Melting ice uncovers 1946 wreckage of U.S. plane in Swiss glacier

Desdemona Despair

By Palko Karasz
16 August 2018

LONDON (The New York Times) – After an emergency landing on a Swiss glacier, the group of 12 Americans drank melted snow and survived on rations of one chocolate bar a person until daring pilots shuttled them to safety after five days marooned on the ice.

Relics of that harrowing adventure and the successful rescue of all those onboard, including an 11-year-old girl and the captain’s mother, resurfaced after more than 70 years this month when scorching summer temperatures in Europe caused the glacial ice to recede.

The melting uncovered a large part of the wreckage of the United States Army transport plane, including a wing and items from the cabin, like canned food and clothes hangers.

Parts of the C-53 aircraft, also known as a Dakota, had already been discovered over the past 20 years. But the heat waves washing over much of the Continent this year, which many have linked to climate change, have permitted the retrieval of many more artifacts that recount the death-defying story of the 1946 flight. […]

The glacier’s inexorable slide has moved the plane debris about two miles. Despite the new finds, Adriano Boschetti, an archaeologist for the Bern region, which includes the crash site, said most of the aircraft was still under the ice, at an elevation of 11,000 feet. [more]

Melting Ice Uncovers 1946 Wreckage of U.S. Plane in Swiss Glacier