JANUARY, 1950: SKYMASTER FLIGHT #2469 DISAPPEARS OVER THE YUKON. IT’S NEVER BEEN FOUND. VIEWERS JOIN THE SEARCH WHEN SKYMASTER DOWN PREMIERES ON documentary CHANNEL SUNDAY JANUARY 16, 9 p. m. ET/PT
Tune in to CBC February 25th at 8:00pm ET 2024 to watch
Documentary filmmaker Andrew Gregg has made many films in Canada’s North often examining some of its great secrets. But there is one very puzzling story that has eluded him for years-- what happened to the US military Skymaster plane that disappeared over the Yukon more than seventy years ago? No trace of the plane or its 44 passengers has ever been found. Their families are still waiting for an answer. Gregg examines this fascinating aviation mystery in his latest film SKYMASTER DOWN which premieres on documentary Channel on Sunday, January 16 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Over 500 planes are known to have crashed in the Yukon but the Skymaster is one of only a few that’s never been recovered. It was on a routine flight from Anchorage, Alaska to Great Falls, Montana. Nothing should have gone wrong. For a few weeks after the disappearance US Air Force planes searched but soon gave up. The US military has since shown little interest in finding the plane. That has certainly hasn’t pleased the passengers’ relatives.
In SKYMASTER DOWN viewers will meet those relatives still awaiting news all these decades later. Among them is Judy Jackson whose mother was pregnant with her when her father Clarence Gibson took that flight. Jackson even went to the Yukon to see the vast landscape where her father vanished. “I walked out there one morning by myself,” Jackson told Gregg, “looked around all those mountains and I thought, ‘Oh Daddy, what happened to you?’ To just have something to bury beside my mother—that’s what I would like to have for her.”
Especially poignant is the case of Robert Espe---his pregnant wife Joyce was the only woman on board, travelling south with their toddler son. Espie spent the remainder of his life trying to find his wife and child.
NOTE: Subsequent broadcasts on documentary Channel are at (at ET) midnight and 3 a.m. on the night of January 16. On Tuesday, January 18 at 9 a.m., 2 p.m., 7 p.m.; Sunday, January 23 at 8 a.m., 1 p.m. 6 p.m.; Friday, January 28 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
To listen to the full M.A.Y.L. podcast show series, please click on MyAmazingYukonLife.comwhere you’ll find each weekly podcast link along with show notes and pictures related to each of the episodes. You can also download each episode from Buzzsprout or wherever you get your podcasts from. While you’re there, hit the subscribe button and leave me a comment on what you’d like to hear next on the show.
I encourage you to become a member of the My Amazing Yukon Life Facebook Group where our stories can come together as we build upon the collective memories of one another, recording and preserving personal stories of the Yukon's rich history and colourful life adventures.
I hope you enjoy this podcast and I thank you for joining me as a "M.A.Y.L. carrier”, as we proudly deliver our amazing Yukon life stories to the outside world.
Cheers
“Trapper Dan your Renaissance Man”
Daniel Halen
JANUARY, 1950: SKYMASTER FLIGHT #2469 DISAPPEARS OVER THE YUKON. IT’S NEVER BEEN FOUND. VIEWERS JOIN THE SEARCH WHEN SKYMASTER DOWN PREMIERES ON documentary CHANNEL SUNDAY JANUARY 16, 9 p. m. ET/PT
Tune in to CBC February 25th at 8:00pm ET 2024 to watch
Documentary filmmaker Andrew Gregg has made many films in Canada’s North often examining some of its great secrets. But there is one very puzzling story that has eluded him for years-- what happened to the US military Skymaster plane that disappeared over the Yukon more than seventy years ago? No trace of the plane or its 44 passengers has ever been found. Their families are still waiting for an answer. Gregg examines this fascinating aviation mystery in his latest film SKYMASTER DOWN which premieres on documentary Channel on Sunday, January 16 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Over 500 planes are known to have crashed in the Yukon but the Skymaster is one of only a few that’s never been recovered. It was on a routine flight from Anchorage, Alaska to Great Falls, Montana. Nothing should have gone wrong. For a few weeks after the disappearance US Air Force planes searched but soon gave up. The US military has since shown little interest in finding the plane. That has certainly hasn’t pleased the passengers’ relatives.
In SKYMASTER DOWN viewers will meet those relatives still awaiting news all these decades later. Among them is Judy Jackson whose mother was pregnant with her when her father Clarence Gibson took that flight. Jackson even went to the Yukon to see the vast landscape where her father vanished. “I walked out there one morning by myself,” Jackson told Gregg, “looked around all those mountains and I thought, ‘Oh Daddy, what happened to you?’ To just have something to bury beside my mother—that’s what I would like to have for her.”
Especially poignant is the case of Robert Espe---his pregnant wife Joyce was the only woman on board, travelling south with their toddler son. Espie spent the remainder of his life trying to find his wife and child.
NOTE: Subsequent broadcasts on documentary Channel are at (at ET) midnight and 3 a.m. on the night of January 16. On Tuesday, January 18 at 9 a.m., 2 p.m., 7 p.m.; Sunday, January 23 at 8 a.m., 1 p.m. 6 p.m.; Friday, January 28 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
To listen to the full M.A.Y.L. podcast show series, please click on MyAmazingYukonLife.comwhere you’ll find each weekly podcast link along with show notes and pictures related to each of the episodes. You can also download each episode from Buzzsprout or wherever you get your podcasts from. While you’re there, hit the subscribe button and leave me a comment on what you’d like to hear next on the show.
I encourage you to become a member of the My Amazing Yukon Life Facebook Group where our stories can come together as we build upon the collective memories of one another, recording and preserving personal stories of the Yukon's rich history and colourful life adventures.
I hope you enjoy this podcast and I thank you for joining me as a "M.A.Y.L. carrier”, as we proudly deliver our amazing Yukon life stories to the outside world.
Cheers
“Trapper Dan your Renaissance Man”
Daniel Halen