But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. We take a closer look at the story behind the only large commercial aircraft in US history to go missing. After five days, the search ended with the authorities declaring they had been unable to locate the crash site. The plane has never been found, and it remains the only large, commercial plane in U.S. history to go missing. To this day, no trace of Flight 404 has ever been found, and because of the treacherous conditions in the Himalayas, it's doubtful that Flight 404 or her passengers will ever be found. Which it has. A possibly more solvable disappearance is an aviation mystery: the vanishing of Northwest Orient Airline Flight 2501. Another more fascinating case over Lake Michigan happened in 1950 when the Northwest Airlines flight 2501 with 104 passengers on board crashed into the triangle and was never found again. Although it is unclear what Captain Lind did when he reached the lakeshore and inevitably saw or felt the storm, at 12:13 AM EST when in the vicinity of Benton Harbor, Michigan (20 miles south of Airway Red 57), Lind requested a descent to 2500 feet, but did not indicate his reason for the request. APPEARANCE ON DISCOVERY CHANNELS SHOW EXPEDITION UNKNOWN. Newspaper accounts provided other limited details. There were 58 victims in total: 55 passengers and 3 crew members. The C-54 that would later become Flight 2501 was built for the US Air Force by Douglas in Chicago in 1943. But the searchers were on the wrong side of the lake. MSRA is partially funded by members and supporters like you. Co-Pilot Verne F. Wolfe had been with Northwest Airlines almost as long as Captain Lind had. MU Podcasts. How low, I dont know. Helm later was ordered to testify at a hearing in Chicago. She has written magazine and newspaper articles, and had several short stories included in anthologies. The fact that no in-tact bodies were found is evidence of just how devastating this crash was. Milwaukee radar operators were the first to realize something was amiss, and the Milwaukee Journal was the first media outlet to report the flight's disappearance. Careers Debris, which included luggage, seat cushions, and a fuel tank floating in an oil slick near South Haven, were collected. The big red colt stopped the clock in record time that day: one minute, 59 and two-fifths seconds.On a sheer brilliance scale, no other Kentucky Derby winner, before or since, stacks up.But there . In New York, the evening of Friday, June 23, 1950 was a warm, but pleasant night. The Michigan Shipwreck Research Association (MSRA) has conducted annual searches for Flight 2501 since 2004. In aviation, there are few people as well-known as the infamous D.B. Wilbanks found two new shipwrecks, again documented by MSRA, but Flight 2501 remained elusive. The Northwest flight, which had 58 passengers and crew onboard, departed from New York LaGuardia Airport at 19:31 with a scheduled stopover in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on its way to Seattle. In the few homes equipped with that new invention, the television set, families were watching Snooky Lanson singing the weeks top songs on Your Hit Parade. The quick disappearance of the airplane was attributed to a training crash in Tokyo Bay but, actually. Kerlikowski stated to the local paper, It must have been a terrific explosion to disintegrate the bodies so badly.. Dr Archibald died in the crash of Flight 2501, along with all others onboard. Russian Plane That Disappeared In Siberia Found, All Passengers Alive A plane flying cross-country from New York City 70 years ago disappeared over Lake Michigan, killing all 58 on board. It was re-opened on July 3 for the holiday crowds. To this day, the exact location of where the plane entered the water has not been determined. All 58 aboard people died. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Since 2004, Michigan resident and shipwreck diver Valerie van Heest has been trying to find the missing plane. The small size of the debris suggested a possible explosion, a theory supported by eyewitnesses claiming to have seen flashes of light in the sky. Cussler too began working with outside experts who studied ocean drift theories, and their theories differed from Schwabs. More than half century later, Valerie van Heest became interested in the accident whenresearch conducted in 2003 by the Michigan Shipwreck Research Association (MSRA) , cofounded by van Heest, determined that the aircraft had gone down in the same generalvicinity as a number of number of lostships the group hoped to find. Concurrent to its work with NUMA and with NUMAs approval MSRA partnered withGreat Lakes wreck hunter David Trotter of Undersea Research Associates to conduct expeditions in a different area of about 50 square miles south of the original search. Subscribe to our Newsletter, Restaurant Listings They