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On 26 January 1950, the Douglas C-54 Skymaster serial number 42-72469, disappeared en route from Alaska to Montana, with 44 people aboard.

The aircraft made its last radio contact two hours into its eight-hour flight. Despite one of the largest rescue efforts carried out by a joint effort between Canadian and US military forces, no trace of the aircraft has ever been found.

S/Sgt. Clarence Anderson Gibson was one of 44 crewmembers and passengers on ill-fated Flight #2469. He left behind his wife, and two small daughters, ages two and five, and baby girl yet to be born. 

Now, 74 years later, Judy Gibson Jackson of Brundidge is still holding to hope that the Skymaster that disappeared over the Yukon can be found, bringing closure to her and to the families of the other 43 passengers who were lost.

“My mother was pregnant with me when her husband, and my father, S/Sgt. Clarence Anderson Gibson was one of the soldiers aboard that flight that was lost forever,” Jackson said. “It had been my mother’s hope that she would know what happened to the love of her life before she died.”

Jackson said with all of the technology we have now, there’s a chance that the plane could be found,” she said. “I know what that would mean to me, to my family and I’m sure to other families of those lost on January 26, 1950. Knowing is hard but not knowing just tears your heart out.”

And, with all the technology…perhaps.

A pilot in Canada recently called The Messenger in reference to the previous article about S/Sgt. Clarence Anderson Gibson, who was one of the soldiers aboard the flight.  The caller reported that he had located what could possibly be the wreckage of C-54 Skymaster USAF Flight #2469 in the Yukon.

A few day ago, The Messenger received an email from Michel Emery, Whitehorse, Yukon Canada. Emery is a volunteer for an organization called CASARA (Civil Aviation Search and Rescue). As navigator and chief spotter for the Yukon for CASARA. Emery said CASARA is planning flights to continue the search for the missing Skymaster, Flight 2469.

So, perhaps……knowing would not be as hard.