to locate the wreckage.
- The team is working with Project Recover, a nonprofit that locates missing service members, and is seeking funding to support the search effort.
Introduction to the Disappearance
The disappearance of a U.S. Air Force transport plane over the Yukon 75 years ago remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in aviation history. On January 26, 1950, a Douglas C-54 Skymaster departed Elmendorf Air Force Base carrying 42 service members and two civilians, including a pregnant military wife and her toddler son. The plane was headed to Great Falls, Montana, but it never made its next scheduled check-in and vanished without a trace. Despite an extensive search effort at the time, the plane was never found, and the case was eventually closed. However, a team of volunteers and investigators is now using advanced technologies to search for the plane and bring closure to the families of those who were on board.
What Happened That Night in 1950
The last person to hear from the Skymaster was Clare Fowler, a 22-year-old civilian radio operator at Snag, Yukon. The plane checked in around 11 p.m., reporting that everything was fine except for icing conditions, but it never made its next scheduled check-in. The search area was vast, covering over 4,500 square miles of rugged terrain, and the weather conditions were extreme, with temperatures plummeting to as low as minus 81 degrees Fahrenheit. It is suspected that the plane iced over and crashed, and a prevailing theory suggests that it went into a glacier and was covered by ice. Michael Luers, an environmental biologist, understands the conditions intimately, having experienced a similar scenario when a plane he was in iced up between Iceland and Greenland.
The Air Force’s Decision Not to Search
The crash occurred during peacetime, which created a bureaucratic oversight that has lasted 75 years. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency only searches for service members lost in combat, but no federal agency handles operational accidents or peacetime incidents. The Air Force conducted a massive search in February 1950, mobilizing thousands of American and Canadian troops and more than 25 aircraft, but it was eventually called off due to a lack of progress and the need to redirect resources to other priorities. The search coincided with a massive U.S.-Canadian joint military exercise, which created chaos and made it difficult to distinguish between distress calls and military communications.
A Father’s Lifelong Search
Joyce Espe’s husband, Master Sergeant Robert Espe, was stationed at Elmendorf when he put his pregnant wife and 23-month-old son Victor on the flight. He never saw his wife, son, or his best friend again and spent the rest of his life searching for his family. Luers was married to one of Espe’s daughters, Kathy, and they occasionally discussed the incident. They later divorced but remained friends and are now working together on the search. The boy lost in the plane was Kathy’s half-brother, and the goal is to find the plane and bring the 44 lost souls home to their families.
Three Generations Still Waiting
Also aboard the plane was Sgt. Junior Lee Moore, who had recently sent a letter home to his family that opened with a darkly prophetic line, "I guess you thought I had died or something." Moore’s nephew, Larry Floyd, was only a few months old when the crash occurred and had a second relative on the plane, Cpl. Raymond Matheny, his father’s first cousin. The family never got closure, and the crash left lasting scars. Floyd’s parents developed a fear of flying, and Floyd still thinks of his uncle every time he boards a plane. The renewed search brings hope, and Floyd is grateful that someone is finally doing something to find the plane.
Decades of Searching
The Yukon has over 500 documented aircraft wrecks, but only a handful remain unaccounted for, and the Skymaster is the largest. The Civil Air Search and Rescue Association and volunteers have searched for decades, using the case as a training exercise and conducting aerial searches over the rugged terrain. Jim Thoreson, a former Canadian Air Force member with 32 years of search and rescue experience, has worked the case since 2008. He was stationed in the Yukon twice during his career and participated in searches during both postings.
New Efforts to Find the Missing Plane
The team’s approach combines synthetic aperture radar, multispectral satellite imagery, and LiDAR, analyzed by artificial intelligence trained to recognize aircraft wreckage. The technology is far superior to ground searches across 4,500 square miles of wilderness. The team is working with Project Recover, a nonprofit that locates missing service members, and is seeking funding to support the search effort. The costs are relatively low for the scope, and the technology has a good chance of finding any potential sites.
The New Technology and the Plan
The team’s plan is to use existing SAR data combined with multispectral imagery to cover the 4,500 square mile search area. If Phase One identifies strong points of interest, the team will investigate by helicopter, coordinating with First Nations authorities whose land encompasses the search area. If needed, Phase Two deploys Woolpert Inc. to conduct high-density LiDAR flights over the entire search area. The costs are relatively low for the scope, and the technology has a good chance of finding any potential sites.
Finding All the Families
The team is working with volunteer organization FamilySearch to identify living descendants of all 44 people on the plane. The team plans to keep the relatives updated on the new search efforts and any new findings. Some families have no surviving descendants, while others span three generations of waiting, and time is running out.
Funding the Mission
The team needs funding for all phases of the search, with Phase One requiring approximately $160,000 and Phase Two costing approximately $1.3 million. Vantor agreed to provide the multispectral imagery for $70,000, a discounted rate. The team created the Yukon 2469 Mission Funding Campaign to support the search effort, and donations can be made through Project Recover’s website. Without funding, the mission is not possible, and the team is committed to bringing the 44 lost souls home to their families.
