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BuNo: 141310 ...(8/56-2/58: disappeared
 c/n: 4434
type: 1049A-55-86, modified to 1049A-55-137 during production/WV-2

VW-15's BuNo 141311, TL-1, over USS Sellstrom (DER-255) in March 1957 off the coast of Newfoundland. This is the only known picture of this ill-fated aircraft which disappeared on 20-Feb-58 near Corvo Island, Azores. No trace or clue was ever found of the aircraft or crew.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Source: Official USN photo, via PHC Mahon Miller.



22-Aug-1956    U.S. Navy acceptance date.
05-Sep-1956    Delivered to USN as BuNo 141310.
05-Sep-1956    To VW-15 at Patuxent River, MD; tail code TL-1.
??-Mar-1957    Aircraft photographed (above) flying over USS Sellstrom (DER-255).
24-Jan-1958    VW-15 transferred to NS Argentia, Newfoundland, from Pax Rvr.
19-Feb-1958    0853 hrs (EST), aircraft departed Arg on normal Barrier flight
                         from Argentia to Azores and back, with a scheduled return time
                        of 1100 hrs (EST) on 20-Feb-58.
20-Feb-1958    0259 hrs (EST), last radio contact with aircraft heard; aircraft
                         DISAPPEARED without trace or clue; presumedly crashed approximately
                        110 miles northwest of Corvo Island, Azores, between North Atlantic
                         Barrier checkpoints "Mahogany" and "Pendulum."
28-Feb-1958    Following a week of extensive air/sea searching, aircraft is struck
                         off USN inventory by AEWRON Fifteen (VW-15) and her 22-man crew are
                         declared "presumed dead" (TT: 1,693 hrs/est.)

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