Compiled by Wayne Blanchard Sep 26, 2023 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–12 Aviation Safety Network. USN PBY-6A Catalina lost at sea San Juan to Key West, 5-9-1948.

–12 Bluefield Daily Telegraph, WV. “Hope Dims…Fliers…Missing Navy PBY…” 5-14-1948.

–12 Daily Courier, Connellsville, PA. “On Missing Plane.” 5-14-1948, p. 8.

–12 El Paso Herald-Post, TX. “Sight Wreckage of Navy Plane with 12 Aboard.” 5-11-1948, 10.

–12 Long Beach Press-Telegram, CA. “Bahamas Combed for Navy Plane.” 5-13-1948, p. 1.

–12 Morning Avalanche, Lubbock, TX. “Signals Heard…Army Search Plane.” 5-12-1948, p. 1.

–12 San Mateo Times, CA. “Flying Boat With 12 Aboard Lost.” 5-10-1948, p. 1.

–11 Baugher. US Navy…Marine Corps BuNos Third Series (60010 to 70187). 5-2-2011 revis.

Narrative Information

Baugher: “Consolidated PBY-6A Catalina….64015 lost at sea May 9, 1948 on flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico. 11 missing.” (Baugher. US Navy…Marine Corps BuNos Third Series (60010 to 70187). 5-2-2011 revision.)

Newspapers

May 10: “Miami, Fla., May 10 – (AP) – The coast guard said today that a navy PBY flying boat with 12 men aboard has been missing since about 2 a. m. (EST) Sunday [May 9] somewhere between Puerto Rico and Cuba. An air search [is] being directed by the U. S. navy base at Guantanamo bay, Cuba, the coast guard said. The plane was en route from Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, to Key West, Fla.” (San Mateo Times, CA. “Flying Boat With 12 Aboard Lost.” 5-10-1948, p. 1.)

May 11: “By International News Service. Tampa, Fla., May 11. – An Army flying boat from MacDill Field, Fla., was dispatched early today to investigate the wreckage of a Navy twin-engined amphibian with 12 persons aboard that apparently crashed Sunday while flying from Puerto Rico to Key West. A B-29, one of a large air fleet searching for the missing craft, reported to MacDill officers yesterday that the wreckage was seen 100 miles southeast of Miami. The Navy flying boat carried six crew members and six passengers, including a Wave officer. The amphibian had been missing in a flight from Roosevelt Roads Naval Base, Puerto Rico, to the Key West Naval Air Station.” (El Paso Herald-Post, TX. “Sight Wreckage of Navy Plane with 12 Aboard.” 5-11-1948, p. 10.)

May 12: “Tampa, Fla., May 11. (INS) — An Army search plane, one of a huge aerial armada combing the Caribbean for a missing navy plane with 12 persons aboard today picked up a steady radio signal on 500 kilocycles, the international distress frequency. The search craft — an Army OA-10 amphibian — reported to its MacDill field base at Tampa that the radio direction finder indicated the signal came from the vicinity of Cape Romano, 90 miles southeast of Key West, Fla. Crewmen on the Army craft immediately began tracing the distress signal in an attempt to locate the transmitter. The Navy plane disappeared Sunday while en route from Puerto Rico, to Key West.” (Morning Avalanche, Lubbock, TX. “Signals Heard in Caribbean Area by Army Search Plane.” 5-12-1948, p.1.)

May 13: “Tampa, Fla., May 13 (AP) – Plane wreckage in the Bahamian Islands was being checked today in a search for a missing Navy amphibian. Two Navy planes were sent to the Long Island area in the Bahamas where a British official reported finding a wing float and several smaller pieces of a plane which had drifted ashore. The missing Navy ship had 12 persons aboard when it disappeared on a flight from Puerto Rico to Key West, Fla. It was last heard from at 2 a. m. Sunday.” (Long Beach Press-Telegram, CA. “Bahamas Combed for Navy Plane.” 5-13-1948, p1.)

May 13, AP: “Tampa, Fla., May 13. (AP) – Hope dimmed rapidly tonight that a Wave officer and 11 others on a missing navy plane ever will be found alive. The fifth air rescue squadron at MacDill field here said several clues indicated the plane which disappeared Sunday on a run from Puerto Rico to Key West was destroyed. This outfit which has combed 144,000 square miles of water along the possible route said it would call off its search at midnight unless some new search angle developed.” (Bluefield Daily Telegraph, WV. “Hope Dims for Fliers, Wave in Missing Navy PBY Plane.” 5-14-1948, 10.)

May 14: “The Navy Department has revealed that Lt. Comdr. Helen Marie Coen…, Saginaw, Mich., is aboard the patrol seaplane missing in the Caribbean for several days. Eleven men are aboard the missing craft in addition to the Wave officer. It was reported lost halfway between Puerto Rico and Key West, Fla., while engaged in a routine operational flight. (International).” (Daily Courier, Connellsville, PA. “On Missing Plane.” 5-14-1948, p. 8.)

Sources

Aviation Safety Network, Flight Safety Foundation, Database, 1948. US Navy Consolidated PBY-6A Catalina lost at sea San Juan, PR to Key West, FL, 5-9-1948. Accessed 9-26-2023 at: https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19480509-1

Baugher, Joseph F. US Navy and US Marine Corps BuNos Third Series (60010 to 70187). May 2, 2011 revision. Accessed at: http://www.joebaugher.com/navy_serials/thirdseries7.html

Bluefield Daily Telegraph, WV. “Hope Dims for Fliers, Wave in Missing Navy PBY Plane.” 5-14-1948, 10. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=138596105

Daily Courier, Connellsville, PA. “On Missing Plane.” 5-14-1948, p. 8. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=34056886

El Paso Herald-Post, TX. “Sight Wreckage of Navy Plane with 12 Aboard.” 5-11-1948, p. 10. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=90455523

Long Beach Press-Telegram, CA. “Bahamas Combed for Navy Plane.” 5-13-1948, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=46507456

Morning Avalanche, Lubbock, TX. “Signals Heard in Caribbean Area by Army Search Plane.” 5-12-1948, 1. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=107908380

San Mateo Times, CA. “Flying Boat With 12 Aboard Lost.” 5-10-1948, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=37289867

Text content

1948 — May 9, US Navy PBY-6A Catalina Plane Lost, San Juan, PR to Key West, FL– 12