Bonus: The First Photos

too did any photographic evidence of it. I had never seen a photo of the plane, neither had anyone I interviewed. That's why I asked for your help. I reported that Don John's, the pilot, bought the plane around nineteen seventy and then repainted it. Via registration records, I figured out that specifically, he purchased it in April nineteen seventy two.

So any photos showing the plane with its final paint scheme as it looked the day it disappeared would have to have been taken during a six month span in nineteen seventy two. Finding such photos would allow us to compare the missing planes tail to a description of tail wreckage located by Bob Martinson, the fisherman in poor Dutchess sometime around nineteen eighty. Then we could better determine whether or not what Bob found belonged to the baggage Bogs

plane or another plane. Unfortunately, we are still looking for those photos, the Holy Grail photos, but I do have good news. With your help, we found other photos of the plane to photos actually taken during the nineteen sixties. These are the first known photos of the plane, the only known photos of the plane, and even though they're not the Holy Grail photos, they are important for history's sake. About two months ago, we heard from a listener named

Brian Power, a pilot, aviation preservationist, and entrepreneur. At first, even with his expertise, Brian couldn't find any photos of the plane. Like me, He dug through old newspaper articles, sess the ads, etcetera. Nothing, So Brian took a different approach. Looking at the registration records, he saw that the plane was based in Texas for about six and a half years,

from November nineteen sixty through March nineteen sixty seven. In fact, it was based in a town that shares his name, Brian Texas, which is right next to College Station and Texas A and M University. At the time, fewer than fifty thousand people lived in the area, so Brian the pilot made an educated guess that the plane was stored

at a local airport, Easterwood Airport. He started combing through Texas A and MS digitized archives looking for any photos taken at Easterwood in the sixties, and he quickly found two black and white images that appeared to show a Cessna three tense at Easterwood. One was taken in nineteen sixty one. The other is undated but also appears to have been taken in the sixties. These two photos appear to show the same plane, the same Cessna three tensee.

The question was whether or not they showed our plane, and one eight one to h odds were that yes they did. Because Cessna only produced two sixty three ten c's, so the odds of a three ten c being photographed twice at Easterwood in the sixties and not being our plane were relatively low. But that wasn't enough. We needed

more evidence. Unfortunately, the plane's tail number is not visible in either image, frustrating I know, so once again I turned to two pilots whose help has been invaluable, Mike Travis, and another man who prefers to remain anonymous. The three of us combed through airworthiness records for our plane, looking for unique features that could help determine whether or not the Easterwood plane was indeed our plane, and the answer

is almost certainly yes, it is our plane. First off, after seeing the eastern Wood images, we immediately knew that we were looking at either assess the three ten b C or early model D. These three models had straight tails. Later models had angled tails swept tails. The Easterwood photos

show a three ten with a straight tail. With that, we moved on to a list of optional equipment that our plane the missing plane had, including one a rotating beacon on top of the vertical stabilizer, to a taxi light on the lower landing gear strut, and three a dare I l S antenna on the nose. Both Easterwood photos show a rotating beacon, one shows a taxi light, and one might show a nose antenna. It's hard to tell. So far, everything we saw indicated that the Easterwood plane

was our plane. Their critical evidence ended up being two additional antennas. Initially, our plane had a Leer seventeen A, which is shaped like a shark fin. But in November nineteen sixty the Leer antenna was removed and replaced with an A r C A DASH thirteen B which also

has a very distinct shape. And guess what. Both Easterwood photos the Texas photos taken in the sixties show this antenna, the A r C A DASH thirteen B. Furthermore, yet another antenna and a r C A DASH fifteen which basically looks like a metal rod bent at a ninety degree angle, was also installed on our plane at a particular spot on its airframe after it left the factory, and in one of the Easterwood photos, the higher resolution photo,

you also see this antenna. So both photos located by Brian Power show a Cessna three tensee located at Easterwood Airport during the nineteen sixties with the right optional equipment and the right antenna's installed at the right locations. This is very strong evidence that the Easterwood plane is our plane and one eight one to ah the plane that later disappeared in Alaska while carrying Congressman Hail Bogs and

Nick Baggage. This is why I ask for your help, because now m I A is a wee, not a me. It's about what we can find, what we can accomplish. We just found the first known photos of a famous missing plane, the only known photos of the plane. So keep digging. Who knows, maybe we'll find the holy Grail photos photos of the plane taken between April and October nineteen two. Heck, maybe we'll even find the plane itself.

And one last thing. One of these photos, the Easterwood photos, appears to show a d ice boot on the plane's tail. So it appears we found photographic evidence of what we reported based on documents in episode eleven, tail end that the missing plane did have icing equipment, equipment that for some reason, the NTSB did not mention in its final accident report, equipment that undermines the theory that the plane was brought down by ice. Ben Boland is our executive producer.

Paul Deckett is our supervising producer, Chris Brown is our assistant producer. Seth Nicholas Johnson is our producer. Sam T. Garden is our research assistant, And I'm your host and executive producer, John Wallzac. You can find me and the photos on Twitter at at John wallzac j O n w A L c z A K. This week I have a fun task for you. I want you to read a new book by John Billman called The Cold Vanish, Seeking the Missing in North America's wild Lands. It's captivating,

a book of adventure and mystery written with empathy. I read it in two days. It focuses on people who disappear on public lands in wild places and a father's hunt for his missing son. Again. It's called The Cold Vanish Special. Thanks to Brian Power, Mike Travis, and the Third Pilot who asked to remain anonymous. And thank you to Cushing Me more Real Library and Archives at Texas

and m University Archives. Again y'all support them. Missing in Alaska is a co production of iHeartMedia and Green Forwark Media