Phil Bentley Adrean was born January 28, 1925 to Phyllis May (nee Andre) and Vernon Lee Adrean in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was one of three siblings having an older brother Vernon and younger brother Jack. Phil's father was employed as a certified public accountant.
Phil was a 1942 graduate of Central High School in Tulsa, and then attended Oklahoma A & M in order to qualify for the Aviation Cadet Program. He enlisted in the Army Air Forces on January 25, 1943 completing flying training in January 1944. He was commissioned a second lieutenant with a pilot rating, ASN: O-704449.
After combat crew training Phil deployed to England. He had been assigned to the 750th Bomb Squadron, 457th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force, operating from RAF Glatton, Army Air Forces Station 130, located about 70 miles north of London. Phil was serving as co-pilot with the 2nd Lt Donald K. Goss crew.
On Friday, August 25, 1944 the 457th Bomb Group target for today was the hydroelectric hydrogen plant at Peenemünde, the German rocket research center located in northern Germany on the Baltic Sea coast. This was Phil's twenty-fifth mission, he and crew were operating B-17G, s/n 42-98018, named 'Lady Katherine', piloted by 2nd Lt Goss. The plane was hit by flak just after dropping bombs on Peenemünde. The flak blew a large hole in the wing and knocked out engine #2. It also appeared that it had done major damage in the bomb bay. The crew had also suffered injuries. The ball turret gunner, Charles Gentile, was bleeding in a dozen places, the radioman's hands were both injured and bleeding, the waist gunner had a broken leg and there were other injuries. Lt Goss made a decision to fly to Sweden so that his crew could get medical help sooner. After a survey of the damage to the plane it was decided that the plane was structurally damaged and would probably break up on landing so a decision was made that all would bail out.
As the plane approached Sweden, Swedish fighter aircraft were sent out from Ljungbyhed airfield in southern Sweden to escort the damaged fortress. Once over land the order to bail out was given. The injured men's hands were placed on their parachute D-ring they were pushed out the door. All nine crew members successfully bailed out and were quickly recovered once on the ground. The crew, except for the ball turret gunner who was taken to the hospital, was together by morning and took the train to Kristianstad where they were officially welcomed to Sweden by the town's Mayor. The Lady Katherine crashed in some woods outside Ljungbyhed and was completely destroyed. The crew was interned in Sweden for the duration of the war in Europe. The other members of Phil's crew during this mission were as follows:
2nd Lt Donald K. Goss (P)- INT/RTD
2nd Lt Gerhardt C Hoelzel (N)- INT/RTD
S/Sgt William H. Sokolowski (RWG- Toggleer)- INT/RTD
S/Sgt Peter G. Stern (ETTG)- INT/RTD
S/Sgt Henry M. Githens, Jr. (Radio)- INT/RTD
S/Sgt Ruben L. Hernandez (LWG)- INT/RTD
Sgt Charles C. Gentile (BTG)- INT/RTD
S/Sgt John A. Roe, Jr. (TG)- INT/RTD
After VE-Day Phil returned to the United States. He was honorably discharged from the Army Air Forces during demobilization. He electing to remain in the active reserve with the 323 Bomb Group at Tinker Army Air Field near Tulsa. Phil enrolled in school at the University of Tulsa, later transferred to the University of Oklahoma at Norman where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business in 1949. After one semester of postgraduate work he re-joined the Air Force.
After entering the Air Force he received training as a B-29/B-50 pilot and was assigned to the 830th Squadron, 509th Bomb Wing, 47th Air Division, 8th Air Force, Strategic Air Command, Walker Air Force Base (AFB), located near Roswell, New Mexico. In late 1950 Brig. General Paul T. Cullen had been recently tasked to develop and expand the 7th Air Division of Strategic Air Command to be based across the United Kingdom. This Deployment started on Wednesday 21 March 1951, utilizing C-124A Globemaster II Serial Number 49-0244 transport commanded by Major Robert Scott Bell of the 2nd Strategic Support Squadron. The plane departed Walker AFB, New Mexico, with almost 50 of the nation's top strategic bombing and nuclear weapons personnel from the 509th Bomb Group onboard. The final destination was to be the RAF base at Lakenheath, England.
