The Key West citizen., 1954-12-01
Faint Message Spurs Hunt For Missing Plane

faint radio message ana an un-
wreckage on mountainside today
spurred ground and air search Cor
a Northeast Airlines plane downed
yesterday with seven aboard.
The brief radio voice message
transmitted .blind" for anyone
who could pick it up-read:
Emergency down five miles
northeast of Field Hill but - -"
The message then faded out.
AT about the same time report
attributed te Civil Air Patrol
plot said wreckage of a plane had
been sighted in the snowy wilder
ness Of Bald Mountain, about five
miles northeast of the airliner's
Berlin Airport destination. How
ever, the Air Force search CO.
ordinator said it had no word Of
the reported sighting.
snewy Weather
The plane disappeared in snowy
weather on scheduled flight from
Boston to the Berlin Airport at
Milan.
Immediately after report of the
wreckage and the radio message
indicating that at least one of the
missing seven persons still lived
search parties went into action.
Nearly three score searchers
moved into the Bald Mountain
area. The party included litter
bearers, mountain specialists,
medical referee and a doctor, all
equipped with arctic clothing.
Some 80 planes combed the area
in flying conditions described as
extremely rough" The Berlin
Airport at Milan was closed due
to poor visibility accompanying a
heavy snowfall.
From one to two feet of snow
covered the ground in the search
area.
Robert L. Turner, airline vice
president. said the radio message.
was sent on an emergency fire.
quency.
Message Identified
Turner said the message was
identified as from 1892" the
flight designation of the missing
plane.
More than 20 search planes
Immediately converged on the
area, which includes Bald and
Black mountains, both more than
1000 feet high.
Bald Mt, 2.370 feet high, one of
the lesser mountains of the White
Mountains range, is between Ber-
lin and the Berlin airport, eight
miles outside Berlin to which the
DC3 was flying when it vanished
yesterday noon.
Report of the wreckage sighting
came almost simultaneously with
reports from Northeast's Berlin
office that faint radio signals had
been picked up there.
The radio signal came about s
am. from within five mile radius
of Berlin to which the plane had
been flying from Laconia, 6S miles
away yesterday in Boston Berlin
flight with seven persons aboard.
Search Spreads
A broad air search directed by
Air Force officers which had been
working out Of the North Conway
area Immediately shifted into the
Berlin region.
The DC3 transport has been
missing since noon yesterday.
The plane acknowledged at ILLS
an, a report on weather condi-
tions at its destination, the Berlin
Airport at Milan, about 10 miles
north of Berlin.
Northeast Airlines in Boston said
it suggested" at 1880 am. that
the plane return to Laconia be-
cause of .deteriorating" weather
conditions at Milan. That message
never was acknowledged, the ar
line said.
The planes crew were Capt. w.
Peter Carey. 81, Swampscott,
Mass; Copilot George Mccormick,
81, Boston; Stewardess Mary Nc
Kettrick. %, Dorchester, Mass /;
and Flight Supt. John McNulty, 80,
Boston.
The passengers. we're listed as
James w. Harvey, Waterfowl,
Mass: W. Miller, Philadelphia ;
and Daniel H. Hall, Montclair,
NJ II