Incident
On a routine flight from Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Maryland, to Port Lyautey, Morocco, with a scheduled stop at Lajes in the Azores, a four-engine transport aircraft operated by the U.S. Navy encountered a catastrophic event. The flight carried 21 crew members and 21 passengers, including civilians and children. At 2330 local time, the crew reported their position approximately 400 miles east of Baltimore, Maryland. This was the last radio transmission received from the aircraft.
About one and a half hours later, while cruising at an altitude of 17,000 feet, the aircraft went out of control and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. No distress call was issued by the crew.
Aircraft and Occupants
The aircraft involved was an R7V-1, registration 128441. On board were 42 occupants: 21 crew members and 21 passengers. The aircraft was also carrying emergency equipment, including 111 life vests, 46 exposure suits, 660 paper cups, and 5 life rafts—all items designed to float. Despite the presence of these flotation devices, no trace of them was ever recovered.
Search Efforts
Search and rescue operations were conducted over a large area of the Atlantic. However, due to poor weather conditions, the search was suspended six days after the crash. No wreckage or any sign of the aircraft or its 42 occupants was found.
Probable Cause
The official investigation board concluded that the aircraft "did meet with a sudden and violent force, that rendered the aircraft no longer airworthy, and was thereby beyond the scope of human endeavor to control." The nature of this force remains unknown. The board noted that the possibility of structural failure during transit of frontal weather could not be discounted, but they considered this scenario remote.