The plane first landed at Barksdale AFB, Shreveport, Louisiana where they remained overnight. On Thursday 22 March, General Cullen and his staff joined the other passengers and boarded the aircraft. The Globemaster then departed and following an uneventful eight hour flight, the C-124 landed at Limestone AFB (later Loring AFB) Limestone, Maine. This was the last stop before the long North Atlantic crossing. While the aircraft was being refueled, the pilots and navigators went to base ops where they received an updated weather briefing. They filed the flight plan for the final leg: Limestone direct Gander, (great circle rhumb line) to Mildenhall RAFB, U.K.
The 23 March transatlantic flight progressed without incident with normal check-ins with weather vessels along the route. Then about 800 miles southwest of Ireland, the airplane issued a Mayday call, reporting a fire in the cargo crates. The C-124 ditched reporting a final position of 50°45'0.00"N, 24° 3'0.00"W (600 miles west-southwest of Ireland). The aircraft was intact when it touched down on the ocean. All hands excited the aircraft wearing life preservers and climbed into the inflated 5 man life rafts. The rafts were equipped with cold weather gear, food, water, flares, and Gibson Girl hand crank emergency radios.
The 509th Bomb Group element stationed at RAF Lakenheath, England launched a B-50 Superfortress from its 830th Bomb Squadron, commanded by Captain Harold Muller to search for the survivors. He located the men when they fired several flares. The B-50 was not carrying any rescue equipment that could be dropped to the survivors. Captain Muller radioed back that he had located the men and would remain on station as long as fuel allowed. They continued circling and hoping for rescue aircraft to arrive but to no avail. Reaching critical fuel, Captain Muller was forced to abandon his fellow airmen and return to base.
Incredibly no other aircraft were launched to take station over the survivors until rescue vessels could arrive. Just as incredible it was another "Nineteen" (19) hours the following day before the first surface rescue vessel arrived, which was the US Coast Guard Cutter Casco (WAVP-370). All that was found was a burned briefcase and a partially deflated life raft. Despite the largest air and sea search up to that time, not one body was found. Phil Adrean and the 52 airmen with him had disappeared.
Later it was revealed that Soviet submarines and surface vessels were active in the area. It has been speculated that Adrean and his companions were taken aboard Soviet submarines and brought to the Soviet Union for interrogation. Due to their expertise in nuclear and other defense matters, Cullen and the other men on the airplane would have been an intelligence windfall to the Soviets.
In reality the Soviet connection may be a weak excuse for the poor to nonexistent immediate rescue response to recover survivors. It is more likely Phil and the other 52 survivors were taken by the North Atlantic Ocean after being abandoned for nineteen hours in weather conditions of driving rain and high seas. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 many cold war secrets have been revealed but not one word about this C-124 ditching or Soviet snatching of any of its occupants. The disappearance of Captain Phil Bentley Adrean and other survivors remains a great mystery of the Cold War.
Brief bio courtesy Vindicator I
Virtual Cemetery for those airmen lost C-124, 49-0244 disappearance
Phil was a 1942 graduate of Central High School in Tulsa, and then attended Oklahoma A & M in order to qualify for the Aviation Cadet Program. He enlisted in the Army Air Forces on January 25, 1943 completing flying training in January 1944. He was commissioned a second lieutenant with a pilot rating, ASN: O-704449.
After combat crew training Phil deployed to England. He had been assigned to the 750th Bomb Squadron, 457th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force, operating from RAF Glatton, Army Air Forces Station 130, located about 70 miles north of London. Phil was serving as co-pilot with the 2nd Lt Donald K. Goss crew.
