Evening star., 1951-07-22
Signals Arouse
Hope for 38 on
Missing Plane
Koreu AirIift Craft
Disappears on Rugged
Alaskan Panhandle
BY the Associated Press

VANCOUVER, B. c., July 21.-
A four-engined Korean airlift
transport plane vanished with
so aboard along the rugged Alaska
panhandle coast and may be send
ing distress signals, Canadian Air
lines reported.
The CPA said the signals were
heard at Anchorage, Alaska, and
Cranbrook, B. C.
The outbound airlift plane left
here last night. 1t was last heard
from at 1917 am. psf. (4:17
am. E.D.T0 off Cape Spencer,
about 80 miles due west of Juneau,
Alaska.
The CPA official said that
while there's no reason to be-
lieve these are legitimate distress
signals" they had been heard Pc
rlodically "in the last. couple of
hours" or since about pm. Up.
STD and were being investigated.
En- Route to Anchorage.
The plane was heading for
Anchorage on the first leg of it's
trip to Tokyo. CPA from whom
the airlift plane was chartered,
has terminus at Cranbrook.
Foul weather" was reported
over the area where the plane
was swallowed up.
Most of the 81 passengers were
American military men. The
crew of seven included two stew
ardesses.
The big plane was the first to
meet disaster in the airlift's 81
million miles of flying since the
outbreak of the Korean war.
Rescue planes were poised for
another of the Northwest's great
air searches when the weather
lifts. Ground fog and clouds
blanketed the area between Ju-
neau and Anchorage, Alaska,
II I'M the ground level to a height
Of 10000 feet.
Cutters Securing Sea.
The 17th United States Coast
Guard district at juneau, which
is directing the hunt, said the
cutters Citrus and Cahoone were
securing the icy mouth of the
Gulf of Alaska northward from
Cape Spencer.
McChord Air Force Base near
Tacoma, Wash, the stateside ter
minus for American Great Cir
Gle" airlift operations, said the
plane carried % United States Air
Force, three United States Army
and two Royal Canadian Navy
men, three American civilians and
the crew.
Names of the passengers have
not been released. All crew men,
bers were Canadians from Van
couver.
An early report that the three
civilians were United Nations Of
flcialS was scotched later by U. N.
headquarters in New York. Two
of the civilians were processed
earlier in the week at Fort Law
ton, Seattle, and were believed at
tached to the United States Army.
The Air Force personnel passed
through McChord. The party left
Seattle by train yesterday for
Vancouver.
Plane Definitely Down."
The airliner has been listed as
definitely down" on its 1,348-
mile flight from Vancouver to
Anchorage. 1t had only enough
fuel to last until just before 81
o'clock this morning.
There was only silence after it's
Cape Spencer report in which the
pilot. Capt. Victor Fox gave no
indication of any trouble. The
plane was to have checked in by
radio again at Yakutat, about
$50 miles up the Alaska panhandle
coast.
Weather may have caused it,
to crash. The Juneau Coast Guard
headquarters said fight condi-
tions "had been FOUL with fog,
rain and clouds in the area since
the lost plane took off from VAN
couver at 6:42 last night.
If the craft had remained on
course, it would have been about
Is to 80 miles off shore. But di-
rectly inland towers the rugged
Brabazon range, with dozens of
peaks up to $4,000 feet and some
of the widest, most primitive
country on the North AmericanI
continent.
1t was in this area that part of