Wreckage of a Pan Am plane that crashed off Puerto Rico's coast almost 75 years ago was found on the ocean floor, according to search teams scouting for the long-lost aircraft.
The passenger aircraft, dubbed the Clipper Endeavor, crashed and sank into the Atlantic Ocean on April 11, 1952, minutes after it took off from the island's eastern capital, San Juan.
The plane, about the size of a modern Boeing 737, was bound for New York's Idlewild Airport — now John F. Kennedy International Airport — when it suffered engine failure just after noon, according to the Pan Am Historical Foundation. It carried 64 passengers and five crew members. Seventeen people survived the crash.
"I've got some incredible breaking news to share," Josh Gates with the Discovery Channel's "Expedition Unknown" said this past week in a video posted on social media. "Viewers may remember in 2024 we joined the search for the Pan Am Airways passenger plane … this accident changed aviation forever. It led to sweeping changes, including the introduction of the now mandatory pre-flight safety briefing."
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According to a news release, the Douglas DC-4 aircraft was discovered on the evening of June 2, using high-resolution sonar.
Gates said he and search teams from the nonprofit Air/Sea Heritage Foundation and Deep Sea Vision, a water exploration company based in Charleston, South Carolina, located the plane's wreckage almost 2,000 feet down on the ocean floor, "largely intact."
What happened to the Clipper Endeavor?
Under the command of veteran Capt. John C. Burn, the plane took off at 12:11 p.m., according to information from the airline's Historical Foundation, before the engine failure on its right side.
"All people aboard initially survived the impact, which sheared off the aircraft’s tail but left the main cabin intact," the release reads. "Yet with no safety briefing provided, a significant language barrier, and no coordinated evacuation procedure in place, passengers faced chaos, confusion, and heavy seas as the aircraft flooded and sank in less than three minutes."
Though the aircraft was equipped with life rafts and personal flotation devices for all on board, most of the passengers remained in their seats, the release continues. "Despite swift and heroic action by rescue teams from the U.S. Coast Guard and Air Force, only 12 passengers and five crew members were saved."
The Air/Sea Heritage Foundation will work with Puerto Rico’s government to expand protections for the wreck site and create a memorial for those who died, according to the release.
More details about the discovery will be featured in an in-depth special episode of "Expedition Unknown" this year, Gates said.