On Friday, August 25, 1944 the 457th Bomb Group target for today was the hydroelectric hydrogen plant at Peenemünde, the German rocket research center located in northern Germany on the Baltic Sea coast. This was Phil's twenty-fifth mission, he and crew were operating B-17G, s/n 42-98018, named 'Lady Katherine', piloted by 2nd Lt Goss. The plane was hit by flak just after dropping bombs on Peenemünde. The flak blew a large hole in the wing and knocked out engine #2. It also appeared that it had done major damage in the bomb bay. The crew had also suffered injuries. The ball turret gunner, Charles Gentile, was bleeding in a dozen places, the radioman's hands were both injured and bleeding, the waist gunner had a broken leg and there were other injuries. Lt Goss made a decision to fly to Sweden so that his crew could get medical help sooner. After a survey of the damage to the plane it was decided that the plane was structurally damaged and would probably break up on landing so a decision was made that all would bail out.
As the plane approached Sweden, Swedish fighter aircraft were sent out from Ljungbyhed airfield in southern Sweden to escort the damaged fortress. Once over land the order to bail out was given. The injured men's hands were placed on their parachute D-ring they were pushed out the door. All nine crew members successfully bailed out and were quickly recovered once on the ground. The crew, except for the ball turret gunner who was taken to the hospital, was together by morning and took the train to Kristianstad where they were officially welcomed to Sweden by the town's Mayor. The Lady Katherine crashed in some woods outside Ljungbyhed and was completely destroyed. The crew was interned in Sweden for the duration of the war in Europe. The other members of Phil's crew during this mission were as follows:
2nd Lt Donald K. Goss (P)- INT/RTD
2nd Lt Gerhardt C Hoelzel (N)- INT/RTD
S/Sgt William H. Sokolowski (RWG- Toggleer)- INT/RTD
S/Sgt Peter G. Stern (ETTG)- INT/RTD
S/Sgt Henry M. Githens, Jr. (Radio)- INT/RTD
S/Sgt Ruben L. Hernandez (LWG)- INT/RTD
Sgt Charles C. Gentile (BTG)- INT/RTD
S/Sgt John A. Roe, Jr. (TG)- INT/RTD
After VE-Day Phil returned to the United States. He was honorably discharged from the Army Air Forces during demobilization. He electing to remain in the active reserve with the 323 Bomb Group at Tinker Army Air Field near Tulsa. Phil enrolled in school at the University of Tulsa, later transferred to the University of Oklahoma at Norman where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business in 1949. After one semester of postgraduate work he re-joined the Air Force.
After entering the Air Force he received training as a B-29/B-50 pilot and was assigned to the 830th Squadron, 509th Bomb Wing, 47th Air Division, 8th Air Force, Strategic Air Command, Walker Air Force Base (AFB), located near Roswell, New Mexico. In late 1950 Brig. General Paul T. Cullen had been recently tasked to develop and expand the 7th Air Division of Strategic Air Command to be based across the United Kingdom. This Deployment started on Wednesday 21 March 1951, utilizing C-124A Globemaster II Serial Number 49-0244 transport commanded by Major Robert Scott Bell of the 2nd Strategic Support Squadron. The plane departed Walker AFB, New Mexico, with almost 50 of the nation's top strategic bombing and nuclear weapons personnel from the 509th Bomb Group onboard. The final destination was to be the RAF base at Lakenheath, England.
The plane first landed at Barksdale AFB, Shreveport, Louisiana where they remained overnight. On Thursday 22 March, General Cullen and his staff joined the other passengers and boarded the aircraft. The Globemaster then departed and following an uneventful eight hour flight, the C-124 landed at Limestone AFB (later Loring AFB) Limestone, Maine. This was the last stop before the long North Atlantic crossing. While the aircraft was being refueled, the pilots and navigators went to base ops where they received an updated weather briefing. They filed the flight plan for the final leg: Limestone direct Gander, (great circle rhumb line) to Mildenhall RAFB, U.K.
The 23 March transatlantic flight progressed without incident with normal check-ins with weather vessels along the route. Then about 800 miles southwest of Ireland, the airplane issued a Mayday call, reporting a fire in the cargo crates. The C-124 ditched reporting a final position of 50°45'0.00"N, 24° 3'0.00"W (600 miles west-southwest of Ireland). The aircraft was intact when it touched down on the ocean. All hands excited the aircraft wearing life preservers and climbed into the inflated 5 man life rafts. The rafts were equipped with cold weather gear, food, water, flares, and Gibson Girl hand crank emergency radios.
