1 00:00:02,640 --> 00:00:06,160 Speaker 1: The True Gash Mountains ring Elmendorf Air Force Base. They 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:09,400 Speaker 1: begin at Anchorage and run for hundreds of miles, getting steeper, 3 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 1: higher and glaciated. Between here and Juno. Search planes are 4 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:16,720 Speaker 1: flying near the coast and old glaciers on the hopes 5 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:19,640 Speaker 1: of the plane detoured from the flight path to sightsea. 6 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:22,480 Speaker 1: The weather has been so bad that small planes have 7 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:25,400 Speaker 1: been limited in the areas they can search. Most of 8 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:27,360 Speaker 1: the searching has been done by the bigger air Force 9 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:31,240 Speaker 1: planes flying in twenty thousand feet very equipped with electronic 10 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:33,760 Speaker 1: locator that may be able to pick up the beeps 11 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:37,600 Speaker 1: from the locator beacon in the missing plane. One pilot 12 00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 1: was asked how the weather was in the search area. 13 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:45,279 Speaker 1: Crowds are overcast, from about three thousand in areas up 14 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:48,599 Speaker 1: to forty five hundred in other areas. Had terrible turbulence 15 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 1: in some spots just absolutely turned the airplane upside down 16 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:56,280 Speaker 1: to quite smooth another. So it's very unpredictable. Present plane 17 00:00:56,400 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 1: leave Major Starker. The aircraft in question left anchorage or 18 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:04,120 Speaker 1: twenty four hours ago. Have you heard anything at all 19 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: from it? No, we have not. We've had aircraft searching 20 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:09,800 Speaker 1: during the last twenty four hours, and we failed to 21 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:13,479 Speaker 1: come up with any positive sightings or reports. At this time, 22 00:01:13,959 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: the flight plan was over five miles if you narrowed 23 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: down at all. No, not yet. The aircraft hadn't reported 24 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:23,880 Speaker 1: into any station along the way. The last transmission was 25 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:28,200 Speaker 1: shortly after taking off from Anchorage International. You don't feel 26 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:30,679 Speaker 1: that your search effort so far has cut down the 27 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:34,640 Speaker 1: areas you have left to search? No, not yet. Probably 28 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 1: what we've done through the night is an electronics search, 29 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:44,720 Speaker 1: and they had a son emergency locator beacon onboard the aircraft, 30 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:50,920 Speaker 1: and it hasn't as yet made any transmissions. Weather in 31 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:54,640 Speaker 1: the search area has been bad, just continuing to be 32 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:57,800 Speaker 1: bad and maybe a problem for the next couple of days. 33 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:07,640 Speaker 1: From my Heart Media, this is Missing in Alaska, The 34 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:10,680 Speaker 1: story of two congressmen who vanished in nineteen seventy two 35 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:13,400 Speaker 1: and my quest to figure out what happened to them. 36 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:25,560 Speaker 1: I'm your host, John Wallzac. Dawn broke on October seventeenth, 37 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:29,160 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two, with much of southeast Alaska engulfed in 38 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:33,080 Speaker 1: a swirling tempest of snow and fog. Dozens of planes 39 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:35,840 Speaker 1: and boats stood ready to search for Congressman Hilbogs and 40 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 1: Nick Baggage, who had vanished the day before somewhere between 41 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:43,080 Speaker 1: Anchorage and Juno. If only the weather would clear. Terry 42 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:45,640 Speaker 1: Holiday was a pilot based in the small town of 43 00:02:45,639 --> 00:02:48,480 Speaker 1: Cordova on Prince William Sound, and the next day when 44 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:52,840 Speaker 1: the search began, we didn't. I was the first responder 45 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:56,880 Speaker 1: from the Cordova side, and I only got halfway across 46 00:02:56,919 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: the sound before I run into a wall of snow 47 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:01,960 Speaker 1: and I just kept working in my way or drittier 48 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:05,120 Speaker 1: as a state trooper with me. You know. It was 49 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:09,240 Speaker 1: in a beaver and floats and which give me an 50 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:13,000 Speaker 1: optional landing about it anywhere. But it was snow and 51 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:17,079 Speaker 1: really hard. The water was white covered with with snow 52 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 1: on top of the salt water was not nice, as 53 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:23,639 Speaker 1: snow hampered much of the search effort. Attention turned to 54 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:26,639 Speaker 1: hundreds of tips that flowed in from the public, including 55 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:31,280 Speaker 1: one in particular which intrigued Air Force officials. Overnight in 56 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:34,960 Speaker 1: the tiny town of Nevada City, California, thousands of miles 57 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:37,760 Speaker 1: to the south, a man named Roy Harris had picked 58 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 1: up a frantic transmission on his ham radio, just playing 59 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:46,200 Speaker 1: column for May Day, and they were over water, but 60 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:49,240 Speaker 1: they were close to land. He was trying to get 61 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:53,800 Speaker 1: as close to land as he could. Evidently engine problems 62 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:57,400 Speaker 1: or something. Was that my understanding what was repeated to 63 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:01,520 Speaker 1: me from that's former Nevada City Police Chief James Moon, 64 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:04,080 Speaker 1: who took reports from several local men who heard a 65 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:07,440 Speaker 1: garbled transmission of a pilot begging for help. They notified 66 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:10,440 Speaker 1: the of what they heard of the plane going down. 67 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:15,920 Speaker 1: Said they were close some islander or landing him and 68 00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: they were going down, and they kind of give a 69 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:23,640 Speaker 1: description of where I thought they were. And I notified 70 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:29,480 Speaker 1: the Shakramonal psoration and they came. I shut up a 71 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:32,240 Speaker 1: beating between them and the HAM operators, and they took 72 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:37,920 Speaker 1: a report. The last time, new Woman Moon spoke with 73 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:41,880 Speaker 1: Al Miller, a HAM operator and retired painting contractor, who 74 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:46,320 Speaker 1: heard the pilot say frantically, this is Alaska mobile needing assistance. 