were expected to pass each other near Battle Creek, Michigan, and the standard separation of 1,000 feet would not be sufficient due to the turbulence. According to the Holland Sentinel, Fulford said, I dont consider it the Coast Guards duty to perform recovery duty in this case. It was reported that Northwest then requested a Navy diver. Over the past decade, searchers have covered more than 600 square miles of Lake Michigan, seeking the plane wreckage. Read. Subscriptions. Since then other tragedies such as the shooting down of Korean Airlines KAL 007 in 1983, the terrorist bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in Lockerbie, Scotland, or even the loss of John Kennedy Jr.s private plan off Marthas Vineyard all remain in our memories. On the radio, Nat King Cole, Doris Day and the Ames Brothers were singing the latest tunes just a few years before rock and roll would debut. At 5:30 AM on Sunday June 25, sonar work by the US Naval vessel Daniel Joy near the oil slick revealed several strong sonar targets. In case anyone doesn't get the connection, Northwest 2501 was a flight that disappeared in 1950 over Lake Michigan and has never been found. It had failed to fly over Milwaukee, and it didn't show up at Minneapolis. It is reported that out of hundreds of ships that have been lost to the lake, only around 300 ships have been found in Lake Michigan. The Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501 with 55 passengers and 3 crew members was on its way from New York to Minneapolis when the fatal event occurred. It was disassembled in an aircraft factory and used as the model for a very similar four-engine bomber that, thankfully, never got beyond the prototype stage. This second flight struggled to maintain its altitude at 5,000 feet. That, and the small size of the debris found floating in the oil slick, suggested an explosion. Over Lake Michigan, in an area often referred to as the Lake Michigan Triangle (which runs from Manitowoc, Wisconsin, to Ludington, Michigan, and south to Benton Harbor), they were proven wrong. The weather all along the route was carefully checked and a flight plan arranged to avoid unfavorable conditions and bring the plane in on time. Thank you! 2018 Copyright 2023 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. A pair of boys pants was identified as belonging to 8-year old Chester Schaeffer who was traveling with his mother Mrs. Oscar Schaeffer of Port Chester, New York. No cause for the loss ever was determined. He never stated a specific reason. Flight 2501 was a Douglas DC-4 airliner with four Pratt & Whitney, R-2000 Wasp engines. In 2008 she attended a ceremony at the cemetery with 58 family members of Flight 2501 where a large black granite marker now lists the names of the 58. Captain Lind had flown for Northwest Airlines since 1941. Authorities in South Haven closed the popular South Beach for nine days after the crash, due to the large number of body parts that washed in among the bathers. The wreckage could not be found by authorities, the cause of the crash could not be determined, and the accident was soon forgotten. The Coast Guard began looking near Cudahy and South Milwaukee, where oil slicks had been found. The Mysterious Disappearance of NWA Flight 2501 and the Quest for Answers. On September 2, 1945, a C-54 crew made a record run of 31 hours, 25 minutes between Tokyo, Japan and Washington, D. C., to deliver the first films of the Japanese surrender ceremony on board the U. S. Navy battleship USS Missouri. At the time, it was the deadliest airliner accident in the nation's history. All of that pointed us to the southern basin of Lake Michigan. "He thought, 'There's no way I'm going through that thunderstorm,'" said Boie, who lives in New Berlin. At various points in the flight, Lind was directed to a lower altitude to maintain clearance with other flights. The Discovery Channel produced a segment about the crash of Flight 2501. Similar to MH370, some wreckage washed up in the following years but the full wreckage has never been located over 70 years later. The disappearance of Malaysian Air Flight 370 with 239 people aboard brings echoes from the past as loss turns to wonder of what happened to the ill-fated . Cussler funded the survey services of sonar operator Ralph Wilbanks, of Diversified Wilbanks,hiswheelsman Steve Howard, andadditional crewmembers, sending them to South Haven, Michigan,to conduct sonar surveys in collaboration with MSRA within a 500 square mile area of probability developed by NUMA. In 2004, Michigan Shipwreck Research Association (MSRA) began a joint venture project with nationally claimedauthor/explorer Clive Cussler, who operates the nonprofit organization National Underwater Marine Agency (NUMA), and mounts expeditions around the world to find the worlds most famous lost vessels. Expedition Unknown aired on February 12, 2020 (season 8, episode 2). I took a look out of the window and he seemed to be flying pretty low. "An hour later another pilot from Northwest was walking up her walk and she knew before he opened his mouth.". B y V. O. van Heest "A terrific book! President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947, creating an independent Air Force, while on board this aircraft on July 12, 1947. The plane and victims were never found. Like us on, The US Navy, US Coast Guard and State Police from Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana were all involved in the search. Over those years she drafted a manuscript that she presumed might be published upon the discovery of the wreck. In fact, no debris from another boat with found. If anyone was prepared for this flight, it was Captain Robert Lind. He was flying level at 3,500 feet. No one had heard from the plane since its 11:13 request to a Chicago control tower to reduce its altitude, which was denied due to air traffic. Subscribe Shop for Back Issues 2011 Other witnesses included 30-year old William Bowie Jr., Mrs. June Herring, Ivan Orr, Leo Dorman and several others. Contact Before Stripe died last year, four days after his 100th birthday, he talked to van Heest about that night. Passengers settled into their seats, unaware that this would be the last day of their life. At the time, it was the deadliest commercial plane crash in both US and world history and remains one of the country's most high-profile aircraft disappearances. At dawn it was clear that something had happened to Flight 2501. A 2007 inductee in the Women Divers Hall of Fame, Winner of several state and national book awards, A preferred speaker for both small and large events, Website Design: Valerie van Heest Technical Support: Rob Macy Portrait Photography: Laura Veldhoff Underwater Portrait Photography: Joe Oliver Underwater Shipwreck Banner Photograph: Robert Underhill. During the research phase of this project, MSRA board member Valerie van Heest, who later wrote the book Fatal Crossing, has located nearly all 58 families who lost a loved one in this accident. "He diverted to Detroit and sat on the tarmac for an hour and a half. MSRA team with Clive Cussler, Dave Trotter and others. In time van Heest, who adopted this as a passion project, amassed a collection of primary information never before considered in the aftermath of the accident and years later had her narrative nonfiction novel, Fatal Crossing, about the aircrafts disappearance and the groups effort to find the wreckage published. 0. Oceanographer Greg Busch of Busch Marine has collaborated with the MSRA for this effort. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. As he neared the lake shore, he made his last transmission, requesting a further drop in altitude to 2,500 feet. It's last known position was supposedly within the Michigan Triangle. . Valerie has been searching for Flight 2501 since 2004 along with Clive Cussler. These small pieces would be the only clues they had. They saw service in every theater of World War II. The majority of BA's active jumbos are far newer. Nicknamed Sacred Cow, the aircraft was used to take FDR to the Yalta Conference. At one point, workers were dipping their hands into the lake to recover body parts. On the evening of June 23, 1950, a DC-4 with certification number 10270 and tail-number N-95425, owned by Northwest Airlines and designated Flight 2501, was loaded with 2,500 gallons of fuel, 80 gallons of oil, and 490 lbs of express; and was expecting 55 passengers. The Strange Lights & The Disappearance of Flight 2501. As the wreckage was never located, the final report of the seven-month official investigation noted "insufficient evidence upon which to make a determination of probable cause.". A Northwest Orient Airlines Douglas DC-4 (registration: N95425) operating a daily service between New . 2013 Lightening bedeviled the sky. Northwest flight 2501, was scheduled to operate between New York and Seattle via Minneapolis and Spokane. The . At 5:30 AM Saturday, June 24, the plane officially was presumed lost, as the fuel supply would have been exhausted by that time. MSRAs tech dive team Todd White, Jeff Vos, and Bob Underhill. They add a somber, but compelling backdrop to Michigans waterways. But despite extensive searches over the years, the airplane due over Milwaukee that stormy night has never been found. Latest: Northwest Airlines Flight 2501: Search resumes for plane that vanished over Lake . Fifty-five travelers (27 women, 22 men, and six children) and three crew members bound for Milwaukee and Seattle boarded a Northwest Airlines flight on June 23, 1950. This four-engine behemoth was flight tested in 1939. Flight Simulator 2004 NORTHWEST AIRLINES DOUGLAS DC-4, by Arik Hohmeyer, Chris Grabow & Dale DeLuca. As the plane reached the lakeshore at 12:13 AM EST that evening, Captain Lind, knowing of storms over Lake Michigan, requested clearance from air traffic control to 2,500 feet. On June 23rd, 1950, Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501 took off from New York en route to Seattle but never reached its destination. As I traveled, writing and compiling information for my three-volume travel series that explores Michigan's coasts, I heard or read the tales left behind by those ill-fated ships. It would be 48 hours of searching in the wrong place before authorities learned of residents on the other side of the lake near South Haven, Mich., finding debris: a doll, clothing with price tags still on them, a flight kit containing Northwest brochures and schedules, eight blankets printed with the Northwest Airlines logo, a bible, a girl's red sandals. As the DC-4 passed over Battle Creek, Michigan at 11:51 PM eastern time, Captain Lind notified Northwests Air Traffic Control Center at Chicago by radio that he estimated passing over Milwaukee at 11:37 PM central time. Throughout her research and writing her book "Fatal Crossing: The Mysterious Disappearance of NWA Flight 2501 and the Quest for Answers" van Heest has stayed in touch with 53 of the 58 families of the victims of flight 2501. Stewardess, Northwest Orient Airlines, victim of crash into Lake Michigan of Flight 2501 On Friday, June 23, 1950, Northwest Airlines Flight 2501 departed New York's LaGuardia airport at 8:30 PM EST and headed west under clear skies on its way to Seattle Washington, with intermediate stops in Minneapolis, Minnesota by 1:23 CST, and Spokane, Washington early Saturday morning. At the time of its disappearance, the crash was the worst aviation tragedy in American history. prompting President Harry S. Truman to commit US forces to defend the country. Between 2004 and 2013, while NUMA conducted side-scan sonar operations for about one month each spring working out of South Haven, Michigan, the team did not find the wreckage of the airplane, butWilbanks didlocate nine shipwrecks. . Shredded human remains washing up on the beaches of West Michigan served as evidence of the country's worst commercial aviation . Click through to read excerpts from Royce's three books exploring Michigan's coasts: Julie Albrecht Royce, the Michigan Editor for Wandering Educators recently published a three-book travel series exploring Michigans coastlines. The loss of Northwest Airlines Flight 2501 represented the worst commercial aviation disaster to that time. The group plans to resume the hunt this spring. Judging by the flotsam and body parts that looked like everyone on board had been shredded, investigators concluded the plane struck Lake Michigan around 400 mph, probably on the left side of the aircraft, which cartwheeled into the water. At approximately 19:31 the flight departed from LaGuardia Airport. Pilots were aware of a storm in their flight path but were not given an exact location of a possible squall line. Air Force Chief Rodzali Daud did not say what route the plane was taking when it appeared to be dead, or how long it had been flying, Other information has been confirmed by civilian radar, he said. The fully loaded craft weighed in at 71,342 pounds, just 58 pounds below the maximum permissible take-off weight. But if you ask the average West Michigan senior citizen if they recall the loss of Flight 2501, they have either vague memories or none at all. The episode called The Vanished Airliner, aired in Season 6 and interpreted Van Heests book Fatal Crossing for television. At daybreak, the search and rescue teams began an intense search on the fog-covered lake. The Navy and Coast Guard never located the wreck, rendering it impossible to determine a cause for this tragic accident. At 7:30 on the evening of Friday, June 23, 1950, Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501 departed New York City on a transcontinental. She says one particular memory of the wife of Copilot Verne Frank Wolfe stands out to her. At the time, authorities wanted to determine whether the plane suffered a mid-air explosion, or whether it struck the water intact. At that time, however, a squall line that had developed earlier that afternoon reached the region of Lake Michigan. Lost & Found ST. JOSEPH The mass grave site of the victims of Northwest Airlines Flight 2501, which crashed into Lake Michigan off South Haven in June 1950, has been discovered by researchers from. S Navy man, Lt. Cmdr. HOLLAND, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) - One of the mysteries beneath the inland seas is the subject of a three-hour cable television program tonight. These emotional stories led Van Heest to begin considering writing a book, which escalated her research. Bowies wife stated, All of a sudden there was this flash. When she discovered the burial site had no marker, she thought that was disrespectful. The uneventful flight passed safely over Cleveland, Ohio and continued west toward Minneapolis, Minnesota a major hub for Northwest Airlines. What do you think the most probable cause of the Northwest Flight 2501 crash was? A pair of oil slicks a few miles off the shore of South Milwaukee were investigated, but divers found nothing. 25-year old stewardess Bonnie Ann Feldman was in the passenger compartment taking care of 55 passengers, identified as 27 women, 22 men and six children. 1998 Boeing also could not get beyond the prototype. Over 60 years later, the aircraft has still not been found. By the time the search moved to the other side of Lake Michigan, wind and waves had likely pushed debris far from the crash site. The crash of a Northwest Airlines flight from New York to Minnesota - at the time - was the worst airline disaster in U.S. history. I know that in instances of tragic loss of life, you need answers," Director of Michigan Shipwreck Research Association (MSRA) Valerie van Heest tells FOX 17. Northwest on Monday released the names of the crew on Flight 255 and the names of three off-duty employes who were killed aboard the plane. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Minutes later, he said, there was a terrific flash out in the lake. He speculated the pilot was looking for a place to land. Captain Carl G. Bowman, skipper of the Mackinaw, radio contacted the United Press at Detroit that his men found small body parts, including hands and ears. Before takeoff, Captain Lind was advised of thunderstorms over Lake Michigan, but other planes did not report severe turbulence and the flight was cleared for takeoff. He was a capable pilot in his own right. Forty minutes later, 2501 was instructed to drop to 3,500 feet to . On June 23 1950, Northwest Airlines Flight 2501 is flying from New York City to Seattle with fifty-eight people on board. Lightning flashed between the cells of the storm. Today, Flight 2501 is listed on nearly every UFO web site as a strange anomaly since some in the Wisconsin area reported a bright light over the lake about two hours after the event. Production orders followed and, to meet the demand, Douglas started a second assembly line in Chicago, Illinois, which would eventually produce nearly 60 percent of all C-54s built. He maintained his qualification in DC-4s, logging almost 200 hours on that aircraft, and had flown over the route continuously. That where plane and storm met, an accident of catastrophic proportions happened.. "So when she saw two people walking up to her house at one in the morning, she knew her husband was gone.. If you would like to support the effort, please consider making a charitable donation here. While searching for Northwest 2501 they discovered 14 shipwrecks. 2005 The Michigan Shipwreck Research Association has been looking for it for 15 years, having covered 600 square miles. Over the Lake Michigan Triangle, Captain Robert Lind radios in to request permission to descend to 2,500 feet due to a severe electrical storm and high winds. In the right hand seat was co-pilot Verne F. Wolfe, also 35, of Minneapolis. Her disappearance marked the largest aviation disaster in world history to thatpoint. It first flew in 1986 and has been on Mahan's books since 2007. The Sacred Cow is now on display at the US Air Force Museum. The oldest 747 still flying ordinary punters is owned by Iran's Mahan Air. The Coast Guard sent the cutters Mackinaw, Woodbine, Hollyhock and Frederick Lee to the scene over the next few days to assist in the search effort. Operators in Milwaukee then issued a blind broadcast, asking the pilot to identify himself by circling Mitchell Field. and extraterrestrials roaming the skies of the Lake Michigan Triangle are spurred on by the mysterious disappearance of Northwest Airlines flight 2501. The US Navy, US Coast Guard and State Police from Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana were all involved in the search. Van Heest found a man who studied cemetery records, and through him she learned of a notation in the archives of Riverview Cemetery in St. Joseph, Mich., of unidentified remains of aircraft victims that had been buried July 1, 1950. Northwest Airlines flight 2501 crashed in Lake Michigan on June 23, 1950. While an oil slick, and some wreckage was found, No significant traces of the aircraft, much less a reason to crash, have never been determined. These remains were buried in a pair of mass graves in Michigan. In-depth and intriguing." . The engines were geared up one at a time and the plane made its way from the tarmac to the runway. Valerie van Heest, a co-founder and researcher with MSRA, teamed up with author and explorer, Clive . the exact location of where the plane entered the water has not been determined. The search proceeded with a renewed importance to offer closure to those families. June 23-24: NWA Flight 2501, a DC-4 flying from New York to Minneapolis, is lost during extreme nighttime thunderstorm activity over Lake Michigan. Archive 2006 HOLLAND, Mich.-- A team of researchers in Holland is pursuing a theory of where debris from a decades-old plane crash may be located, which would give answers to families of the 58 victims. Late in 1939, the lone DC-4E prototype was sold to Japan. The Mystery of Northwest Flight 2501. On the other side of the lake, just before midnight Central Time, Northwest Radio at Milwaukee advised New York, Minneapolis and Chicago that Flight 2501 was overdue reporting in at Milwaukee. Keep your eyes peeled as this mystery could be solved in the coming years. Royce has published two novels: Ardent Spirit, historical fiction inspired by the true story of Odawa-French Fur Trader, Magdelaine La Framboise, and PILZ, a legal thriller which drew on her experiences as a First Assistant Attorney General for the State of Michigan. In time she located 52 of the 58 families, and she learned the intimate details of each passengers reasons for being on the flight and how their losses affected their families. (Volunteer Valerie)Van Heest has solved one mystery relating to Northwest Flight 2501. . Meg was part of a team that was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2003, and is the author of World War II Milwaukee., One of the only known photos of the Northwest Airlines plane that disappeared over Lake Michigan in 1950 was snapped a year or two before the crash, Credit: Photo by Leo Kohn from collection of Valerie Van Heest, Three of Wisconsin's billionaires sometimes pay zero state income tax, Man killed in Rock County crash identified, Johnson campaign gets fundraising boost, but still lags Feingold, Walker wants to greenlight east-west I-94 project, Man fatally shoots neighbor in Eau Claire. Twenty-first Century Hunt for Flight 2501. Among them was Fred Stripe, a friend of Chuck Boie, former director of the Mitchell Gallery of Flight at Milwaukee's airport. A marker listing the 58 names of the lost was placed at the site. It only lasted a second and then was gone. The witnesses say the plane was not more than 2,000 feet off the ground. Had the lost passengers been local West Michigan residents like the passengers aboard the ill-fated steamer Chicora 55 years earlier, then the disaster may have had more impact on residents than just the closing of their local beaches. MSRA researched, dived, and documented those shipwrecks, and those wrecks are profiled elsewhere in this website. This is the same type of plane as Northwest 2501, a flight that vanished over Lake Michigan on the night of June 23, 1950. Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501 was a DC-4 prop-liner that flew daily transcontinental routes connecting the east coast of New York City to the far west coast of Seattle, Washington when it . That was the last communication from Flight 2501. "That would give comfort to the families. Flight 2501 hit Cleveland, Ohio, around 10:49 p.m., and Lind's request to drop to 4,000 feet was approved by traffic control. On Tuesday the 27th, the Tribune reported the Coast Guard was conducting dragging operations in an attempt to locate a large-enough piece of wreckage to warrant the lowering of hardhat divers to the lake floor. With 58 passengers, Northwest Flight 2501 left from LaGuardia Airport in New York so it can reach its destination of Seattle, Washington on June 23rd,1950. Captain Robert Lind and the two other crew members aboard the DC-4 had everything under control. By the next morning, it was obvious something had gone terribly wrong. He had heard of the flight, MSRAs interest in finding it, and he proposed a joint venture between MSRA and his nonprofit the National Underwater Marine Agency (NUMA), which had located many dozens of lost vessels over the prior two decades, to search for the wreckage. Shredded human remains washing up on the beaches of West Michigan served as evidence of the country's worst commercial aviation disaster. After a half-hour, an emergency signal alert was issued to locate the missing craft. R. T. Helm, as saying he had witnessed the plane fly over his home at 12:20 am. What happened the night Northwest Flight 2501 disappeared, and do answers lie in the chilly depths of Lake Michigan? Calls sent out intothe storm produced no reply. But did you know that the Great Lakes are also home to a . By dawn's light, it became clear that the DC-4 had crashed. but no trace of the eleven passengers have ever been found. Side Scan Sonar reel designed and built by Jack van Heest. We take a closer look at the story behind the only large commercial aircraft in US history to go missing. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Feel free to share your insights in the comments. They hired Douglas to devise the highly ambitious DC-4E (E for experimental).