Explorers Find 1952 Pan Am DC-4 Wreckage in 600 Meters Off Puerto Rico

3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jul 22

A robotic sonar drone located the Clipper Endeavor’s fuselage and tail in June in 600 meters of water off Puerto Rico, ending a yearslong search for the 1952 Pan Am crash site.
Russ Matthews’ Air/Sea Heritage Foundation launched the hunt after a luggage tag from the flight washed ashore in Florida in 2019, then used Pan Am, Coast Guard and Puerto Rico hearing records to narrow the search area.
A 10-square-nautical-mile map built from those records, witness estimates and historical weather data led Deep Sea Vision’s drone to the wreckage on its first pass.
The crash killed 52 people after two engines failed shortly after takeoff; although all initially survived the splashdown, panic over life vests and rafts set in before the plane sank.
That disaster helped drive modern preflight safety briefings and better flotation equipment, and the find may encourage families still seeking answers in ocean losses such as MH370.