75 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:49,919 Speaker 1: The pilot told Miller he was twelve miles southwest of Juneo, 76 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:53,559 Speaker 1: battling seventy mile hour headwinds and had only eight minutes 77 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:57,039 Speaker 1: of gas left. He said he was flying Assessment three ten, 78 00:04:57,400 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: the same model as the missing plane, and that he 79 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,560 Speaker 1: had landed earlier in the day at a remote airstrip 80 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:05,520 Speaker 1: to ride out bad weather before taking off once more 81 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:09,680 Speaker 1: for Juno. The pilot broadcasts tail number, but the transmission 82 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:13,680 Speaker 1: was garbled. Miller heard in a one and a two. 83 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:16,640 Speaker 1: Then oh my god, we're going to hit the rocks. 84 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:19,440 Speaker 1: I'm out of gas. I'm heading down. This is it. 85 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:27,800 Speaker 1: A few minutes later, the pilot told Miller that the 86 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:31,520 Speaker 1: plane had crashed near Juno. Then one final transmission in 87 00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:36,440 Speaker 1: morse code, we need help. Everyone was injured but alive. 88 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:41,040 Speaker 1: In addition to Harrison Miller, at least three and possibly 89 00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:44,360 Speaker 1: four other men heard the transmission. But were they telling 90 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:47,720 Speaker 1: the truth? Chief Moon believed them, so too did Air 91 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:50,400 Speaker 1: Force Major George Eldridge, who spoke with one of them 92 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:52,880 Speaker 1: by phone. The Air Force decided to fly them to 93 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 1: Alaska after interviewing them in person. Major Henry Stocker, the 94 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:01,280 Speaker 1: search commander, spoke to the press saying that transmission was real, 95 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:04,560 Speaker 1: but that the person who broadcast it was likely a hoaxer, 96 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:08,839 Speaker 1: a quote sadistic person. For years, I tried to find 97 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:12,240 Speaker 1: the Ham operators to have died, and I can't locate 98 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:19,440 Speaker 1: the other. Four national accounts of the mysterious transmission mainly 99 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:23,880 Speaker 1: quoted Al Miller, the retired painting contractor, past that there's 100 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:26,320 Speaker 1: not much to go on. I filed a Freedom of 101 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:29,279 Speaker 1: information after requests with the Air Force, but didn't find 102 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:32,680 Speaker 1: many new details. But late last year I got some help. 103 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:36,880 Speaker 1: Tracy Liloquist, a Nevada City librarian, dug up an article 104 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 1: that ran in the local paper, The Union, in nineteen two, 105 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:44,080 Speaker 1: which quoted Roy Harris, another of the Ham operators, that 106 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:48,320 Speaker 1: allowed me to compare Harrison Miller's contemporaneous accounts to look 107 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:53,200 Speaker 1: for inconsistencies. I only found two. First, Miller heard the 108 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:55,760 Speaker 1: pilot say he had only eight minutes of gas left, 109 00:06:56,040 --> 00:07:00,560 Speaker 1: Harris heard fourteen. As for the garbled tail number, Miller 110 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:04,760 Speaker 1: heard n A one and A two, Harris heard n 111 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:09,279 Speaker 1: C twelve. Otherwise, their stories line up. In the Union article, 112 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:12,240 Speaker 1: Harris was also quoted as saying that the operators had 113 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:14,560 Speaker 1: beamed in on the signal and that it was coming 114 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:18,160 Speaker 1: from the direction of Juno. To me, though, what's most 115 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 1: interesting is what Miller heard of the tail number. Remember 116 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 1: this was the night the congressman vanished, before their tail 117 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:27,600 Speaker 1: number had been widely shared. Again, Miller heard what sounded 118 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:31,400 Speaker 1: like N A one A two. The tail number of 119 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:35,680 Speaker 1: the missing plane was N one eight one to H 120 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:47,240 Speaker 1: seventy two hours after the plane vanished, searchers finally caught 121 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:50,840 Speaker 1: a break in southern Alaska. Today, the search continued for 122 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:54,480 Speaker 1: House Democratic leader Hail Bogs and three other men. Weather 123 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:58,000 Speaker 1: conditions in the area were greatly improved. The four men 124 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:00,440 Speaker 1: were in a light plane which disappeared on Monday on 125 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 1: a flight from Anchorage to Juneo. The search now centers 126 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:09,400 Speaker 1: around port Portage Pass, southeast of Anchorage. The sky turned 127 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:13,040 Speaker 1: blue around Anchorage, Alaska, and suddenly it was possible to 128 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:17,240 Speaker 1: see what storm and fog could so treacherously masked the 129 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:22,120 Speaker 1: Portage Pass. Now the rescue teams could effectively scan the 130 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:25,240 Speaker 1: most likely area of the accident from the air of 131 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:39,720 Speaker 1: the weather clares up there anywhere along the Alpine troops 132 00:08:39,800 --> 00:08:44,400 Speaker 1: began reconnaissance missions into the ice and snowbound areas and 133 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:48,120 Speaker 1: onto the ice of the Portage Glacier itself. At the 134 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:53,360 Speaker 1: Air Forces Rescue Coordination Center, which has saved lives in 135 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 1: a ten year period. Already, every effort that might help 136 00:08:57,040 --> 00:09:00,400 Speaker 1: find and save the four missing men was orchis s trading. 137 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: We're looking for fires either survival fires, camp fires or 138 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:10,400 Speaker 1: emergency signal fiers, anything that may indicate where the aircraft is. Uh. 139 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:13,520 Speaker 1: They are coming back now. It is now a daylight 140 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: and they have returned, and they have nothing to record 141 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:21,640 Speaker 1: as yet. Congressman Boggs's tragedy was an old story to Alaska's. 142 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:27,640 Speaker 1: This was the rescue mission just this year. The Air 143 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:30,719 Speaker 1: Force was well aware that intense attention was focused on 144 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:36,079 Speaker 1: its rescue operations. The most involved spectator of all was 145 00:09:36,360 --> 00:09:40,080 Speaker 1: Mrs Hale Boggs, who drove out to the Portage Glacier 146 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:43,800 Speaker 1: to see for herself the dreadful force of nature which 147 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:48,120 Speaker 1: seemed to have claimed her husband. The chances seemed slim, 148 