The 509th Bomb Group element stationed at RAF Lakenheath, England launched a B-50 Superfortress from its 830th Bomb Squadron, commanded by Captain Harold Muller to search for the survivors. He located the men when they fired several flares. The B-50 was not carrying any rescue equipment that could be dropped to the survivors. Captain Muller radioed back that he had located the men and would remain on station as long as fuel allowed. They continued circling and hoping for rescue aircraft to arrive but to no avail. Reaching critical fuel, Captain Muller was forced to abandon his fellow airmen and return to base.
Incredibly no other aircraft were launched to take station over the survivors until rescue vessels could arrive. Just as incredible it was another "Nineteen" (19) hours the following day before the first surface rescue vessel arrived, which was the US Coast Guard Cutter Casco (WAVP-370). All that was found was a burned briefcase and a partially deflated life raft. Despite the largest air and sea search up to that time, not one body was found. Phil Adrean and the 52 airmen with him had disappeared.
Later it was revealed that Soviet submarines and surface vessels were active in the area. It has been speculated that Adrean and his companions were taken aboard Soviet submarines and brought to the Soviet Union for interrogation. Due to their expertise in nuclear and other defense matters, Cullen and the other men on the airplane would have been an intelligence windfall to the Soviets.
In reality the Soviet connection may be a weak excuse for the poor to nonexistent immediate rescue response to recover survivors. It is more likely Phil and the other 52 survivors were taken by the North Atlantic Ocean after being abandoned for nineteen hours in weather conditions of driving rain and high seas. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 many cold war secrets have been revealed but not one word about this C-124 ditching or Soviet snatching of any of its occupants. The disappearance of Captain Phil Bentley Adrean and other survivors remains a great mystery of the Cold War.
Brief bio courtesy Vindicator I
Virtual Cemetery for those airmen lost C-124, 49-0244 disappearance
Phil Bentley Adrean was born January 28, 1925 to Phyllis May (nee Andre) and Vernon Lee Adrean in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was one of three siblings having an older brother Vernon and younger brother Jack. Phil's father was employed as a certified public accountant.
Phil was a 1942 graduate of Central High School in Tulsa, and then attended Oklahoma A & M in order to qualify for the Aviation Cadet Program. He enlisted in the Army Air Forces on January 25, 1943 completing flying training in January 1944. He was commissioned a second lieutenant with a pilot rating, ASN: O-704449.
After combat crew training Phil deployed to England. He had been assigned to the 750th Bomb Squadron, 457th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force, operating from RAF Glatton, Army Air Forces Station 130, located about 70 miles north of London. Phil was serving as co-pilot with the 2nd Lt Donald K. Goss crew.
On Friday, August 25, 1944 the 457th Bomb Group target for today was the hydroelectric hydrogen plant at Peenemünde, the German rocket research center located in northern Germany on the Baltic Sea coast. This was Phil's twenty-fifth mission, he and crew were operating B-17G, s/n 42-98018, named 'Lady Katherine', piloted by 2nd Lt Goss. The plane was hit by flak just after dropping bombs on Peenemünde. The flak blew a large hole in the wing and knocked out engine #2. It also appeared that it had done major damage in the bomb bay. The crew had also suffered injuries. The ball turret gunner, Charles Gentile, was bleeding in a dozen places, the radioman's hands were both injured and bleeding, the waist gunner had a broken leg and there were other injuries. Lt Goss made a decision to fly to Sweden so that his crew could get medical help sooner. After a survey of the damage to the plane it was decided that the plane was structurally damaged and would probably break up on landing so a decision was made that all would bail out.
