The disappearance of the Douglas C-124 (490244) Globemaster II aircraft is arguably one of the most intriguing and confusing unsolved mysteries in United States Air Force history.
The Douglas C-124 Globemaster II (Nicknamed “Old Shaky”) was the primary aircraft used by the US Air Force for heavy-lift transport in its time. The aircraft was capable of carrying more than 34 tons of cargo and could carry tanks, trucks and other heavy equipment without disassembly. It was 130 feet long with a wingspan of 174 feet. Its maximum speed was 320 mph and weighed more than 97 tons when fully loaded.
The aircraft commonly transported missiles and other weapons from America to England around the time of its disappearance into the Atlantic Ocean. World War II had ended already, but the US was still in the middle of the Korean Conflict and the Cold War with Russia was just starting to fire up.
It was less than a decade after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Americans were worried about other countries surpassing their own knowledge of atomic weapons. This fear was coupled with the fear that a third World War was on the horizon.
On March 22, 1951, the Douglas C-124 (490244) Globemaster II lumbered into the transatlantic skies from Limestone AFB with the planned destination being Royal Air Force Base in Lakenheath, England. The official reason for the flight according to the US Army at the time (according to the documents submitted to The Pampa News) was for routine inspections of UK air bases.
The aircraft was carrying 53 people; 13 crew members and 40 passengers consisting of hand-picked, high-priority US strategic air command servicemen and nuclear personnel. This included Brigadier General Paul T. Cullen, one of the top spy-photographers of his time; three colonels; two majors; 20 captains including Captain Walter T. Peterson and four lieutenants.
One subject of controversy in this mystery is in regards to what cargo was or was not on the plane. The US Army officially lists two KB-29 bomb bay tanks, medical supplies and miscellaneous tools. However, there are many who believe that highly classified documents and an atomic weapon or atomic weapon parts were also on the plane.
The flight was going according to plan and the Globemaster checked in routinely with the weather ships stationed in the Atlantic between the United States and England. At 1:06 a.m. on Good Friday, March 23, 1951, the Globemaster sent out its last routine message to Oceanic Control, announcing that they would be changing their estimated time of arrival. They did not report any issues with the functionality of the plane.
Despite the majority of the flight being routine and uneventful, the plane never made it to its intended destination. Fifty three human beings were never seen or heard from again, along with the plane and any of the cargo that it stored.
What happened after that last routine message was sent from the Globemaster is anyone’s guess. The US government appears to have classified, de-classified and re-classified details pertinent to the disappearance of the plane multiple times over the last 69 years according to surviving relatives of the crew. There have also been contradictory statements made by the government, leading surviving family members of those lost at sea to believe the whole truth has been hidden from them.
In a letter from the United States Air Force to a surviving relative of the ill-fated crew announcing that her son’s missing status had been terminated, they stated:
“The last radio contact with the plane revealed that it was over the North Atlantic ocean several hundred miles west of Ireland. When no further report was received and it became known that the aircraft was overdue, one of the largest air and sea organized search efforts ever instituted for a single plane was launched....Examination of the debris by qualified experts revealed that the plane had apparently burned and exploded.”
According to the letter which was sent from the Air Force itself, the routine message the Globemaster sent to oceanic control was their last, prompting the largest search and rescue mission in US Air Force history. This story is corroborated by sources such as the book entitled Cleared for Disaster: Ireland’s Most Horrific Air Crashes, which states: “There was some surprise that the pilot did not manage to get a message of some kind to one of the Atlantic Weather Ships.” The book goes on to detail that once it was realized that the plane was overdue, a state of emergency was immediately issued in Ireland and that search planes were sent along the flight route of the missing Globemaster. Commercial airlines and merchant ships were asked to keep an eye out for the aircraft.
In contradiction to that, other agencies such as the official accident report and Walker Aviation Museum in Roswell, N.M. report that a Mayday stress call was received by a weather ship from the Globemaster after their last routine message was sent to Oceanic Control. In that mayday stress call, the crew reported that they would be ditching the plane while there was still daylight due to a fire that had broken out in the cargo crates. In the call, the crew stated that they would be ditching at 50 degrees 22 minutes North, 22 degrees 20 minutes West. Those that corroborate this version of the story say that this Mayday stress call is what actually prompted the search and rescue mission.