00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:52,120 Speaker 1: but Mrs Boggs said she still believed her husband would 149 00:09:52,200 --> 00:10:18,319 Speaker 1: be found. Shortly before Lindy Boggs flew to Anchorage, she 150 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:21,960 Speaker 1: had received a call from President Next Time, Mrs Box, 151 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:34,160 Speaker 1: the wife of the Majority leader. Hello, Mrs Box, I 152 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:36,240 Speaker 1: know this is a very hard time for you and 153 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:38,440 Speaker 1: your family, but I wanted you to know that Mrs 154 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:41,000 Speaker 1: Lex and I are thinking about your and we're just 155 00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:44,040 Speaker 1: braying that out in that snow. They're gonna they're gonna 156 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:50,480 Speaker 1: find him. Work around up there yeah. Well, we were, 157 00:10:50,679 --> 00:10:53,760 Speaker 1: as you know, doing everything we can. The government said 158 00:10:53,800 --> 00:10:55,680 Speaker 1: not the week that we can do it. But there 159 00:10:55,880 --> 00:11:01,679 Speaker 1: every search plane is on and uh. But but you 160 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:04,800 Speaker 1: just keep your faith. Okay, you get my best to 161 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:11,080 Speaker 1: you those wonderful children. Thank you, grandchildren two okay, okay, 162 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:21,200 Speaker 1: thank you. Nixon also called Peggy Beggett. Hello, Mrs Bigitch. 163 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:24,640 Speaker 1: She is the wife of the congressman from Alaska who 164 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:36,400 Speaker 1: is missing. Hello. I wanted you to know I talked 165 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:40,000 Speaker 1: to Mrs Box earlier today that Mrs Nixon and I 166 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:43,120 Speaker 1: were are thinking of you and just talking for the 167 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:48,079 Speaker 1: best on your trip. That's uh. It was a terrible 168 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:49,839 Speaker 1: shop to all of us to read about it. And 169 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:53,400 Speaker 1: would you to your six children to that that we 170 00:11:53,559 --> 00:11:57,719 Speaker 1: called from us. I know it's a tough time for you, 171 00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:07,360 Speaker 1: but you know, just keep the faith. The best in Alaska. 172 00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:10,640 Speaker 1: A reporter asked Major Stalker, the search commander, if he 173 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:14,840 Speaker 1: had enough manpower and aircraft. We have more than enough 174 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:17,679 Speaker 1: to do the mission. We have ten h C one 175 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:23,040 Speaker 1: thirties various configurations. They're all search qualified aircraft. We have 176 00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:25,800 Speaker 1: enough cruise. We have the C A P with an 177 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:30,000 Speaker 1: abundance resource of light aircraft. We have helicopters, we have 178 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:33,559 Speaker 1: post guard. We even have a post guard cutter available 179 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:36,360 Speaker 1: to us. We have the forces necessary to do the mission. 180 00:12:36,720 --> 00:12:39,920 Speaker 1: The search initially focused on Portage Pass, a narrow gap 181 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:44,960 Speaker 1: through towering, snow covered mountains just fifty miles southeast of Anchorage. Okay, 182 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:47,880 Speaker 1: I mean a little portage Pass. I can't tell you. 183 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:51,520 Speaker 1: I can't tell you how many airplane crashes we've had 184 00:12:51,559 --> 00:12:53,800 Speaker 1: in Portage Pass. I can't tell you how many friends 185 00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:57,120 Speaker 1: I've lost in Portage Pass. Definitely it looks very benign. 186 00:12:57,720 --> 00:12:59,640 Speaker 1: But what happens is, you know, you fly to the 187 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:02,600 Speaker 1: end of turning an arm out of Anchorage and then 188 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:06,520 Speaker 1: you're gonna pop over Portage Pass into the Sound, and 189 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:09,280 Speaker 1: that thing gets sucked in with fog and it's just 190 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:13,439 Speaker 1: like flying into the black hole. Teresa Gerson, who we 191 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:16,000 Speaker 1: heard from an episode one, has been a flight attendant 192 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:19,839 Speaker 1: for nearly thirty years. In nine she was a young 193 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:23,240 Speaker 1: volunteer for the Civil Air Patrol. So in our state 194 00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:28,880 Speaker 1: of extreme weather conditions, extreme weather conditions, which is something 195 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:32,800 Speaker 1: I need to talk about, is that in leaving Anchorage 196 00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:37,080 Speaker 1: to fly to Juno, you fly past the largest ice 197 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:43,400 Speaker 1: field and and what happens is that the wind just 198 00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:48,840 Speaker 1: roars down the glacier when we say, oh my goodness, 199 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:54,240 Speaker 1: it's gustin on the hill today. Most places that would 200 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:57,839 Speaker 1: be a hurricane or something. Here it's just a big wind. 201 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:02,800 Speaker 1: So with no in the knowing the route from Anchorage 202 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:06,760 Speaker 1: to June one, flying past this huge glacier with which 203 00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:11,480 Speaker 1: makes its own weather, you can only imagine what they 204 00:14:11,559 --> 00:14:14,520 Speaker 1: might have run into. The missing plane was supposed to 205 00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:18,520 Speaker 1: follow a specific route V three one seven, which would 206 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:21,840 Speaker 1: have taken it through Portage Pass, over Prince william Sound 207 00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:25,720 Speaker 1: and onto Juno. It's hard to fully grasp the vast 208 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:29,440 Speaker 1: beauty of Prince Williams Sound and the Fiords, mountains, glaciers 209 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:32,160 Speaker 1: and islands that fill it in surround it without looking 210 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:34,840 Speaker 1: at a map. So maybe pause for a minute and 211 00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:37,320 Speaker 1: pull it up on your phone, and while you're at it, 212 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:41,320 Speaker 1: also look up Portage Pass. On the morning of October six, 213 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:44,480 Speaker 1: Donald Mellish, who had hosted a fundraiser for the congressman 214 00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:47,480 Speaker 1: the night before, was driving with his two sons on 215 00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:50,360 Speaker 1: his way to the Kenai Peninsula to go canoeing when 216 00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:53,080 Speaker 1: he spotted a dark veil on the horizon. As we 217 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:57,760 Speaker 1: had then we dry right sorge that portage pass, and 218 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:02,680 Speaker 1: I could disturble ends along this ang along the water. 