As the plane approached Sweden, Swedish fighter aircraft were sent out from Ljungbyhed airfield in southern Sweden to escort the damaged fortress. Once over land the order to bail out was given. The injured men's hands were placed on their parachute D-ring they were pushed out the door. All nine crew members successfully bailed out and were quickly recovered once on the ground. The crew, except for the ball turret gunner who was taken to the hospital, was together by morning and took the train to Kristianstad where they were officially welcomed to Sweden by the town's Mayor. The Lady Katherine crashed in some woods outside Ljungbyhed and was completely destroyed. The crew was interned in Sweden for the duration of the war in Europe. The other members of Phil's crew during this mission were as follows:
2nd Lt Donald K. Goss (P)- INT/RTD
2nd Lt Gerhardt C Hoelzel (N)- INT/RTD
S/Sgt William H. Sokolowski (RWG- Toggleer)- INT/RTD
S/Sgt Peter G. Stern (ETTG)- INT/RTD
S/Sgt Henry M. Githens, Jr. (Radio)- INT/RTD
S/Sgt Ruben L. Hernandez (LWG)- INT/RTD
Sgt Charles C. Gentile (BTG)- INT/RTD
S/Sgt John A. Roe, Jr. (TG)- INT/RTD
After VE-Day Phil returned to the United States. He was honorably discharged from the Army Air Forces during demobilization. He electing to remain in the active reserve with the 323 Bomb Group at Tinker Army Air Field near Tulsa. Phil enrolled in school at the University of Tulsa, later transferred to the University of Oklahoma at Norman where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business in 1949. After one semester of postgraduate work he re-joined the Air Force.
After entering the Air Force he received training as a B-29/B-50 pilot and was assigned to the 830th Squadron, 509th Bomb Wing, 47th Air Division, 8th Air Force, Strategic Air Command, Walker Air Force Base (AFB), located near Roswell, New Mexico. In late 1950 Brig. General Paul T. Cullen had been recently tasked to develop and expand the 7th Air Division of Strategic Air Command to be based across the United Kingdom. This Deployment started on Wednesday 21 March 1951, utilizing C-124A Globemaster II Serial Number 49-0244 transport commanded by Major Robert Scott Bell of the 2nd Strategic Support Squadron. The plane departed Walker AFB, New Mexico, with almost 50 of the nation's top strategic bombing and nuclear weapons personnel from the 509th Bomb Group onboard. The final destination was to be the RAF base at Lakenheath, England.
The plane first landed at Barksdale AFB, Shreveport, Louisiana where they remained overnight. On Thursday 22 March, General Cullen and his staff joined the other passengers and boarded the aircraft. The Globemaster then departed and following an uneventful eight hour flight, the C-124 landed at Limestone AFB (later Loring AFB) Limestone, Maine. This was the last stop before the long North Atlantic crossing. While the aircraft was being refueled, the pilots and navigators went to base ops where they received an updated weather briefing. They filed the flight plan for the final leg: Limestone direct Gander, (great circle rhumb line) to Mildenhall RAFB, U.K.
The 23 March transatlantic flight progressed without incident with normal check-ins with weather vessels along the route. Then about 800 miles southwest of Ireland, the airplane issued a Mayday call, reporting a fire in the cargo crates. The C-124 ditched reporting a final position of 50°45'0.00"N, 24° 3'0.00"W (600 miles west-southwest of Ireland). The aircraft was intact when it touched down on the ocean. All hands excited the aircraft wearing life preservers and climbed into the inflated 5 man life rafts. The rafts were equipped with cold weather gear, food, water, flares, and Gibson Girl hand crank emergency radios.
The 509th Bomb Group element stationed at RAF Lakenheath, England launched a B-50 Superfortress from its 830th Bomb Squadron, commanded by Captain Harold Muller to search for the survivors. He located the men when they fired several flares. The B-50 was not carrying any rescue equipment that could be dropped to the survivors. Captain Muller radioed back that he had located the men and would remain on station as long as fuel allowed. They continued circling and hoping for rescue aircraft to arrive but to no avail. Reaching critical fuel, Captain Muller was forced to abandon his fellow airmen and return to base.
