Bonus: The First Photos

We locate the first known photos of N1812H.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
From my Heart Media. This is Missing in Alaska, the
story of two congressmen who vanished in nine two and
my quest to figure out what happened to them. I'm
your host, John Wallzac. Okay, So one of the most

(00:26):
important tasks I gave you was to help me track
down photos of the missing plane, a white and orange
Cessna three ten see tail number and one eight one
to h Because not only did the plane disappear, so
too did any photographic evidence of it. I had never
seen a photo of the plane, neither had anyone I interviewed.

(00:48):
That's why I asked for your help. I reported that
Don John's, the pilot, bought the plane around nineteen seventy
and then repainted it. Via registration records, I figured out
that specifically, he purchased it in April nineteen seventy two.

(01:10):
So any photos showing the plane with its final paint
scheme as it looked the day it disappeared would have
to have been taken during a six month span in
nineteen seventy two. Finding such photos would allow us to
compare the missing planes tail to a description of tail
wreckage located by Bob Martinson, the fisherman in poor Dutchess
sometime around nineteen eighty. Then we could better determine whether

(01:33):
or not what Bob found belonged to the baggage Bogs
plane or another plane. Unfortunately, we are still looking for
those photos, the Holy Grail photos, but I do have
good news. With your help, we found other photos of
the plane to photos actually taken during the nineteen sixties.

(01:54):
These are the first known photos of the plane, the
only known photos of the plane, and even though they're
not the Holy Grail photos, they are important for history's sake.
About two months ago, we heard from a listener named
Brian Power, a pilot, aviation preservationist, and entrepreneur. At first,

(02:15):
even with his expertise, Brian couldn't find any photos of
the plane. Like me, He dug through old newspaper articles,
sess the ads, etcetera. Nothing, So Brian took a different approach.
Looking at the registration records, he saw that the plane
was based in Texas for about six and a half years,

(02:35):
from November nineteen sixty through March nineteen sixty seven. In fact,
it was based in a town that shares his name,
Brian Texas, which is right next to College Station and
Texas A and M University. At the time, fewer than
fifty thousand people lived in the area, so Brian the
pilot made an educated guess that the plane was stored

(02:56):
at a local airport, Easterwood Airport. He started combing through
Texas A and MS digitized archives looking for any photos
taken at Easterwood in the sixties, and he quickly found
two black and white images that appeared to show a
Cessna three tense at Easterwood. One was taken in nineteen
sixty one. The other is undated but also appears to

(03:19):
have been taken in the sixties. These two photos appear
to show the same plane, the same Cessna three tensee.
The question was whether or not they showed our plane,
and one eight one to h odds were that yes
they did. Because Cessna only produced two sixty three ten c's,

(03:40):
so the odds of a three ten c being photographed
twice at Easterwood in the sixties and not being our
plane were relatively low. But that wasn't enough. We needed
more evidence. Unfortunately, the plane's tail number is not visible
in either image, frustrating I know, so once again I

(04:02):
turned to two pilots whose help has been invaluable, Mike Travis,
and another man who prefers to remain anonymous. The three
of us combed through airworthiness records for our plane, looking
for unique features that could help determine whether or not
the Easterwood plane was indeed our plane, and the answer
is almost certainly yes, it is our plane. First off,

(04:27):
after seeing the eastern Wood images, we immediately knew that
we were looking at either assess the three ten b
C or early model D. These three models had straight tails.
Later models had angled tails swept tails. The Easterwood photos
show a three ten with a straight tail. With that,
we moved on to a list of optional equipment that

(04:49):
our plane the missing plane had, including one a rotating
beacon on top of the vertical stabilizer, to a taxi
light on the lower landing gear strut, and three a
dare I l S antenna on the nose. Both Easterwood
photos show a rotating beacon, one shows a taxi light,

(05:13):
and one might show a nose antenna. It's hard to tell.
So far, everything we saw indicated that the Easterwood plane
was our plane. Their critical evidence ended up being two
additional antennas. Initially, our plane had a Leer seventeen A,
which is shaped like a shark fin. But in November

(05:33):
nineteen sixty the Leer antenna was removed and replaced with
an A r C A DASH thirteen B which also
has a very distinct shape. And guess what. Both Easterwood
photos the Texas photos taken in the sixties show this antenna,
the A r C A DASH thirteen B. Furthermore, yet

(05:54):
another antenna and a r C A DASH fifteen which
basically looks like a metal rod bent at a ninety
degree angle, was also installed on our plane at a
particular spot on its airframe after it left the factory,
and in one of the Easterwood photos, the higher resolution photo,
you also see this antenna. So both photos located by

(06:18):
Brian Power show a Cessna three tensee located at Easterwood
Airport during the nineteen sixties with the right optional equipment
and the right antenna's installed at the right locations. This
is very strong evidence that the Easterwood plane is our
plane and one eight one to ah the plane that

(06:40):
later disappeared in Alaska while carrying Congressman Hail Bogs and
Nick Baggage. This is why I ask for your help,
because now m I A is a wee, not a me.
It's about what we can find, what we can accomplish.
We just found the first known photos of a famous

(07:00):
missing plane, the only known photos of the plane. So
keep digging. Who knows, maybe we'll find the holy Grail
photos photos of the plane taken between April and October
nineteen two. Heck, maybe we'll even find the plane itself.
And one last thing. One of these photos, the Easterwood photos,

(07:22):
appears to show a d ice boot on the plane's tail.
So it appears we found photographic evidence of what we
reported based on documents in episode eleven, tail end that
the missing plane did have icing equipment, equipment that for
some reason, the NTSB did not mention in its final

(07:43):
accident report, equipment that undermines the theory that the plane
was brought down by ice. Ben Boland is our executive producer.

(08:03):
Paul Deckett is our supervising producer, Chris Brown is our
assistant producer. Seth Nicholas Johnson is our producer. Sam T.
Garden is our research assistant, And I'm your host and
executive producer, John Wallzac. You can find me and the
photos on Twitter at at John wallzac j O n
w A L c z A K. This week I

(08:26):
have a fun task for you. I want you to
read a new book by John Billman called The Cold Vanish,
Seeking the Missing in North America's wild Lands. It's captivating,
a book of adventure and mystery written with empathy. I
read it in two days. It focuses on people who
disappear on public lands in wild places and a father's

(08:48):
hunt for his missing son. Again. It's called The Cold
Vanish Special. Thanks to Brian Power, Mike Travis, and the
Third Pilot who asked to remain anonymous. And thank you
to Cushing Me more Real Library and Archives at Texas
and m University Archives. Again y'all support them. Missing in
Alaska is a co production of iHeartMedia and Green Forwark

(09:10):
Media