The Daily Alaska empire., 1950-02-15

for the B-36, plunged to the prairie and burned three miles southwest of the Great Falls base. Seven other crewmen escaped.
 The search plane, one of many engaged in the two-nation hunt, had flown over the Queen Char lotte Sound area yesterday. It landed at Great Falls last night when weather conditions at Spokane pre- vented it's returning to it's home base.
 Weather Unfav0rable Weather conditions today were Y favorable in the search for the -2-36, delaying takeoff of many search planes.
 No word has been heard from the 163- ton Air Force heavyweight since the last of three messages reported at II: 40 pm. (2:4O am, EST) Mon day night:
 Going to let down |.
 Earlier the huge bomber with 16 crewmen and an Air Force Lieu tenant Colonel aboard, had mess aged that one engine was afire and advised searchers to keep a care full lookout for flares or wreckage." :"
 First Great Loss
 The disappearance of the giant six-motor bomber was the first loss of this advanced type craft in ac- tual operation. One other was wrecked at Carswell Air Base at Fort Worth, Tex, when the 163-ton plane plunged into a lake at the end of the runway in an attempted takeoff. Other rhishaps concerning the B-36's have been of minor na- ture.
 (In Washington, the Air Force identified the passenger as It. Col. Daniel V. Mcdonald. attached to the office of plans and operations at Air Force headquarters. He lived at Arlington, Va. The Air Force said his wife was notified that Mcdonald is missing in flight.O
 No Wreckage Found
 Searching airmen and surface craft yesterday and last night found no trace of the wreckage in the area, some 46O miles northwest ot here. Nor were any distress signals picked up from the crank-style Gibson Girl" radio which is part of the bomber's emergency crash equipment.
 A somber note on whether the big plane could survive "ditching" in the wind driven waves Of Queen Charlotte Sound came from Royal Canadian Air Force headquarters in Vancouver, B.C.
 They said they held scant hope that the big plane could remain afloat long in the gale-swept, icy strait, and survival of the IT aboard would depend on whether they launched their life rafts in time.
 9 RCAF In Search
 The R.CA.F. said it planned to send nine planes into the search during the forenoon, when the near zero-zero visibility in the area IS expected to lift somewhat. Two Lancasters from Edmonton will form part of the Canadian effort.
 A dozen B-29's were ready to take off from Spokane, Wash, and Great Falls, Mont. Seven B-29's which searched yesterday bypassed Spo- kane last night because of fog and continued to Great Falls on the re- turn trip.
 From over the country came re- ports of search planes preparing to head into the Pacific northwest. Planes from Maxwell Field, Ala, Selfridge Field, Mich, Denver, and Fl Paso, Tex, have been earmarked for the hunt.
 Surface Craft Search
 Only searching conducted through the wind and fog last night was by Canadian and American Coast Guard surface craft.
 The plane was the second south- bound B-36 in as many days to ex- perience difficulty in the same rug ged British Columbia coastal area. A B-36 wobbled in from there ana sat down at McChord Air Force Base near Tacoma Monday.
 A northbound B-36 turned back to McChord Monday, also.
 An accompanying B-36 had re- layed messages from the crippled plane and flew on instruments Tor nearly an hour trying to see or contact it. Then it continued to Carswell Air Force Base at Fort Worth, Tex.
 s. E. Alaska Report
 The sister ship reported it was raining. icing and Sleeting" when