219 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:08,280 Speaker 1: They're cotinely, there's terrible winds, and they're just a boiling 220 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:12,360 Speaker 1: black mass in this sportage pass. And I thought to myself, already, 221 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:16,760 Speaker 1: tell you know, they probably didn't fly that day, but 222 00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:19,720 Speaker 1: they did. And anyway, I still remember that because I 223 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:22,360 Speaker 1: had to get out for the far every f R 224 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:25,240 Speaker 1: check by loads and make sure I didn't blow the 225 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:28,280 Speaker 1: can off the top of the bar, just falling that 226 00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:32,800 Speaker 1: hard that morning. Only twenty minutes before the congressman took off, 227 00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:36,000 Speaker 1: an Air Force helicopter had abandoned an attempt to cut 228 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:41,840 Speaker 1: through the pass after encountering severe turbulence. In November, curious 229 00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:44,480 Speaker 1: to see the pass for myself, I flew to Anchorage 230 00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:47,360 Speaker 1: and chartered a small plane. At the time, I only 231 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:57,400 Speaker 1: had my crappy phone to record some audio from the air. 232 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:01,640 Speaker 1: On a clear sunny day, the passing surrounding mountains are stunning, 233 00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:14,000 Speaker 1: so I see it wow, emerging from the past. I 234 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:17,360 Speaker 1: looked below and spotted the tiny town of Whittier, nestled 235 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:20,880 Speaker 1: between mountains and sea. A day later, wanting to see 236 00:16:20,920 --> 00:16:23,560 Speaker 1: the pass from the ground too. I parted a trailhead 237 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:27,680 Speaker 1: near Whittier and hiked into the mountains alone. Today is 238 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:36,560 Speaker 1: November six, and I'm standing right Portage Pass in Alaska, 239 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:42,720 Speaker 1: about fifty miles southeast of Anchorage. I had all the 240 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:45,960 Speaker 1: way up here and saw footsteps in the snow part 241 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:48,760 Speaker 1: of the way, and now I don't see anything. I 242 00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:50,520 Speaker 1: don't think anybody has been up here in a little while. 243 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:55,880 Speaker 1: It's twenty one degrees and I haven't seen anybody since 244 00:16:55,920 --> 00:16:59,960 Speaker 1: I got here. The passes book ended on one side 245 00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:03,000 Speaker 1: by mountains and a massive glacier, and on the other 246 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:06,440 Speaker 1: by Prince William Sound. Between the sound and the past 247 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:11,720 Speaker 1: sits Whittier, population two five, A town accustomed to raging storms. 248 00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:16,920 Speaker 1: Whittier has fierce weather, and I really mean fierce, and 249 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:21,680 Speaker 1: snow so hard that I've several times I've seen the 250 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:25,000 Speaker 1: geese had to land because they couldn't get through the 251 00:17:25,119 --> 00:17:29,560 Speaker 1: pass either. They were sitting on every light post, every 252 00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:37,560 Speaker 1: every place, tree, how cars, everything else, and the snowflakes 253 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:41,960 Speaker 1: will be as big as my hands, sometimes just waffling down. 254 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:46,080 Speaker 1: Dorothea Taylor, a retired teacher, lived in Whittier for several 255 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:49,119 Speaker 1: years In the nineteen six seas and seventies, and the 256 00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:53,160 Speaker 1: mounds are high on each all around. Then they're glaciated. Well, 257 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:58,280 Speaker 1: that win comes pitching in there from either side. That 258 00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:02,200 Speaker 1: will come bow like crazy from the ocean side for 259 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:05,720 Speaker 1: a long time, and then uh, it will get just 260 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:09,160 Speaker 1: as much forth coming through the path and it keeps 261 00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:12,960 Speaker 1: doing that trying to equal wife. That's pressure. So yeah, 262 00:18:13,359 --> 00:18:16,159 Speaker 1: they have big storms, they have big snows, they have 263 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:19,840 Speaker 1: lots of rain. But when it's a beautiful day, that 264 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:23,560 Speaker 1: is the most beautiful place you ever saw. At ninety 265 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:27,840 Speaker 1: four years old, Taylor is a fearless woman. In At 266 00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:31,199 Speaker 1: the age of eighty six, she garnered international attention when 267 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:34,080 Speaker 1: she saved her husband from a rampaging moose, hitting it 268 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:37,520 Speaker 1: with a shovel until it ran off. In nineteen seventy two, 269 00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:40,560 Speaker 1: right after the congressman disappeared, she led a group of 270 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:43,119 Speaker 1: her students into the surrounding mountains to look for the 271 00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:46,520 Speaker 1: missing plane. We regressed appropriately and we went out and 272 00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:49,720 Speaker 1: then started taking up the mountain and we had then 273 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:54,280 Speaker 1: acts and lunch, whatever you need, and then we got 274 00:18:54,359 --> 00:18:57,480 Speaker 1: fogged in up there. Yes, we were up there for 275 00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:01,440 Speaker 1: probably an hour just sitting in place. I said, don't 276 00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:05,840 Speaker 1: anybody moved, Just stay right where you are and we'll 277 00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:09,359 Speaker 1: just talk and that. But we will move until the 278 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:13,600 Speaker 1: fog starts to go. About an hour later, it started 279 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:16,560 Speaker 1: to move out, but it was so thick you couldn't 280 00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:20,520 Speaker 1: see anything there for that hour we were we were 281 00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:23,200 Speaker 1: quite a ways up. It was very steep up there, 282 00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:28,359 Speaker 1: and uh, the kids did very well, and we looked 283 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:31,640 Speaker 1: and then they cleared up and we could use our 284 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:35,840 Speaker 1: binoculars and and they're pretty good at looking for things 285 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:39,560 Speaker 1: when they live out in the bush like that, but 286 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:43,600 Speaker 1: we never did see anything. As Taylor and our students 287 00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:47,040 Speaker 1: start supportage path on foot, Angus Lynn, a reporter who 288 00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:49,399 Speaker 1: had flown in from New Orleans, was high above in 289 00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:52,919 Speaker 1: a military plane. I hooked up with the Alaskan Air Command. 290 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:54,840 Speaker 1: They said, yeah, we can take you up tomorrow morn. 291 00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:58,479 Speaker 1: I said, great, So I got on. Asked the captaine, 292 00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:00,159 Speaker 1: I said, how long are we going to be up? 293 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:02,639 Speaker 1: He says, well, we got enough fuel for eight hours? 