Whether it was caused by a Mayday stress call or by due diligence according to the United States Air Force, one thing that seems to be agreed on is that an English B-29 piloted by Captain Muller was launched in an effort to find the missing/distressed aircraft at its last known location.
Officially and according to the US Air Force, the crew on the B-29 discovered a life raft and debris from the plane and two weather ships were immediately diverted to the scene. When the Weather Ship Charlie arrived much later, they said they found a valise (briefcase) that they pulled from the water, sparking a larger and more expansive search of the missing aircraft and crew. There was no mention of living men on the life raft seen by the crew of the B-29 according to this account of events.
In another account of events, the B-29 crew are said to have located crewmen from the Globemaster after they fired several flares from a life raft. They also spotted some debris and life jackets. The pilot circled the area, keeping an eye on the men until a lack of fuel forced him to return to land. According to the Walker Aviation Museum “The aircraft was intact when it touched down on the ocean. All hands exited the aircraft wearing life preservers and climbed into the inflated five-man life rafts. The rafts were equipped with gear, food, water, flares and Gibson Girl hand-crank emergency radios.” This account of events corroborates that the valise was found by Weather Ship Charlie when it arrived at the scene on Sunday, March 25- more than 24 hours after the crew flying on the B-29 reported the location of the debris and men on the life raft.
Despite the controversy surrounding the events leading up to the finding of the valise, the details of the search and rescue mission that followed seem to parallel across all accounts of this story. On Sunday, March 25, 70 aircraft, six ships and British submarines combed thousands of square miles of ocean in search of the Globemaster II and its crew. The search continued into Monday, but hope of finding the crew alive was fading. In most cases, at this point the search would have scaled down considerably- however, to the surprise of many- the search actually intensified. This fact is yet another reason people believe that there were indeed atomic weapons/parts on the plane.
On Tuesday, 65 more aircraft joined the search and on Wednesday, 36 more. On Thursday, five days after the Globemaster II sent in its last routine message to oceanic control, more wreckage was found that included one of the fuel tanks from the plane. The area was throughly searched for the remainder of Thursday and on Friday.
Charred debris from the wreckage was starting to wash in on Ireland’s shores at this point, an estimated 600 miles from the original scene. Hope faded further that the men had made it onto life rafts and drifted to shore. It was announced by the US Air Force that the plane had exploded, however no reason was given as to why.
The search was called off eight days after contact was lost with the Globemaster on Sunday, March 31. The very next day, It was announced that the search was back on and would continue indefinitely.
It is important to note that Soviet submarines were active in the area at the time of the Globemaster’s demise. With the men of the crew thought to be deceased and with evidence that the plane was likely not ever going to be found in one piece- this further strengthened the thought that the US government was looking for evidence of sabotage. The search continued for a long while before ending quietly.
Nearly one month later, an elderly Irish man named John Faherty found a tin can while walking along the beach. Faherty removed the lid and found a note inside that read:
“Cullen is worried when 300 miles west of Ireland, Globemaster alters course for no apparent reason. We are going north. Have to be careful. We are under surveillance. Pieces of wreckage will be found but are not of G-Master. A terrible drama is being enacted in this liner.”
While there was no signature or date on the note, local police described Faherty as a “very decent type of man who would not himself originate a hoax.” The letter was publicised in Irish and English newspapers.
Many theories have developed around the mystery of the missing Globemaster and its crew.
Some believe that the crew and contents of the plane were taken by Soviets- the collection of men would have been a hefty prize for Soviet Russia. Brigadier General Paul T. Cullen alone would have been a very lucrative target for the Russians, and thats not to mention the other 52 high-priority men that were on the plane.
We may never know the whole truth about what happened to The Douglas C-124 (490244) Globemaster II, what cargo it held or what became of the crew. Surviving family members of the crew feel stonewalled and like they have been lied to.
Freedom of Information Act requests made to the CIA, State Department and Air Force by these surviving family members have all been in vain. Many of these surviving relatives of crew members have reached out to one another over the years sharing information and trying to get a grasp on what happened on that day in March 69 years ago.
Click here to view the story on Captain Walter T. Peterson's memorial service at Arlington National Cemetery: https://bit.ly/2YSXeSZ
All sources of information for this article were provided by Marilyn-Peterson Crafton, surviving daughter of Air Force Captain Walter T. Peterson.
