Evening star., 1953-06-17
Search Shifts
NorthWard for
Missing Plane
Hunt for Ackermun
Craft Centers on
Ocean City Area
By Joseph B. Byrnes
Star Sfoff corrospondent

StaF Stoff 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
Alderman, 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: Rornaine 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.
Reward Offer Increased.
Mr.. Alderman, who earlier
had offered a $4,000 reward to
anyone finding the plane, in
creased the offer to $4,000 to-
day. He hoped it would be an
inducement to residents to
search the Muddy Hole and Den
son Dock Greek marshes in the
Whitehaven area along the
4Wicomico River. This rugged,
uninhabited country has not
been thoroughly searched.
One Of the real estate mans
employees, Cliff Strong, reported
that a farm couple, Mrs. Flor
ence Brown and her husband
John, Of IronShire, 9 miles south
of Ocean City, heard what they
believed to be the missing air.
craft at 10:30 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.. Akerman said, when an
aircraft few over their home so
low 1t spoiled the picture just as
Carter knocked out Araujo.
Says Plane Was Going East.
The couple reported that the
plane was headed east toward
Sinepuxent 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.
After a conference with Air
Force Capt. Robert Blackwell of
the 46th Air Search Squadron,
sent here from Westover Air
Force Base. Mass, as a search
co-ordinator. Mr.. Alderman 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.
Given False Reports.
During yesterdays search, par
ents Of the missing four were
tortured by false reports. One
which proved groundiess was that
wreckage had been sighted 10
miles south Of Cambridge, Md
So intense was the search that
Salisbury Municipal Airport,
ordinarily a peaceful spot, re-
sembled the deck of an aircraft
carrier. Throughout the day
hundreds Of landings and take
offs were made.
Now participating in the air
hunt are elements of the WASH
ington, Maryland and Delaware
wings Of the CAP, the Air Force,
the Maryland and Delaware Air
National Guard, the Navy, the
Coast Guard and the Bethesda
Chevy Chase Rescue Squad,
which sent an ambulance and
two portable two-way radio out
fits.