294 00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:07,320 Speaker 1: And I'm thinking, oh, ship eight hours an airplane. We 295 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:10,240 Speaker 1: weren't up eight, but we were up maybe six and 296 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:12,920 Speaker 1: a half or something like. That's a long flight, you know. 297 00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:17,040 Speaker 1: And uh, he said don't worry. There's plenty of there's 298 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:20,040 Speaker 1: plenty of barth bags on board. Because what it is, 299 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:23,720 Speaker 1: it's a it's a visual search. So you'd be you'd 300 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:27,200 Speaker 1: fly up. I mean you're literally doing this. You're flying 301 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:29,800 Speaker 1: up the side of a mountain and down the side 302 00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:32,680 Speaker 1: of a mountain, you know, into a pass, maybe a 303 00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:36,159 Speaker 1: glacial pass, and then back up and you just repeat it. 304 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:40,680 Speaker 1: As I remember, John, they were assigned areas to go search, 305 00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:44,480 Speaker 1: and I mean that was all drawn out on maps 306 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:47,960 Speaker 1: before they took off. Here's where you're searching today. So 307 00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:50,600 Speaker 1: it's not like they just took off on a goose chase, 308 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:53,080 Speaker 1: you know, saying we're gonna go take a look at Hey, 309 00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:55,399 Speaker 1: why don't we go over there. It's not like jumping 310 00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:57,639 Speaker 1: from fishing spot to fishing spot, you know, when you 311 00:20:57,840 --> 00:21:01,359 Speaker 1: you're in a boat. But Lynde got back to Anchorage. 312 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:03,960 Speaker 1: He went to a library to do some background research. 313 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:07,000 Speaker 1: I said, look, I'm I'm interested in you know the 314 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:10,600 Speaker 1: history of this. Uh you know the bush pilots and 315 00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:14,760 Speaker 1: plane wrex and you know private plane b sinces. Okay, 316 00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:17,680 Speaker 1: I can put you something together, I said, Okay. So 317 00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:19,800 Speaker 1: when I showed up at the library, there was like 318 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:22,399 Speaker 1: a you know when these fold out tables that the 319 00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:24,840 Speaker 1: guy had set up for me and it was loaded 320 00:21:25,359 --> 00:21:32,840 Speaker 1: with loosely you know, scrap books like this loaded. He said, 321 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:36,240 Speaker 1: this is for twenty years. He said, this is only 322 00:21:36,359 --> 00:21:39,920 Speaker 1: for twenty years. And I mean I was mind boggled. 323 00:21:40,119 --> 00:21:43,280 Speaker 1: I couldn't have gone through that in a week. That's 324 00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:47,359 Speaker 1: how many planes had disappeared, and how many stories have 325 00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:49,880 Speaker 1: been written, and how many search not for a high 326 00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:54,920 Speaker 1: profile figure like uh like Bogs and Beggae, but just 327 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:59,160 Speaker 1: bush pilots that had disappeared. Unlike lynd Alan Dodds, Frank, 328 00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:02,080 Speaker 1: a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News, was well versed 329 00:22:02,119 --> 00:22:05,560 Speaker 1: in covering aviation disasters. That the one thing you really 330 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:07,680 Speaker 1: learned as a reporter in Alaska's how to cover a 331 00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:12,240 Speaker 1: plane crash. So not long after I got there, a 332 00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:16,280 Speaker 1: troop plane chartered I think it was a Flying Tiger 333 00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:19,720 Speaker 1: charter carrying troops to Vietnam, crashed at the end of 334 00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:25,160 Speaker 1: the Anchorage, Alaska International Airport runway, and I think forty 335 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:28,800 Speaker 1: nine people died. We were burnt up in the crash 336 00:22:29,359 --> 00:22:31,600 Speaker 1: because the plane was fully loaded with fuel and caught 337 00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:33,920 Speaker 1: fire when it hit something at the end of the 338 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:38,600 Speaker 1: runway because it didn't get up in time. So covering 339 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:42,240 Speaker 1: a plane crash was a big deal in Alaska. And 340 00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:46,240 Speaker 1: and so you when you covered that first crash, were 341 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:48,680 Speaker 1: you there on the scene right after it went down? 342 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:53,000 Speaker 1: I not only was I on the scene, I I 343 00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:56,400 Speaker 1: had been out. A bunch of us have been out. 344 00:22:56,560 --> 00:22:59,959 Speaker 1: One of our, my colleagues was sitting in the Captain 345 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:03,479 Speaker 1: Cook Hotel Crowsness Bar and sort of saw the crash 346 00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:07,720 Speaker 1: from the bar, which is the highest point in Anchorage 347 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:10,879 Speaker 1: at the time, and so we all scrambled out to 348 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:12,879 Speaker 1: the airport. I remember going out there was that there 349 00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:17,600 Speaker 1: was a snowstorm, and I was wearing wolfers, which turned 350 00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:21,399 Speaker 1: out to be nuts because I ended up getting minor 351 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:28,760 Speaker 1: frost bite. And I remember pacing off in my wafers 352 00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:34,400 Speaker 1: and about a foot of snow or more, um how 353 00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:38,640 Speaker 1: far off the runway the plane had gone before it stopped, 354 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:42,800 Speaker 1: and it was like a half a mile. I was 355 00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:44,879 Speaker 1: putting one ft in front of the other, you know, 356 00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:48,200 Speaker 1: to measure it exactly. And then I remember going into 357 00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:53,359 Speaker 1: the hangar and counting the bodies. There were like once 358 00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:56,080 Speaker 1: of charcoal was shrunk and combat boots on it. Was 359 00:23:56,119 --> 00:24:05,200 Speaker 1: really grim and smells horrible. That experience stayed with Dodds 360 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:08,680 Speaker 1: Frank for decades, especially as he covered nine eleven for CNN, 361 00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:11,480 Speaker 1: only blocks from the World Trade Center when it collapsed 362 00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:15,160 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy two. It had been his tenacious reporting 363 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:17,680 Speaker 1: to help shape the search for Box and Baggetts. Or 364 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,600 Speaker 1: the search the first day was in part based on 365 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:25,720 Speaker 1: my reporting because I figured I calculated what the flight 366 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:29,760 Speaker 1: pattern was, but it should have been to Juno and 367 00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:35,320 Speaker 1: called every place on the ground along the way, and 368 00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:38,600 Speaker 1: one of them was a little town called Whittier, Alaska, 369 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:41,720 Speaker 1: which is on the on the sea, I mean in 370 00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:45,520 Speaker 1: the inland passage. But it's one big building that was 371 00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:48,480 Speaker 1: a secret building during World War Two. So there's a 372 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:51,040 Speaker 1: in the middle of nowhere in the fiord there is 373 00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:54,919 Speaker 1: a twelve story building that was hidden from Japanese forces. 