On April 11, 1952, Pan Am’s Clipper Endeavor took off from San Juan with 69 people on board. Minutes later, two engines failed and Captain John C. Burn had to ditch in the Atlantic. Everyone survived the impact, but the plane sank within minutes and 52 people died, many of them not knowing where the life jackets were.
For 74 years, no one knew exactly where the wreckage lay. There was no radar or GPS in 1952, only the survivors’ testimonies. That changed when Russ Matthews and the Air/Sea Heritage Foundation, together with Deep Sea Vision and Discovery Channel, sent an underwater drone capable of scanning the seabed at a depth of 600 meters.
The photos showed the fuselage almost intact, with Pan Am’s winged logo still legible underwater. That tragedy is why today, before every takeoff, you hear the safety instructions.
