Free Republic

The wreckage of a military plane found this month on an Alaska glacier is that of an Air Force plane that crashed in 1952, killing all 52 people aboard, military officials said Wednesday. Army Capt. Jamie Dobson said evidence found at the crash site correlates with the missing C-124A Globemaster, but the military is not eliminating other possibilities because much investigation still needs to be done. Processing DNA samples from relatives of those on board the plane could take up to six years, Dobson said. "We're still at the very beginning of this investigation," she said. "This is very close...

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, ALASKA — It's a sacred annual mission: a group of mortuary affairs recovery experts arrives each June at a glacier high in Alaska's Chugach mountain range to continue the hunt for the remains of 52 troops killed in an Air Force transport crash 66 years ago. The C-124 was carrying 42 airmen, eight soldiers, one sailor and one Marine when it crashed into Mount Gannett on Nov. 22, 1952 as it traveled from McChord Air Force Base, Washington to what is now Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. Winter had descended on the treacherous mountain range, and no remains...