Canadian spends three days trekking to find missing 1950s plane wreck with an unsolved mystery
- YouTuber went on a three-day trek to find a missing plane wreck
- It was a rescue plane looking for a downed plane
- It’s one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history
Published on Feb 06, 2025 at 6:27 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on Feb 07, 2025 at 1:57 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
This YouTuber and van-lifer went on a three-day trek to find a missing plane wreck and get to the bottom of a mystery that’s over 70 years old.
The Douglas C-54 Skymaster vanished on January 26, 1950, while flying from Alaska to Montana.
It had 44 people on board: eight crew members and 36 passengers, including two civilians – a woman and her infant son.
The exact location and fate of the C-54 remain unknown, making it one of the greatest unsolved aviation mysteries in history – but this content creator wanted to find answers.
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The search for the missing plane wreck
Despite extensive search efforts to find the Douglas C-54 Skymaster troop transport that tragically dropped off the radar on January 26, 1950, with 44 people on board, it’s never been found.
In fact, a Douglas C-47 later crashed on February 7 during the search effort – thankfully the 10 people onboard survived despite serious injuries.
Adding to the unsolved mystery, that rescue aircraft crash we know was caused by low visibility and downdrafts.
“Little did they know they would also need their own search and rescue,” Lambert said ominously.
That aircraft has never been found, despite people continuing the search each summer to the present day.
Enter van lifer, Foresty Forest, aka Simon Lambert, from Ontario, Canada, who wanted to contribute to getting to the bottom of what happened.
Solving the mystery
Lambert headed out with his dog, Rocco, on a three-day trip with GPS coordinates starting in the Yukon’s Ruby Range mountains near Haines Junction to locate the well-preserved wreckage of the rescue plane.
He traveled 20km via ATV trail before switching to hiking due to muddy paths, dense brush, and signs of bear activity.
On the second day, he hiked 600 meters up the mountain hoping to make a historical discovery stating that it would ‘make international headlines’.
He reaches the site and finds the rescue plane still relatively intact.
Despite the Air Force salvaging parts of the aircraft, Lambert unearths a nameplate from a Pratt & Whitney engine among the wreckage.
“It’s so out of place—just the strangest thing,” he said.
“I’d be happy with this hike even if there wasn’t something special to see at the end of it,” he said of his experience.
All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