374 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:58,159 Speaker 1: I guess to this day about half the population of 375 00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:00,920 Speaker 1: Whittier still lives in a single build holding now called 376 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:04,920 Speaker 1: the Beggatts Towers. The morning the Congressman vanished, several local 377 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:08,160 Speaker 1: residents heard a plane flying overhead. According to Dodds Frank, 378 00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:12,480 Speaker 1: if true, that's an important clue. No other flight passed 379 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:15,119 Speaker 1: over Whittier around that time, it would mean that the 380 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:18,680 Speaker 1: missing plane made it through Portage Pass Pass Whittier and 381 00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:25,919 Speaker 1: Honor Prince William Sound. The search shifted from the Pass 382 00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:28,520 Speaker 1: to the sound. So I went out in this glass 383 00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:33,560 Speaker 1: those planes, which was an observer plane that used to 384 00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:35,680 Speaker 1: be used during the war, and flo was really low, 385 00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:41,440 Speaker 1: like fifty ft above the water depending on where you're 386 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:45,080 Speaker 1: looking with the visibility is looking for debris. And what 387 00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:46,840 Speaker 1: was it like for you to be on that plane 388 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:52,240 Speaker 1: over the sound? It was It was really dramatic, and 389 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:55,639 Speaker 1: it gave me a real feel for what it is 390 00:25:55,760 --> 00:26:00,639 Speaker 1: like during wartime when you're hunting an enemy from not 391 00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:04,679 Speaker 1: far off the ground and flying as slow as you can, 392 00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:08,920 Speaker 1: but that's still a hundred twenty miles undred, so you 393 00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:13,960 Speaker 1: cover a lot of territory and you can actually see 394 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:15,639 Speaker 1: all kinds of things. I mean, you can see a 395 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:19,159 Speaker 1: a soda can floating in the water at that speed 396 00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:23,359 Speaker 1: and height. So it was a pretty thorough search. I 397 00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:26,320 Speaker 1: don't have any doubts that they were. The government did 398 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:29,480 Speaker 1: everything it could to try to find him. Jim Shook, 399 00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:32,800 Speaker 1: an Alaska state trooper, was also searching the sound by 400 00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:36,560 Speaker 1: air well. We were in the departments woman goose, and 401 00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:39,879 Speaker 1: we came over the pass its lid here and began 402 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:44,119 Speaker 1: what our assigned good Church was. And we did a 403 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:48,480 Speaker 1: good search with the goose and actually came close to 404 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:55,239 Speaker 1: um an SR seventy one bloop blackboard while you were 405 00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:59,240 Speaker 1: in the air. Yes, what shook spotted. The SR seventy 406 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:02,600 Speaker 1: one Blackbird was a top secret spy plane. It was 407 00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:06,320 Speaker 1: a technological marvel capable of flying higher than eighty thousand 408 00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:08,760 Speaker 1: feet at a speed of two thousand miles per hour, 409 00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:12,080 Speaker 1: and it had the ability to photograph more than sixty 410 00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:17,080 Speaker 1: thousand square miles of terrain per hour. The radio crack 411 00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:21,879 Speaker 1: old with the SR seventy one's pilots giving us his 412 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:24,800 Speaker 1: position and that he would be passing from our right 413 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:27,440 Speaker 1: to our left, that he was at a higher altitude, 414 00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:32,080 Speaker 1: and we acknowledged that. And I saw this small spec 415 00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:34,679 Speaker 1: to the south, and then a blur goes by an 416 00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:37,960 Speaker 1: aspec to the north, and of course we were in 417 00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:41,679 Speaker 1: a position to see quite a distance in both directions, 418 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:46,080 Speaker 1: and the speed was blinding and close. That was a 419 00:27:46,119 --> 00:27:51,439 Speaker 1: pretty interesting part of the search. But we were covering 420 00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:55,160 Speaker 1: as much areas as we were assigned, plus a little 421 00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:59,520 Speaker 1: bit and we were actually in a bowl and a tight, 422 00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:04,639 Speaker 1: tight turn in a bowl alongside the mountains on the 423 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:10,080 Speaker 1: northern side, I think of Prince William Sound. And as 424 00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:12,920 Speaker 1: we were in the tight turn to the left, both 425 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:17,840 Speaker 1: engines quit and uh. It turns out that the pilot 426 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:24,359 Speaker 1: had forgotten the transfer fuel and as we were plummeting 427 00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:31,000 Speaker 1: towards here, um, he started pumping fuel from one tank 428 00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:37,359 Speaker 1: to another, and the engines caught and the firewalls fob 429 00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:39,640 Speaker 1: of the course, and it took both of us to 430 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:41,960 Speaker 1: pulling on the yolk. You know, I've got my own 431 00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:45,320 Speaker 1: yolk on my side, and I took both office to 432 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:49,120 Speaker 1: pull out of the of the dive and we landed. 433 00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:52,800 Speaker 1: We were both pretty well shook up and sat there 434 00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:55,840 Speaker 1: for a while, and at the time I was a smoker, unfortunately, 435 00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:59,400 Speaker 1: But anyway, we sat there and smoked, both of us 436 00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:02,920 Speaker 1: for probably twenty minutes, and then took off again and 437 00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:07,280 Speaker 1: continued her good search. Sure had plenty of experience in 438 00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:11,160 Speaker 1: investigating plane crashes, including a very memorable one that occurred 439 00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:13,720 Speaker 1: a year or two before the Congressman vanished. You know, 440 00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:16,120 Speaker 1: there was a there was a plane crash of a 441 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:20,080 Speaker 1: F twenty seven, a fair child up at Pedro Bay, 442 00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:24,680 Speaker 1: um gosh. Back in what was it seventy or seventy one, 443 00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:29,840 Speaker 1: I was given the job of guarding the bodies at 444 00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:33,160 Speaker 1: the coolest air guard base and they brought all the 445 00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:36,920 