Speaker 1: From my Heart Media. This is Missing in Alaska, the
Speaker 1: story of two congressmen who vanished in nine two and
Speaker 1: my quest to figure out what happened to them. I'm
Speaker 1: your host, John Wallzac. Okay, So one of the most
Speaker 1: important tasks I gave you was to help me track
Speaker 1: down photos of the missing plane, a white and orange
Speaker 1: Cessna three ten see tail number and one eight one
Speaker 1: to h Because not only did the plane disappear, so
Speaker 1: too did any photographic evidence of it. I had never
Speaker 1: seen a photo of the plane, neither had anyone I interviewed.
Speaker 1: That's why I asked for your help. I reported that
Speaker 1: Don John's, the pilot, bought the plane around nineteen seventy
Speaker 1: and then repainted it. Via registration records, I figured out
Speaker 1: that specifically, he purchased it in April nineteen seventy two.
Speaker 1: So any photos showing the plane with its final paint
Speaker 1: scheme as it looked the day it disappeared would have
Speaker 1: to have been taken during a six month span in
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two. Finding such photos would allow us to
Speaker 1: compare the missing planes tail to a description of tail
Speaker 1: wreckage located by Bob Martinson, the fisherman in poor Dutchess
Speaker 1: sometime around nineteen eighty. Then we could better determine whether
Speaker 1: or not what Bob found belonged to the baggage Bogs
Speaker 1: plane or another plane. Unfortunately, we are still looking for
Speaker 1: those photos, the Holy Grail photos, but I do have
Speaker 1: good news. With your help, we found other photos of
Speaker 1: the plane to photos actually taken during the nineteen sixties.
Speaker 1: These are the first known photos of the plane, the
Speaker 1: only known photos of the plane, and even though they're
Speaker 1: not the Holy Grail photos, they are important for history's sake.
Speaker 1: About two months ago, we heard from a listener named
Speaker 1: Brian Power, a pilot, aviation preservationist, and entrepreneur. At first,
Speaker 1: even with his expertise, Brian couldn't find any photos of
Speaker 1: the plane. Like me, He dug through old newspaper articles,
Speaker 1: sess the ads, etcetera. Nothing, So Brian took a different approach.
Speaker 1: Looking at the registration records, he saw that the plane
Speaker 1: was based in Texas for about six and a half years,
Speaker 1: from November nineteen sixty through March nineteen sixty seven. In fact,
Speaker 1: it was based in a town that shares his name,
Speaker 1: Brian Texas, which is right next to College Station and
Speaker 1: Texas A and M University. At the time, fewer than
Speaker 1: fifty thousand people lived in the area, so Brian the
Speaker 1: pilot made an educated guess that the plane was stored
Speaker 1: at a local airport, Easterwood Airport. He started combing through
Speaker 1: Texas A and MS digitized archives looking for any photos
Speaker 1: taken at Easterwood in the sixties, and he quickly found
Speaker 1: two black and white images that appeared to show a
Speaker 1: Cessna three tense at Easterwood. One was taken in nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty one. The other is undated but also appears to
Speaker 1: have been taken in the sixties. These two photos appear
Speaker 1: to show the same plane, the same Cessna three tensee.
Speaker 1: The question was whether or not they showed our plane,
Speaker 1: and one eight one to h odds were that yes
Speaker 1: they did. Because Cessna only produced two sixty three ten c's,
Speaker 1: so the odds of a three ten c being photographed
Speaker 1: twice at Easterwood in the sixties and not being our
Speaker 1: plane were relatively low. But that wasn't enough. We needed
Speaker 1: more evidence. Unfortunately, the plane's tail number is not visible
Speaker 1: in either image, frustrating I know, so once again I
Speaker 1: turned to two pilots whose help has been invaluable, Mike Travis,
Speaker 1: and another man who prefers to remain anonymous. The three
Speaker 1: of us combed through airworthiness records for our plane, looking
Speaker 1: for unique features that could help determine whether or not
Speaker 1: the Easterwood plane was indeed our plane, and the answer
Speaker 1: is almost certainly yes, it is our plane. First off,
Speaker 1: after seeing the eastern Wood images, we immediately knew that
Speaker 1: we were looking at either assess the three ten b
Speaker 1: C or early model D. These three models had straight tails.
