SUMMARY OF "SAR" OPERATIONS 9 thru 15 NOVEMBER 1957
Recollection by CAPTAIN Stan Ellexson, USNR, Retired
PAN AMERICAN AIRWAYS Flight #944
At 1:20 PM on the 9th of November, 1957, Commander Naval Air Force Pacific Fleet directed Commander Carrier Division 17 in the USS PHILIPPINE SEA (CVS-47) to embark VS-21 and HS-6 to proceed at best speed to Ocean Station NOVEMBER 30N-140W for an air search and rescue mission in connection with PAN AMERICAN AIRWAYS Flight #944 "Romance of the Skies" which was down at sea.
Captain M.H. TUTTLE, USN Commanding Officer of PHIL SEA ordered an immediate recall of all officers and enlisted men of PHIL SEA. Through the complete cooperation of local television and radio stations in issuing the recall to those men on leave and liberty, the ship was able to depart on her mission at 11:30 PM with about 75% of her men available on board. Volunteers from the USS BOXER (CVS-21) aided in easing the work load of the crew of the PHIL SEA. Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 6, based at NAAS Ream Field, San Diego California, landed aboard just prior to departure.
The following morning the PHILIPPINE SEA was joined by two destroyers, the USS CRAIG sailing from San Diego and the USS DUNCAN which was diverted from its mission to join the search and rescue operation. In addition, 13 aircraft of Air Anti-Submarine Squadron 21 flew from their base at Naval Air Station, North Island, San Diego and landed onboard PHIL SEA at 0918 10 November.
Upon recovering the aircraft, PHILIPPINE SEA proceeded at 25 knots directly to the ocean station vessel to commence search toward the last known position of the Pan American aircraft. While enroute to the scene Commander, Carrier Division 17, assisted by the representatives of the ship and squadrons worked out a search plan which provided 87-97% probability of detection of life rafts which might be afloat.
At 4:00 PM on the 11th, of November a preliminary search, conducted by for Grumman Trackers was launched. This flight conducted a search from 300 northeast of Ocean Ship NOVEMBER to 50 miles beyond it, covering an area of 12,000 square miles. Although this flight was launched in the closing hours of daylight, it was hoped that survivors in life rafts might be detected by either radar in the aircraft or by night pyrotechnic signals from the rafts.
Early Tuesday morning surface units already in company were joined by the Destroyers USS EPPERSON and RENSHAW. A full-scale search was commenced with four S2F Trackers and 4 helicopters from HS-6. Two Destroyers were stationed 25 miles from the PHILIPPINE SEA on a course parallel to that of the down airliner. Helicopters were employed to search from the PHILIPPINE SEA out to the Destroyers. Helicopters, in pairs, flying 2 miles apart at 500 feet, flew legs 25 miles perpendicular to the course of the PHILIPPINE SEA. The S2Fs flew search legs 25 miles from the carrier’s track out to 95 miles while advancing at the rate of 8 to 10 nautical miles per hour or a total coverage of 1,670 square miles per hour. This method of searching was employed for 12 hours each day. By the end of flight operations on Wednesday, November 13th, 64,090 square miles had been searched. ‘
At 3:00 PM on Wednesday, November 13th, an SOS signal followed by DE-6644 was reported by the PHILIPPINE SEA and two of the accompanying Destroyers. Subsequently the SOS signals were determined to have originated in the Seattle, Washington area. The location of the source of these signals was confirmed by the Coast Guard authorities. At 3:51 PM on the 13th, the PHILIPPINE SEA received information that Pan American Airways Flight 744 had sighted an unidentified yellow cylindrical object to the southwest of the PHILIPPINE SEA’s position at that time. Additional flights were launched to investigate the unidentified object and the radio transmission. After a thorough search with negative results, the aircraft returned to the ship. The USS RENSHAW was nevertheless directed to the scene of the reported sighting to conduct a close search. The RENSHAW stayed on the scene and conducted a close search throughout the night and into the following morning and found a 2’ x 4’ yellowish wooden crate which was undoubtedly what the PANAM plan had sighted. At 11:00 PM that night the PHILIPPINE SEA rendezvoused with the tanker USS NAVASOTA and conducted fueling operations and 4:00 AM the following morning. The Coast Guard Cutter BERING STRAIT, which had been directed to assist in the search, joined the search group during the refueling operations.
