Almost 75 years after the air disaster, researchers found the wreckage of the Pan Am Clipper Endeavor plane, which crashed off the coast of Puerto Rico in 1952, on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. This was reported by The New York Times.
The plane was found with the help of an autonomous underwater vehicle. It turned out to be lying at a depth of about 600 meters approximately eight kilometers from the shore.
Pan Am Flight 526A on a Douglas DC-4 was flying from San Juan to New York. Shortly after takeoff, two of the airliner's engines failed simultaneously. The captain, John Burn, decided to make an emergency water landing.
The ditching was successful, and all 69 people on board initially survived. However, panic ensued during the evacuation. The tail section of the plane detached, after which the fuselage sank. As a result of the tragedy, 52 people died. This disaster became one of the reasons for the introduction of mandatory safety briefings for passengers before takeoff and landing.
During the examination of the wreckage, specialists found the logo of Pan American World Airways and part of the plane's name. According to them, the condition of the airliner was much better than expected. More than 350,000 photographs were taken at the crash site, but there are no plans to retrieve the wreckage or the remains of the victims.
The search for the plane lasted about seven years. It was complicated by the great depth, unfavorable weather, and the coronavirus pandemic. An underwater vehicle called Miss Millie, costing between 10 and 12 million dollars and capable of diving to a depth of six thousand meters, was used for the work.
The expedition participants noted that the find is of great significance for aviation history. The head of the search operation, Russ Matthews, stated that it allows connecting the present with the past. According to him, the place where the plane was found will become a sole memorial for the 39 victims of the disaster whose bodies were never recovered.
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