A Discovery Channel aviation search team did an unprecedented discovery: he found the remains of a plane that had crashed in 1952 in waters north of Puerto Rico.
In a statement published on July 21, the American media explains that the remains correspond to a plane from the defunct Pan Am airline and that the accident occurred 74 years ago, specifically on April 11.
Discovery Channel explains that the discovery occurred on June 2 and that the aircraft was a DC-4, also known as “Douglas” or “Clipper Endeavor.”
The plane had taken off from San Juan bound for New York. The accident claimed the lives of 52 people when it crashed.
According to the media and authorities from the Pan Am Historical Foundation, minutes after takeoff the pilots would have lost both engines on the right side of the aircraft, which caused the accident.
There were 64 people and five crew members on the aircraft. Although the plane had life rafts and flotation devices, 52 occupants decided to remain in their seats and sank along with the aircraft.
Only 17 people survived the accident.
Although the general location of the accident was known, the exact location where the remains lay on the ocean floor was not known.
Last June, the Air/Sea Heritage Foundation, in collaboration with the Discovery Channel’s “Expedition Unknown” program and the company Deep Sea Vision, used an underwater drone to locate the wreckage of the plane about 610 meters below the ocean surface.
The aircraft was identified through images that clearly showed Pan American’s iconic winged logo and name, still legible.
More than seven decades after the crash, the case caught the attention of aviation and maritime historian Russ Matthews, president and co-founder of the Air/Sea Heritage Foundation.
“I first learned about the story of the Clipper Endeavor while investigating a completely different Pan Am accident and was surprised that such an important story had largely disappeared from public memory,” Matthews said in the statement.
Known in Puerto Rico as “The Good Friday Tragedy,” the accident became a turning point in aviation history.