Park City biologist helps lead search for Air Force plane lost in Yukon for 75 years

The U.S. Air Force C-54 Skymaster, Yukon 2469. Photo: Courtesy of Project Recover

PARK CITY, Utah — Park City local Mike Luers, an environmental biologist and general manager of the Snyderville Basin Water Reclamation District, is partnering with Project Recover to search for a lost U.S. Air Force aircraft that went down in the Alaskan Yukon seventy-five years ago.

On Jan. 26, 1950, a U.S. Air Force C-54 Skymaster, departed Anchorage, Alaska, for Great Falls, Montana. As the aircraft crossed into Yukon, Canada, they radioed the tiny outpost of Snag to report they were flying in heavy icing conditions. The plane never checked in with the next outpost located 100 miles away. Despite extensive search efforts involving both military and civilian teams, no wreckage or survivors were ever found.

The aircraft was carrying 42 service members and a pregnant military wife traveling with her young son. The wife was married to Master Sergeant Robert Espe, who later remarried and had two daughters. Luers was married to one of those daughters, Kathy, which is how he came to know about the project to recover the missing aircraft. They later divorced, but they remained friends and now work together on the search.

“The boy lost in the plane was her half-brother,” Luers told Military.com in a recent interview. “We’re not attention seekers. Our goal is to find the plane and bring the 44 lost souls home to their families.”

Over the past years, Luers has built relationships with and brought together historians, remote sensing experts, and members of the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association. Together, they reach out to Project Recover, which has spent 30 years locating MIAs from conflicts worldwide.

“For more than seven decades, our military families have been searching for closure in the disappearance of their relatives somewhere in the remote wilderness of the Yukon,” said Mike Luers, an environmental biologist and general manager of the Snyderville Basin Water Reclamation District. “With today’s technological advancements and adequate funding, there is a real opportunity to recover the aircraft and its passengers, giving them the recognition and respect they duly deserve.”

Due to advances in remote sensing technologies and a dedicated team of investigators, Project Recover and its partners believe there is a strong probability of finding the aircraft and have launched the Yukon 2469 Mission. The Yukon 2469 Mission will utilize geospatial data and artificial intelligence (AI) models in search of the aircraft.

The team is currently fundraising for the search. Phase One requires approximately $160,000. If needed, Phase Two would cost approximately $1.3 million. Donations can be made through Project Recover’s website.