The discovery of a plane bound for New York that famously crashed in 1952, resulting in the deaths of 52 individuals, has occurred 74 years after the tragic incident. The aircraft, a Pan American Airways flight that departed from Puerto Rico on Good Friday, was headed to what is now JFK International Airport in New York City.
The plane, named the Clipper Endeavour, was carrying 64 passengers and five crew members. Shortly after takeoff, the aircraft, similar in size to a modern Boeing 737, experienced a loss of both engines on the right side.
Following a violent water landing in the Atlantic Ocean, all occupants initially survived. Due to the absence of standard pre-flight safety briefings at the time, chaos ensued during the emergency. Unfortunately, 52 individuals drowned as the plane sank underwater in less than three minutes, according to reports from the Daily Mail. The wreckage remained on the ocean floor for 74 years due to its unreachable depth.
However, on June 2 of this year, after a seven-year investigation conducted by the Air/Sea Heritage Foundation in collaboration with Eco Minerals Company Deep Sea Vision and the Discovery Channel’s Expedition Unknown series, the wreckage was finally located. Host Josh Gates expressed his emotions upon seeing the bright aluminum fuselage shining from the ocean floor.
The search was aided by the research vessel Fugro Brasilis, equipped with one of the most advanced autonomous underwater vehicles globally, capable of scanning depths of up to 20,000 feet and remaining submerged for up to four days at a time. The vehicle successfully located the Clipper Endeavour broken into two parts on the ocean floor.
