CLUE SPURS PLANE SEARCH.

GLOBEMASTER CARRYING 52 MEN MISSING.

Anchorage, Alaska (AP) -- A faint radio signal was the only tenuous clue Monday to the fate of 52 men aboard a giant C-124 Globemaster which vanished Saturday night over the Gulf of Alaska.
Twenty-four search planes were poised here ready to fan out when weather permits over the 150 miles to tiny Middleton Island, the four-engined transport's last check-point. The weather outlook was poor.
The 41 Army and Air Force passengers and 11 crewmen were listed officially Sunday as missing in the continuing plague of U. S. military air disasters throughout the world.
Third Disaster.
It was the third U. S. military air disaster in Alaska in 15 days, involving 91 men, and the sixth throughout the world during that period. The six planes carried a total of 162 passengers and crew -- eight survived and the others are missing.
A limited search Sunday, hampered by fog, light rain and low ceiling, turned up no trace of the Globemaster, which vanished on a 1,400-mile flight from McChord Air Force Base, its home field near, Tacoma, Wash., to Elmendorf Base at Anchorage.
Largest Transport.
The huge, four-engine transport, largest in military use, last reported by radio at 9:47 p.m. PST last night, over Middleton Island, about 150 miles southeast of here in the Gulf of Alaska.
The Globemaster, operated by the Military Air Transport Service (MATS),
was flying at 9,000 feet altitude on schedule 6 hours and 17 minutes out of McChord and only 46 minutes from Anchorage.
Then there was silence.
From tiny Middleton Island, the big plane's course took it over about 50 miles of water and 100 miles of land described by veteran fliers as among "the most rugged in the world."
To the right of its route is a mountain range studded with towering, glacier-covered peaks of 10,000 feet or more. On course are smaller mountains in an almost impenetrable wilderness.

Walla Walla Union-Bulletin Washington 1952-11-24

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: The wreckage was found several days later on the South side of Mount Gannett. There were no survivors.
Additional Information On Crew Members:
CAPT. KENNETH J. DUVALL, 37, the aircraft commander, of Vallejo, Cal. His wife is living at Tacoma.
CAPT. ALGER M. CHENEY, 32, first pilot, of Lubec, Me., wife lives at Tacoma.
Airman 2/c CONRAD N. SPRAGUE of Sequim, Wash. His wife and son, DENNIS, 4, live at Tacoma.

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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!