Speaker 1: frozen bodies in wrapped in plastic and my fellow troopers 446 00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:40,280 Speaker 1: my guardian because I was just at Breening Rookie. They 447 00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:43,800 Speaker 1: turned all the one light off in that huge hangar 448 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:46,920 Speaker 1: and told me I had to turn the bodies all night, 449 00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:50,920 Speaker 1: so they thought for autopsy purposes in the morning, and 450 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:53,480 Speaker 1: I was I've never been so frightened in my life, 451 00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:56,480 Speaker 1: and gave me a pair of boots because they said 452 00:29:56,520 --> 00:29:59,080 Speaker 1: it would be so slimy. I had to wade through 453 00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:03,239 Speaker 1: the this run oh God. And of course an hour 454 00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:06,360 Speaker 1: later they called me from the office and said they 455 00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:10,600 Speaker 1: were just kidding. A night was over, twenty dead bodies 456 00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:14,640 Speaker 1: rolling and thawing and moaning and so forth. O home man, 457 00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:18,120 Speaker 1: I'll tell you that was my introduction to dead bodies. 458 00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:24,440 Speaker 1: As the days ticked on, searchers still hadn't found any 459 00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:27,960 Speaker 1: sign of the missing plane. The search for House Democratic 460 00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:30,760 Speaker 1: leader Hail Boggs, now in its eighth to day, moved 461 00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:34,000 Speaker 1: today to the Gulf of Alaska. An Air Force plane 462 00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:36,560 Speaker 1: spotted debris in the gulf in an area near the 463 00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:39,800 Speaker 1: flight path of the plane that disappeared on a flight 464 00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:43,080 Speaker 1: from Anchorage to Juno with Bogs on board. A Coast 465 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:45,560 Speaker 1: Guard helicopter was sent to look for the debris, and 466 00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:49,200 Speaker 1: it reports that the debris is orange colored. The plane 467 00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:52,880 Speaker 1: on which Boggs was traveling was orange colored. Searchers spotted 468 00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:56,480 Speaker 1: many other things too, including a wrecked sailboat and orange 469 00:30:56,560 --> 00:30:58,880 Speaker 1: rock shaped like a plane, a school of jellyfish, a 470 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:01,320 Speaker 1: log that looked like a plane way, a smudge on 471 00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:04,040 Speaker 1: a glacier, half of plastic, pale sad, a piece of 472 00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:07,000 Speaker 1: orange wood, a rock slide, a discoloration in the snow, 473 00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:10,360 Speaker 1: and a piece of styrofoam. Ultimately, nothing turned out to 474 00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:13,120 Speaker 1: be from the missing plane, nor did any sign of 475 00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:16,360 Speaker 1: it show up in photos captured by the SR Blackbird. 476 00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:42,800 Speaker 1: A sense of despair started to set in. The Air 477 00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:45,760 Speaker 1: Force indicated today that it may soon call off it's 478 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:49,640 Speaker 1: search in Alaska for House majority leader Hail Boggs. The 479 00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:52,880 Speaker 1: plane carrying Bogs disappeared on a flight from Anchorage to 480 00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:57,640 Speaker 1: Juno twelve days ago. Frustrated authorities reviewed other leads they 481 00:31:57,680 --> 00:32:01,280 Speaker 1: had initially deemed less important, including some from the general public. 482 00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:05,000 Speaker 1: Early on, the Air Force had detected two emergency signals. 483 00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:08,280 Speaker 1: The first was weak a hundred and fifty miles northeast 484 00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:11,760 Speaker 1: of Anchorage, nowhere near the planned flight path. The second, 485 00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:15,320 Speaker 1: west of Juno, lasted for forty minutes, but neither could 486 00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:18,680 Speaker 1: be pinpointed with accuracy. The Coast Guard had also taken 487 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:21,840 Speaker 1: a report on October eighteenth from loggers near Juno who 488 00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:25,080 Speaker 1: heard a light plane passing overhead, followed by a loud boom, 489 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:28,160 Speaker 1: But the loggers had heard the sound before the missing 490 00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:31,640 Speaker 1: Cessna could have made it that far. Authorities determined another 491 00:32:31,760 --> 00:32:35,480 Speaker 1: dead end. Meanwhile, psychic started to flood the military and 492 00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:38,720 Speaker 1: the families of the missing men with tips. Dear Mrs 493 00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:42,680 Speaker 1: Hale Bottles, one letter began, the Lord showed me a vision. 494 00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:45,840 Speaker 1: The missing men were twenty five miles southeast of Anchoragees 495 00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:48,160 Speaker 1: said they only have a few bullets left for the gun, 496 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:50,240 Speaker 1: and they have dug a place in the side of 497 00:32:50,280 --> 00:32:52,520 Speaker 1: a cliff or a mountain where the plane was forced 498 00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:54,640 Speaker 1: to land, and they climb up there on a ladder 499 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:57,680 Speaker 1: to keep animals from getting to them. Lindy got other 500 00:32:57,760 --> 00:33:00,600 Speaker 1: bizarre letters to including from someone who had a vision 501 00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:03,040 Speaker 1: of a man in a rose colored suit and a 502 00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:06,640 Speaker 1: woman who wrote that her method was quote particularly suited 503 00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:11,120 Speaker 1: to the semi Arctic and Arctic areas. The military discounted 504 00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:14,320 Speaker 1: nearly all of these odd tips, saved for one. A 505 00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:17,520 Speaker 1: curious call the Coastguard received from a man in California. 506 00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:20,800 Speaker 1: Draw a line from Anchors to Juno. The man said, 507 00:33:21,120 --> 00:33:23,560 Speaker 1: head west from Juno for two hundred and fifty six 508 00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:27,240 Speaker 1: point five miles, crossing Yakutat Bay and mause been A glacier, 509 00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:30,560 Speaker 1: and eleven point four miles from the glacier, draw a 510 00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:33,160 Speaker 1: line to the coast. Go back and forth along the 511 00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:35,880 Speaker 1: line for ten miles. The plane is in that area. 512 00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:40,360 Speaker 1: Two men are still alive. Investigators took this lead seriously, 513 00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:43,440 Speaker 1: in part because the tipster had a military background. D 514 00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:46,200 Speaker 1: FBI dispatched the team to interview him at his house. 