At 6:45 AM on the 14th, the search was resumed with the launching of four S2F Trackers and four helicopters. At 7:35 AM, F.T. Kingsley, ADC, a radar operator in the plan flown by LCDR Paul G. Cowan and LTJG Lee J. Gaffrey, picked up a small land intermittent radar contact. Shortly thereafter, LCDR Cowan sighted a small object in the water and descended to investigate. After two complete orbits, the object was determined to be a piece of wreckage of a silver or white color. Almost simultaneously with the radar contact the plane piloted by LTJG E.E. Carlovsky and LTJG J.N. Stanley with R.E. Robey, AD2 as radar operator, sighted a piece of white wreckage and a body. While the plane flown by LCDR Cowan maintained visual contact, LTJG Carlovsky’s plane climbed to an altitude sufficient to establish communications with the PHILIPPINE SEA. Rear Admiral T.A. Ahroon, Commander Carrier Division 17 recalled the USS RENSHAW and directed all surface units to proceed to the area at best speed. Meanwhile, the other two "Tracker" aircraft proceeded to the scene and joined in the search for survivors. Aircraft marked the debris with some "smoke" bombs and searched the nearby area for survivors.
The USS EPPERSON was the first to arrive on the scene at which time her small boats were launched and began picking up debris and the first victim. With the arrival of the PHILIPPINE SEA at 11:40 AM, preceded by helicopters, a close search of the area was commenced with helicopters directing small boats to objects in the water.
Upon receipt of the news of the sightings, a new search area was established with VS-21 aircraft conducting searches over a 10,000 square mile area. This area was computed on the basis of prevailing winds and ocean currents. Results were negative.
Teams composed of Hospital Corpsmen, Photographers, Recorders, Signalmen and other volunteer personnel, manned small boats from all surface units and commenced the grim tasks of recovering victims and debris. The small boats launched from the SAR group were directed by semaphore signal from ships and also by visual hand and light signals from the helicopters over debris. As a result of this closely coordinated search, all visible debris and victims in the area were located and recovered. Personnel involved during this operation worked from first light of day until darkness without relief.
The Coast Guard Cutter MINNETONKA, after fueling from the USS NAVASOTA that morning also joined recovery operations and the bodies of 17 victims, numerous packets of mail and small debris were recovered before sunset on Thursday.
Friday morning at first light, coordinated helicopter and surface operations were resumed, and resulted in the recovery of the bodies of two more victims prior to 10:00 AM. The search was continued through the day resulting in the recovery of small pieces of debris.
During the two days of recovery operations, S2F Trackers conducted intensive long-range searches for possible survivors. The aircraft covered an area of an additional 20,000 square miles without sighting any other objects.
Commander Hawaiian Sea Frontier terminated the search at 6:00 PM on the 15th of November as recommended by Commander Carrier Division 17. All units were released after establishing the assurance that the area had been scrutinized with a probability of 99% of detecting a life raft.
ADDENDUM
SPECIFIC NAMES AND TITLES
OTHER THAN
ALL HANDS
REAR ADMIRAL Thomas Ahroon, USN – CCD-17
CAPTAIN Frank E. Sellers, USN - COS CCD-17
CAPTAIN McGruder Tuttle, USN – CO, USS PHILIPPINE SEA
COMMANDER James G. Hedrick, USN – XO, USS PHILIPPINE SEA
COMMANDER Leo (n) Meacher, USN – CO VS-21
COMMANDER Ernest C. Harris, Jr., USN – CO HS-6
LCDR Earl B. Lange, Jr. USN – CIC OFFICER CV-47
LT William A. Simkins, USN ACI/AC CV-47
LCDR Neil V. White, USN MD CV-47)
LT James D. Whiffen, USN MD CV-47
ENS George M. Knight, USN – BOAT OFFICER
ENS Grover F. Fannin, USN – BOAT OFFICER
ENS Edward W. McConnell, II, USN – BOAT OFFICER
LTJG Robert R. SMITH, USN – BOAT OFFICER
LTJG John N. Stanley – "TRACKER" PILOT VS-21
LTJG T.A. Senck, USN – HELICOPTER PILOT
LTJG Earl E. Carlovsky, Jr., USN – "TRACKER" CO-PILOT VS-21
LCDR Paul G. Gowan, USN –FLIGHT OFFICER VS-21
LTJG Leo J. Gaffrey, USN – CO PILOT VS-21
AD2 Robert E. Robey, USN – RADAR OPERATOR (LTJG STANLEY)
ADC Frederick T. Kingsley, USN – RADAR OPERATOR (LCDR COWAN)
BOAT CREWMEN
BM1 Samuel Asber. USN – Bethlehem, PA
BM1 James C. Downs, USN – Dormont, PA
BM3 Harry James, USN – Athen, GA
BM3 John L. Romero, USN – Denver, CO
SN Robert E. Lawson, USN – Shreveport, LA
SN Anthony Manzanaras, USN – Denver, CO
BM1 Gale Hoffman, USN – Long Beach, CA
PH3 Dennis Caruso, USN Brooklyn, NY