Evening star., 1953-06-17
Search Shifts
NorthWard for
Missing Plane
Biggest Air Hunt
In Region Centers
In Ocean City Area
By Joseph B. Byrnes
Star Sfaff Correspondent

SALISBURY, Md, June IT,
The most intensive air search in
the history Of Maryland's East
ern Shore shifted today from
the treacherous marshes of the
lower Chesapeake northward to
the Ocean City region.
Object of the hunt is a single
engine plane piloted by George
Ackerman, %, son of Leon
Ackerman, a Washington real
estate dealer and developer Of
nearby Ocean Beach.
In the aircraft with young
Ackerman when it vanished in a
squall last Friday night were:
His fiancee, attractive Sarah
Mitchell, %, a former Shenan-
doah Valley apple blossom
queen; Romaine Sanders, 10,
daughter of Alan Sanders, gen.
eral manager of Hill & Sanders
Motor Co., and George Yost, %,
of 113 West Woodbine street,
Chevy Chase, Md.
Father Moves Search.
Responsible for the change of
scene in the search was Mr..
Ackerman, who had his own in
vestigators beating the country
side in a desperate hope he may
yet find his son and his three
companions alive.
One of the real estate mans
employees, Cliff Strong, reported
that a farm couple, Mrs. Flor
ence Brown and her husband
John, Of IronShire, 8 miles south
of Ocean City, heard what they
believed to be the missing air.
craft at 1880 pm. Friday night.
The time, Mr.. Alderman said.
was about a quarter of an hour
before his sons four-place silver
NaVion was due to run out of
gas.
Mr.. Strong told his employer
the Browns were certain of the
hour because they were watching
the Jimmy Carter-George Arau-
10 championship fight on tele-
vision. The couple became an
CRY. Mr.. Alderman said, when an
aircraft flew over their home so
low it spoiled the picture Just as
Carter knocked out Araujo.
Says Plane Was Going East.
The couple reported that the
plane was headed east toward
Ginepuxent Bay and the Allan
tice Ocean less than i've miles
away. A few minutes later, the
Browns said, the plane returned,
this time so low its motor vi
brations shook their house.
The aircraft, then headed west,
reversed its direction, passed
over the Brown home a third
time and vanished in the di-
rection of the ocean.
The scene of the last report
is just few miles from the beach
which the senior Alderman has
been developing for the past few
years and for which his son
acted as general manager.
The four who are missing were
en- route to Ocean Beach when
lost.
COnfers With Search Officer.
After a conference with Afr
Force Capt. Robert Blackwell of
the 46th Air Search Squadron,
sent here from ,Westover Air
Force Base, Mass, as a search
co-ordinator, Mr.. Ackerman said
the officer had promised to con-
centrate his search in the new
area.
Heretofore, hundreds of Civil
Air Patrol, Army, Navy, Coast
Guard and National Guard pilots
have been concentrating their
efforts in the Whitehaven-Tan-
gier Sound section of the Del
marva Peninsula.
During yesterdays search, par
entS Of the missing four were
tortured by false reports. One
which proved groundless was that
wreckage had been sighted 10
miles south of Cambridge, Md.
A few hours later, two re-
ports were submitted within
minutes of each other. They
were to the effect that a store
keeper, Clarence Handy, Al,
colored, and Mrs. John Powell
of Fruitland, four and a half
miles south of Salisbury, had
sighted what they believed to be
the Ackerman plane going down
with a Sputtering motor into a
huge marsh along the banks of
the Wicomico. River, boundary
line for Wicomico and Somer-
set Counties.
Posse Goes Into Marsh.
Although darkness was ap-
preaching, a helicopter was sent
from the Patuxent Naval Base,
but returned after dark and re-
ported it had found nothing.
In addition, Mr.. Alderman led
a volunteer posse into the
marShlands, but they also could
find no trace of the missing air
craft.
So intense was the search that
Salisbury Municipal Airport
ordinarily peaceful spot, re-
sembled the deck of an aircraft
carrier. Throughout the day
hundreds Of landings and take
offs were made.
In addition to Capt. Black.
well, the Civil Air Patrol has sent
1t. Col. Edward Slattery anc
Maj. Shale L. Tulin to assist.
Now participating in the ali
hunt are elements Of the Wash.
ington, Maryland and Delaware
wings Of the CAP, the Air Force
the Maryland and Delaware All
National Guard, the Navy, the
Coast Guard and the Bethesda.
Chevy Chase Rescue Squad
which sent an ambulance anC
two Hoortable two-wav rafIin ont.