515 00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:49,840 Speaker 1: According to an FBI report, which didn't disclose his name, 516 00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:53,040 Speaker 1: the man was about thirty five years old, six three 517 00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:56,200 Speaker 1: and two and fifteen pounds, with dark hair and an 518 00:33:56,280 --> 00:34:01,720 Speaker 1: injured left arm. Investigators described him as national extremely intelligent, 519 00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:05,320 Speaker 1: but somewhat strange. He claimed he got information on the 520 00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:08,440 Speaker 1: specific crash location from a friend who had access to 521 00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:12,960 Speaker 1: experimental electronic equipment. It's unclear at the military double checked 522 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:15,759 Speaker 1: the spot he pinpointed, which is near Icy Bay, a 523 00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:18,920 Speaker 1: remote body of water sixty five miles northwest of the 524 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:22,000 Speaker 1: town of Yakatat, but it was likely scanned in some 525 00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:30,440 Speaker 1: capacity at least once by search planes. On November seven, 526 00:34:30,680 --> 00:34:34,080 Speaker 1: as the search ground on, President Nixon defeated Senator George 527 00:34:34,160 --> 00:34:37,960 Speaker 1: McGovern in a landslide re election victory. The missing congressman 528 00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:41,839 Speaker 1: were also re elected. Two men elected yesterday probably will 529 00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:44,760 Speaker 1: never take lass seats. The House Democratic lead to haild 530 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:49,160 Speaker 1: Bugs of Louisiana and Representative Nick Beggett of Alaska, disappeared 531 00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:52,720 Speaker 1: in an airplane accident in Alaska three weeks ago. Barring 532 00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:56,640 Speaker 1: a miraculous survival, there will be special elections to replace them. 533 00:34:57,600 --> 00:35:00,479 Speaker 1: Two weeks later, as the search entered its fine old days, 534 00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:04,400 Speaker 1: Nick Beget's wife, Peggy, received a disturbing letter pasted together 535 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:09,840 Speaker 1: from newspaper clippings. Your husband, Mr. Beget, an American Croatian 536 00:35:09,920 --> 00:35:14,759 Speaker 1: Alaska Democratic rep, has been assassinated by our organization. He 537 00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:19,600 Speaker 1: and others aboard will not be found reason criminally insane 538 00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:27,000 Speaker 1: nature of his pact with American croat separatists. Next time 539 00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:32,279 Speaker 1: on Missing in Alaska. These two events, in coordination with 540 00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:35,800 Speaker 1: one another, actually very quickly marked I think an important 541 00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:38,759 Speaker 1: turning point for chreation terrorists, this idea that there are 542 00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:48,120 Speaker 1: no innocent victims. As we conclude this episode, I'm giving 543 00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:51,799 Speaker 1: you four more tasks. First, help me figure out whether 544 00:35:51,880 --> 00:35:54,160 Speaker 1: or not any of the HAM operators who heard the 545 00:35:54,239 --> 00:35:57,640 Speaker 1: mysterious transmission the evening the plane vanished are still alive. 546 00:35:58,239 --> 00:36:01,040 Speaker 1: I know that too, Roy Harris and Ac Fonts have died. 547 00:36:01,400 --> 00:36:03,600 Speaker 1: I'm not sure though about the other four, all of 548 00:36:03,640 --> 00:36:07,120 Speaker 1: whom lived in California, Al Miller and Victor Parker of 549 00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:12,960 Speaker 1: Nevada City, Ronald Crawford of Olive Hurst, and Joe Tatum Abute. Second, 550 00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:16,239 Speaker 1: the Los Angeles TV station k n x T now 551 00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:20,160 Speaker 1: known as k CBS conducted interviews in Nevada City and 552 00:36:20,239 --> 00:36:22,920 Speaker 1: air to report on the HAM operators on either October 553 00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:26,719 Speaker 1: seventeenth or eighteenth, nineteen seventy two. I haven't been able 554 00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:30,240 Speaker 1: to find a video of the report. Maybe you can help. Third, 555 00:36:30,640 --> 00:36:33,000 Speaker 1: help me find out what happened to photos taken by 556 00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:36,760 Speaker 1: the SR seventy one Blackbird. It's possible that they've been destroyed, 557 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:39,560 Speaker 1: but documents I obtained from the Air Force didn't make 558 00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:42,640 Speaker 1: clear their final fate. If you work for the Air Force, 559 00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:47,400 Speaker 1: you're welcome to contact us anonymously. Finally, help me identify 560 00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:50,000 Speaker 1: the tipster who phoned in the alleged location of the 561 00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:55,080 Speaker 1: wrecked plane citing information from experimental electronic equipment. His name 562 00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:58,239 Speaker 1: was redacted in an FBI file I obtained, but for 563 00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:01,920 Speaker 1: some reason, his phone number wasn't and it's an important clue, 564 00:37:02,239 --> 00:37:04,400 Speaker 1: perhaps the only one at this point, that can help 565 00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:08,520 Speaker 1: us identify him. His number was three seven eight five 566 00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:12,400 Speaker 1: two four three. I'm not sure about the area code, 567 00:37:12,480 --> 00:37:16,120 Speaker 1: but since he called the Long Beach Coastguard station, let's 568 00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:19,200 Speaker 1: assume for now that the right one is to one three. 569 00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:23,040 Speaker 1: So again, his number would have been to one three 570 00:37:23,640 --> 00:37:28,040 Speaker 1: three seven eight five two four three. See if you 571 00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:30,560 Speaker 1: can find that in a California phone book from nineteen 572 00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:34,399 Speaker 1: seventy two. An interesting side note, by nineteen seventy four 573 00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:37,799 Speaker 1: that particular number belonged to the anti abortion group Right 574 00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:40,000 Speaker 1: to Life, but I'm not sure if it did in 575 00:37:40,120 --> 00:37:43,279 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two. You can reach us by phone at 576 00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:47,120 Speaker 1: one eight three three m I A tips that's one 577 00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:51,560 Speaker 1: eight three three six four two eight four seven seven 578 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:56,560 Speaker 1: again one eight three three six four two eight four 579 00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:00,520 Speaker 1: seven seven, or you can reach us via email at 580 00:38:00,680 --> 00:38:04,600 Speaker 1: tips at i heeart Media dot com. That's tips, t 581 00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:08,719 Speaker 1: I P s at i heeart Media dot com. Ben 582 00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:12,800 Speaker 1: Bolan is our executive producer, Paul Decant is our supervising producer, 583 00:38:13,040 --> 00:38:16,719 Speaker 1: Chris Brown is our assistant producer. Seth Nicholas Johnson is 584 00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:20,160 Speaker 1: our producer. Sam T. Garden is our research assistant, and 585 00:38:20,239 --> 00:38:23,400 Speaker 1: I'm your host and executive producer, John Wallzac. You can 586 00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:26,279 Speaker 1: find me on Twitter at at John Wallzac. J O 587 00:38:26,719 --> 00:38:31,239 Speaker 1: n w A l c z a K. Footage for 588 00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:35,400 Speaker 1: this episode was provided by CBS, NBC K t VF 589 00:38:35,840 --> 00:38:39,560 Speaker 1: in the Vanderbilt Television News Archive special thanks to the 590 00:38:39,600 --> 00:38:43,320 Speaker 1: Elmer E. Rasmussen Library at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks 591 00:38:43,680 --> 00:38:47,160 Speaker 1: and Tracy Liloquist at the Doris Foley Library for Historical 592 00:38:47,239 --> 00:38:51,279 Speaker 1: Research in Nevada City, California. Missing in Alaska is a 593 00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:54,040 Speaker 1: co production of I Heart Media and Greenfork Media.