Great Sitkin Island, AK Plane Crashes Into Mountainside, Sep 1959
Posted December 9th, 2007 by Stu Beitler
AIRLINER CARRYING 16 PEOPLE HITS MOUNTAINSIDE LAST NIGHT.
No Sign Of Survivors Seen From Air.
Anchorage, Alaska (AP) -- An airliner carrying 16 persons crashed and caught fire last night on an Aleutian island peak. A search pilot radioed he saw no sign of life at the scene.
The Reeves Aleutian Airlines DC4 piled into a mountainside at the 2,000-foot level on Great Sitkin Island, 24 miles northeast of its destination at Adak Island.
A navy pilot who sighted wreckage 40 minutes after the crash reported the plane was afire but that the tail section seemed intact.
Later, BOB REEVE, president of the airline, flew over the wreck scene and reported there was no sign of survivors.
An official who declined use of his name said the situation "looked pretty grim."
The navy tug Apache reached the island with a ground party this morning. There was delay in reaching the crash scene over rugged terrain. The coast guard dispatched the cutter Clover from Adak.
The DC4, enroute from Anchorage on a flight that serves sommunities and military bases along the Aleutian island chain, carried five crewmen, two civilians and nine military men -- seven air force, one army and one navy.
The crew members, all of Anchorage, were EUGENE STROUSE, pilot; ROBERT POLLOM, copilot; BRYAN GREEN, flight engineer; and LORRAINE HENDERSON and BETTY BURKE.
STROUSE'S father, O. B. STROUSE, lives at Topeka, Kan.
Names of the two civilians and the nine military men were not released immediately.
Reeves officials said there was no word of trouble from the pilot before the crash. The DC-4 had started its approach to the Adak field when the pilot radioed his last routine report at about 5:15 p.m. (11:45 p.m. EST).
Sitkin, one of many volcanic islands, is more than 1,700 miles southwest of Anchorage.
Communications to Adak failed part of the morning, delaying word of search operations.
Daily Sitka Sentinel Alaska 1959-09-25
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!
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my father was on
Just wanted to let everybody k now that my father talks about this incident quite often. He was on the ground party going ashore. The article fails to mention of the delay. The boat he was on capsized and he almost lost his life. He was a hero on more than one way on this day.
My grandfather was Robert
My grandfather was Robert Pollom. What was the delay that they failed to mention? Your father was a hero and we sincerely appreciate his efforts.
the tugboad capsized and he
the tugboad capsized and he saved a Fellow Serviceman, I believe a Navy Corpsman, from drowning. He mentioned that the swim was very difficult due to the Water was numbing cold and the Sailor was hurt.
Great Sitkin Island plane crash Sept. 1959
My husband's father was one of the civilians aboard that plane when it crashed. Does anyone out there have more information about the ground crew and the recovery? Any photos of the wreckage?
My grandfather was Eugene
My grandfather was Eugene Strouse. It was a great loss to loose all those men on that flight. My heart goes out to their families. I sure appreciate the efforts of the ground crew in trying to locate any survivors.