Incredibly no other aircraft were launched to take station over the survivors until rescue vessels could arrive. Just as incredible it was another "Nineteen" (19) hours the following day before the first surface rescue vessel arrived, which was the US Coast Guard Cutter Casco (WAVP-370). All that was found was a burned briefcase and a partially deflated life raft. Despite the largest air and sea search up to that time, not one body was found. Phil Adrean and the 52 airmen with him had disappeared.
Later it was revealed that Soviet submarines and surface vessels were active in the area. It has been speculated that Adrean and his companions were taken aboard Soviet submarines and brought to the Soviet Union for interrogation. Due to their expertise in nuclear and other defense matters, Cullen and the other men on the airplane would have been an intelligence windfall to the Soviets.
In reality the Soviet connection may be a weak excuse for the poor to nonexistent immediate rescue response to recover survivors. It is more likely Phil and the other 52 survivors were taken by the North Atlantic Ocean after being abandoned for nineteen hours in weather conditions of driving rain and high seas. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 many cold war secrets have been revealed but not one word about this C-124 ditching or Soviet snatching of any of its occupants. The disappearance of Captain Phil Bentley Adrean and other survivors remains a great mystery of the Cold War.
Brief bio courtesy Vindicator I
Virtual Cemetery for those airmen lost C-124, 49-0244 disappearance
Phil was a 1942 graduate of Central High School in Tulsa, and then attended Oklahoma A & M in order to qualify for the Aviation Cadet Program. He enlisted in the Army Air Forces on January 25, 1943 completing flying training in January 1944. He was commissioned a second lieutenant with a pilot rating, ASN: O-704449.
After combat crew training Phil deployed to England. He had been assigned to the 750th Bomb Squadron, 457th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force, operating from RAF Glatton, Army Air Forces Station 130, located about 70 miles north of London. Phil was serving as co-pilot with the 2nd Lt Donald K. Goss crew.
On Friday, August 25, 1944 the 457th Bomb Group target for today was the hydroelectric hydrogen plant at Peenemünde, the German rocket research center located in northern Germany on the Baltic Sea coast. This was Phil's twenty-fifth mission, he and crew were operating B-17G, s/n 42-98018, named 'Lady Katherine', piloted by 2nd Lt Goss. The plane was hit by flak just after dropping bombs on Peenemünde. The flak blew a large hole in the wing and knocked out engine #2. It also appeared that it had done major damage in the bomb bay. The crew had also suffered injuries. The ball turret gunner, Charles Gentile, was bleeding in a dozen places, the radioman's hands were both injured and bleeding, the waist gunner had a broken leg and there were other injuries. Lt Goss made a decision to fly to Sweden so that his crew could get medical help sooner. After a survey of the damage to the plane it was decided that the plane was structurally damaged and would probably break up on landing so a decision was made that all would bail out.
As the plane approached Sweden, Swedish fighter aircraft were sent out from Ljungbyhed airfield in southern Sweden to escort the damaged fortress. Once over land the order to bail out was given. The injured men's hands were placed on their parachute D-ring they were pushed out the door. All nine crew members successfully bailed out and were quickly recovered once on the ground. The crew, except for the ball turret gunner who was taken to the hospital, was together by morning and took the train to Kristianstad where they were officially welcomed to Sweden by the town's Mayor. The Lady Katherine crashed in some woods outside Ljungbyhed and was completely destroyed. The crew was interned in Sweden for the duration of the war in Europe. The other members of Phil's crew during this mission were as follows:
2nd Lt Donald K. Goss (P)- INT/RTD
2nd Lt Gerhardt C Hoelzel (N)- INT/RTD
S/Sgt William H. Sokolowski (RWG- Toggleer)- INT/RTD
S/Sgt Peter G. Stern (ETTG)- INT/RTD
S/Sgt Henry M. Githens, Jr. (Radio)- INT/RTD
S/Sgt Ruben L. Hernandez (LWG)- INT/RTD
Sgt Charles C. Gentile (BTG)- INT/RTD
S/Sgt John A. Roe, Jr. (TG)- INT/RTD
After VE-Day Phil returned to the United States. He was honorably discharged from the Army Air Forces during demobilization. He electing to remain in the active reserve with the 323 Bomb Group at Tinker Army Air Field near Tulsa. Phil enrolled in school at the University of Tulsa, later transferred to the University of Oklahoma at Norman where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business in 1949. After one semester of postgraduate work he re-joined the Air Force.