Speaker 1: Later models had angled tails swept tails. The Easterwood photos
Speaker 1: show a three ten with a straight tail. With that,
Speaker 1: we moved on to a list of optional equipment that
Speaker 1: our plane the missing plane had, including one a rotating
Speaker 1: beacon on top of the vertical stabilizer, to a taxi
Speaker 1: light on the lower landing gear strut, and three a
Speaker 1: dare I l S antenna on the nose. Both Easterwood
Speaker 1: photos show a rotating beacon, one shows a taxi light,
Speaker 1: and one might show a nose antenna. It's hard to tell.
Speaker 1: So far, everything we saw indicated that the Easterwood plane
Speaker 1: was our plane. Their critical evidence ended up being two
Speaker 1: additional antennas. Initially, our plane had a Leer seventeen A,
Speaker 1: which is shaped like a shark fin. But in November
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty the Leer antenna was removed and replaced with
Speaker 1: an A r C A DASH thirteen B which also
Speaker 1: has a very distinct shape. And guess what. Both Easterwood
Speaker 1: photos the Texas photos taken in the sixties show this antenna,
Speaker 1: the A r C A DASH thirteen B. Furthermore, yet
Speaker 1: another antenna and a r C A DASH fifteen which
Speaker 1: basically looks like a metal rod bent at a ninety
Speaker 1: degree angle, was also installed on our plane at a
Speaker 1: particular spot on its airframe after it left the factory,
Speaker 1: and in one of the Easterwood photos, the higher resolution photo,
Speaker 1: you also see this antenna. So both photos located by
Speaker 1: Brian Power show a Cessna three tensee located at Easterwood
Speaker 1: Airport during the nineteen sixties with the right optional equipment
Speaker 1: and the right antenna's installed at the right locations. This
Speaker 1: is very strong evidence that the Easterwood plane is our
Speaker 1: plane and one eight one to ah the plane that
Speaker 1: later disappeared in Alaska while carrying Congressman Hail Bogs and
Speaker 1: Nick Baggage. This is why I ask for your help,
Speaker 1: because now m I A is a wee, not a me.
Speaker 1: It's about what we can find, what we can accomplish.
Speaker 1: We just found the first known photos of a famous
Speaker 1: missing plane, the only known photos of the plane. So
Speaker 1: keep digging. Who knows, maybe we'll find the holy Grail
Speaker 1: photos photos of the plane taken between April and October
Speaker 1: nineteen two. Heck, maybe we'll even find the plane itself.
Speaker 1: And one last thing. One of these photos, the Easterwood photos,
Speaker 1: appears to show a d ice boot on the plane's tail.
Speaker 1: So it appears we found photographic evidence of what we
Speaker 1: reported based on documents in episode eleven, tail end that
Speaker 1: the missing plane did have icing equipment, equipment that for
Speaker 1: some reason, the NTSB did not mention in its final
Speaker 1: accident report, equipment that undermines the theory that the plane
Speaker 1: was brought down by ice. Ben Boland is our executive producer.
Speaker 1: Paul Deckett is our supervising producer, Chris Brown is our
Speaker 1: assistant producer. Seth Nicholas Johnson is our producer. Sam T.
Speaker 1: Garden is our research assistant, And I'm your host and
Speaker 1: executive producer, John Wallzac. You can find me and the
Speaker 1: photos on Twitter at at John wallzac j O n
Speaker 1: w A L c z A K. This week I
Speaker 1: have a fun task for you. I want you to
Speaker 1: read a new book by John Billman called The Cold Vanish,
Speaker 1: Seeking the Missing in North America's wild Lands. It's captivating,
Speaker 1: a book of adventure and mystery written with empathy. I
Speaker 1: read it in two days. It focuses on people who
Speaker 1: disappear on public lands in wild places and a father's
Speaker 1: hunt for his missing son. Again. It's called The Cold
Speaker 1: Vanish Special. Thanks to Brian Power, Mike Travis, and the
Speaker 1: Third Pilot who asked to remain anonymous. And thank you
Speaker 1: to Cushing Me more Real Library and Archives at Texas
Speaker 1: and m University Archives. Again y'all support them. Missing in
Speaker 1: Alaska is a co production of iHeartMedia and Green Forwark
Speaker 1: Media