Parkite Mike Luers has embarked on a financial assignment to bring home a group of people who were lost 76 years in the Yukon. He and a group of volunteers are hoping to raise funds for the Yukon #2469 Mission, which will help locate the U.S. Air Force C-54 Skymaster and the remains of its 44 pa ssengers. “On Jan. 26, 1950, the plan departed from Anchorage, Alaska, and was on its way to Great Falls, Montana,” he said. “Of the 44 passengers, 42 were soldiers, and there was a mother and child.” The mother was also pregnant and needed some medical help that she would get in Great Falls, according to Luers. “The plane was supposed to check in every 100 miles, and the last time anyone heard from it was when it radioed the tiny outpost called Snag,” he said. “It reported that the plane was flying in heavy icing conditions.” The military spent a couple of weeks looking for the plane, but heavy snow hampered the search, according to Luers. “By February they gave up and never went back,” he said. The search never resumed because the plane was considered an “operational loss” and not one that involved personnel who were considered Missing in Action of Prisoners of War, Luers said. “If men and women are lost in action, the (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency) will look for you,” he said. “Because it was an operational loss, it wasn’t in the department’s wheelhouse to go look for it.”  In 2022, filmmaker Andrew Gregg examined the plane’s disappearance with his documentary, “Skymaster Down.” “That kind of resurrected the idea of looking for the plane,” Luers said. The documentary also focused on the plane’s personal connection with Luers. “The woman on the plane was the wife of a Sgt. Robert Espe, and the woman’s child was his,” he said. “Sgt. Espe, after losing his wife and child, whom he never gave up looking for, remarried a number of years later and had two daughters. I married one of those daughters, Kathy.” Although the couple divorced, they still remained friends, Luers said. “I had heard the story, but to me it was history,” he said. “Then one day Kathy called me and said Andrew had interviewed her. She’s not in the movie, but did provide him with a lot of information.” The black question mark shows approximately where a U.S. Air Force C-54 Skymaster may have crashed in Jan. 1950. Parkite Mike Luers has helped spearhead a search for the plane. Credit: Image courtesy of Mike Luers So, Luers decided out of the blue to contact the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association in Canada. “I asked if they had a copy of the plane’s disappearance report, and I received a long and precise email about the history of the search,” he said. “It turned out that they’ve been looking for this plane for decades as part of their training missions, but nothing has turned up. The area’s pretty large, around 4,500 acres, and pretty rugged.” Over the last five years, Luers and his contact at the CASRA discussed different ways to search for the aircraft.  “We spent a year questioning academic and military people about what kind of satellites and scanning capabilities they have,” Luers said. During those discussions, Luers decided the best way to continue the search is to utilize remote sensing technologies and process the data through artificial intelligence (AI) models. “The mission proposes to integrate geospatial data from Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), Multispectral Satellite Imagery and high-density LiDAR imagery,” according to a report drawn up by Luers.  “We have broken down the mission into phases, and phase one will allow us to use these technologies,” he said. Phase one will cost $215,000, and the price includes a flight scenario simulation, the SAR, high-resolution multi-spectual imagery and the AI model, Luers said. Phase two will require high-density LiDAR imagery and AI model, while phase three will include site reconnaissance and contingency. “We are focusing on now,” he said. Luers and another investor, Jim Thoreson, who has ties with the CASRA, reached out to Project Recover, a nonprofit organization that looks for MIAs and POWs around the world. “They’ve been doing this kind of thing for 30 years and are rock-solid,” Luers said about Project Recover. “Most of their board members are generals, admirals and astronauts. And the donations are tax deductible.” Project Recover stepped up to handle all of the fundraising efforts for the Yukon #2469 Mission, said Christian J. Malerba, the organization’s chief development officer during an email interview. “Anyone can donate, (and) we are currently in an active fundraising stage,” he said.   Donations and support can be made by visiting projectrecover.org or by emailing [email protected], according to Malerba. “Please note “Yukon 2469” in the comment line of the online donation page,” he said. “Donations can also be mailed to Project Recover, 803 SW Industrial Way #204, Bend, OR 97702.” While Project Recover usually focuses on MIAs and POWs, the organization decided to work with Luers and Thoreson to provide families answers, according to Malerba. “If we can do that, we will do all that we can,” he said. “Although the crew and passengers related to this loss are not designated MIA, they are just as missing to their loved ones as someone who was lost in combat,” he said. “They are still missing service members, and our efforts are not limited to whether they are designated MIA or not. Our intentions are to provide answers for their families. This case is one of multiple cases we are working on related to missing service members who were not designated MIA but remain missing.” Throughout the decades, Project Recover has conducted more than 100 unique missions in 25 countries, Malerba said. “These missions have led to the development of a database tracking more than 700 case studies associated with 3,000 MIAs,” he said. “We have successfully located and documented sites associated with more than 300 MIAs that await further recovery missions for repatriation. In collaboration with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Project Recover has successfully repatriated and returned 28 heroes to their families.” Some of Project Recovery missions have taken more than 20 years to complete, and there are some that are going on 30 years, Malerba said. “Financial resources are the biggest need,” he said. “Elements of austere environments provide unique challenges, (and another challenge is) time requirements needed to research the 81,000 cases of missing service members.” Still, Malerba said the biggest reward of these missions is helping families find lost ones and answers.   “When a service member enters the military, a promise is made that if you are lost in battle, our country will do all it can to find and return you to your loved ones,” he said. “There are an estimated 5,000,000 Gold Star MIA family members. It is our mission to provide closure and answers about their missing loved ones.”  For information about the Yukon #2469 Mission, visit projectrecover.org. The post Parkite tied to a search for a military plane lost in 1950s appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less