After entering the Air Force he received training as a B-29/B-50 pilot and was assigned to the 830th Squadron, 509th Bomb Wing, 47th Air Division, 8th Air Force, Strategic Air Command, Walker Air Force Base (AFB), located near Roswell, New Mexico. In late 1950 Brig. General Paul T. Cullen had been recently tasked to develop and expand the 7th Air Division of Strategic Air Command to be based across the United Kingdom. This Deployment started on Wednesday 21 March 1951, utilizing C-124A Globemaster II Serial Number 49-0244 transport commanded by Major Robert Scott Bell of the 2nd Strategic Support Squadron. The plane departed Walker AFB, New Mexico, with almost 50 of the nation's top strategic bombing and nuclear weapons personnel from the 509th Bomb Group onboard. The final destination was to be the RAF base at Lakenheath, England.
The plane first landed at Barksdale AFB, Shreveport, Louisiana where they remained overnight. On Thursday 22 March, General Cullen and his staff joined the other passengers and boarded the aircraft. The Globemaster then departed and following an uneventful eight hour flight, the C-124 landed at Limestone AFB (later Loring AFB) Limestone, Maine. This was the last stop before the long North Atlantic crossing. While the aircraft was being refueled, the pilots and navigators went to base ops where they received an updated weather briefing. They filed the flight plan for the final leg: Limestone direct Gander, (great circle rhumb line) to Mildenhall RAFB, U.K.
The 23 March transatlantic flight progressed without incident with normal check-ins with weather vessels along the route. Then about 800 miles southwest of Ireland, the airplane issued a Mayday call, reporting a fire in the cargo crates. The C-124 ditched reporting a final position of 50°45'0.00"N, 24° 3'0.00"W (600 miles west-southwest of Ireland). The aircraft was intact when it touched down on the ocean. All hands excited the aircraft wearing life preservers and climbed into the inflated 5 man life rafts. The rafts were equipped with cold weather gear, food, water, flares, and Gibson Girl hand crank emergency radios.
The 509th Bomb Group element stationed at RAF Lakenheath, England launched a B-50 Superfortress from its 830th Bomb Squadron, commanded by Captain Harold Muller to search for the survivors. He located the men when they fired several flares. The B-50 was not carrying any rescue equipment that could be dropped to the survivors. Captain Muller radioed back that he had located the men and would remain on station as long as fuel allowed. They continued circling and hoping for rescue aircraft to arrive but to no avail. Reaching critical fuel, Captain Muller was forced to abandon his fellow airmen and return to base.
Incredibly no other aircraft were launched to take station over the survivors until rescue vessels could arrive. Just as incredible it was another "Nineteen" (19) hours the following day before the first surface rescue vessel arrived, which was the US Coast Guard Cutter Casco (WAVP-370). All that was found was a burned briefcase and a partially deflated life raft. Despite the largest air and sea search up to that time, not one body was found. Phil Adrean and the 52 airmen with him had disappeared.
Later it was revealed that Soviet submarines and surface vessels were active in the area. It has been speculated that Adrean and his companions were taken aboard Soviet submarines and brought to the Soviet Union for interrogation. Due to their expertise in nuclear and other defense matters, Cullen and the other men on the airplane would have been an intelligence windfall to the Soviets.
In reality the Soviet connection may be a weak excuse for the poor to nonexistent immediate rescue response to recover survivors. It is more likely Phil and the other 52 survivors were taken by the North Atlantic Ocean after being abandoned for nineteen hours in weather conditions of driving rain and high seas. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 many cold war secrets have been revealed but not one word about this C-124 ditching or Soviet snatching of any of its occupants. The disappearance of Captain Phil Bentley Adrean and other survivors remains a great mystery of the Cold War.
Brief bio courtesy Vindicator I
Virtual Cemetery for those airmen lost C-124, 49-0244 disappearance
