Two medical paratroopers were deployed to the site, followed by 10 other support troops. Three survivors were spotted on the ground during an air search on May 17. Search aircraft were dispatched when the Gremlin Special never returned. Įxamples of C-47s with Waco CG-4 gliders in England The survivors were Corporal Margaret Hastings, Sergeant Kenneth Decker and Lieutenant John McCollom. Five passengers survived the initial wreck with two, Sergeant Laura Besley and Private Eleanor Hanna, succumbing to injuries the next day. The Gremlin Special flew into the side of a mountain on May 13, 1945. The recovery of the three survivors from an isolated valley surrounded by mountains, enemy troops, and native inhabitants made worldwide news at the time and is the subject of the 2011 book Lost in Shangri-La by author Mitchell Zuckoff. The Gremlin Special was a Douglas C-47 Skytrain that crashed during a sightseeing flight over the Baliem Valley (also known as Shangri-La valley) in New Guinea in the eastern part of Netherlands Indies in 1945. Plane crash rescue operation in New Guinea
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |