United Airlines DC-6 Flight 624

[jeff of pa]

On June 17, 1948 Flight 624 Left California for a flight to New York, With 43 on board......... On Board were Earl Carrol, famous for his Vanities Showgirls, His Leading Lady, Beryl Wallace, Venita Varden, Comedian Jack Oakies wife, & many other stars & Dignitaries of the time. also on Board was a package Containing $250,000.00 in Cash & a Shipment of Uncut Diamonds. At 1:40 P.M. Eastern Time, The Plane hit a 66,000 Volt Substation Transformer , exploding over a Mountainside, Scattering everything evrywhere. ............ Newspapers of the time Reported the Search For The Cash & several Packets of burned Bills being Picked up along with most of the Diamonds, being picked up 1 by 1 from the Mud.......... after The Investigaters Ended their job, they declared the Site Cleaned up and Turned it back over to the Land Owners. A local Mining Company. the Site is being Stripped out for Coal Silt, to Fuel Electric Plants........................ 55 Years after the Crash , My Friend Rich & I obtained Permission to Search the site for 1 year. We received Written Permission Letters, which included Waivers, in case of Injury......... Here Are A few Of Our Finds. About half, of them are Mine, the Coins His, As I don't Have All the Pics of his, or mine

[omnicognic]

WOW! how long have you been hunting this site? That's awesome! thanx for sharing! 8)

[jeff of pa]

one year. Our Permits were only good for a year. I'm hopeing Rich will come on & post his Ring also. IT will be in W&E's best finds next month

Picture of VENITA VARDEN

[omnicognic]

with the history of the site, all that dental work is kinda creepy! anywhere else you could play it off by telling yourself " they just tripped and it fell out!" but not at that site!

[jeff of pa]

we were told By people up there That after the Site was released, the Locals went in with Screens. I can Only Imagine the Items Found Back Then. DID you see the date on the INSPECTION PLATE ? "Halloween"


Similar DC-6

[bergie]

Fascinating. Have you determined that the "V" is for Vanities show girs?

[jeff of pa]

You Know what BERGIE, I never Realized that Posability. I thought Posabily from Venita Varden's, Travel Bag, But Now you gave me another thought? Thanks

[bergie]

Sure thing. I read something online about the accident and it said there were several Vanities show girls on the plane, so maybe it's some kind of logo or jewelry item

[stoneshirt]

Great work Jeff!!
I can't believe you found BOTH Cufflinks,whats the Odds on that?? Ken.Kinda Spooky.

[Rich in Central PA]

Here are 3 more rings that I found at the crash site.

1.? The "Signet Ring" has not been positively identified so if anybody has any ideas about the lettering and/or the side markings please let me know.

2.? This "Coin Ring" was made from a British Two Shillings coin known at the time as a King George V? Florin. It was most likely hand-made by one of the passengers while in WW2.

3.? This 1.5 karat 14K gold diamond ring has the initials inscribed inside A.B.S. It belonged to the passenger Arthur Butler Smith who was an Auditor with Brown Brothers Harriman bank in Brooklyn, NY. Unfortunately, there was no mention of any next of kin, but I'm still looking. Ring was professionally appraised for $8,250.00.

[bergie]

What were the depths of some of these finds? Thank you.

[Rich in Central PA]

Some of the coins, rings, and other stuff were just under the topsoil to about 6 inches. Remember the plane crashed into a slush bank, which is loose coal dirt, and therefore the ground was still soft but compacted coal dirt. I do remember pulling out a quarter under some rocks and dirt at about 6 inches or so and the diamond ring was close to that...................Rich

[jeff of pa]

Great work Jeff!!
? I can't believe you found BOTH Cufflinks,whats the Odds on that?? Ken.Kinda Spooky.

? ? ? ?From the Time I found the first one Rich kept telling me the other one gotta be there. I thought "Yea Right, Needle in a Haystack "? ?several month later on my way out, about 500 ft. from the first one, I found it? Thanks for noticing KEN ; jeff

[sgtfda]

Jeff

Check the area at night with a strong ultraviolet light. Some diamonds fluorescence a stong blue under UV.

[jeff of pa]

here is a link I forgot to ad http://www.geocities.com/welkerlots/beryl.htm I still wonder IF we found the Coin

[Rich in Central PA]

Here's a few more items that we found.?

1.Jeff found the sterling silver ladies brooch.
2. Jeff and Rich each found one of these from the CR & L lines.......Connecticut Railway & Light transportation tokens.
3. A closer look at the Mason ring that Jeff found.............has a 1/4 karat diamond in the center 14K

[dudes2112]

Really cool and kinda creepy at the same time! Thanks for sharing all of those great finds.

Dudes

[spotz]

Jeff! Did I ever mention that you are a DOG! One VERRY LUCKY DOG! Bet it was a lot of work. Average THers don't stop to think of all the time, labor, gas, etc. that goes into a find like this. Great job. Hope I do something beyond the norm someday. Spotz

[jeff of pa]

? THANKS SPOTS? & yes,? about a 40 Mile Round trip Daily, for me. and we Dug well over 60 pounds of aircraft Metal, each piece about the size of a dime on average.? plus. every night & rainy day, we were researching the Crash from all angles. Plus I put an Ad in the Paper, requesting original Newspapers From the Time. Which also meant Running back up to the area & talking to People who saw the plane crash,? or Went to the Site to look.Rich Even got a tour of the site by a Fire Fighter who was there. which was very valuable, in nailing down the site,RICH was also running to librarys & doing his thing on the computer to find out what he could about the Passengers & Crew.Alot of Work, But when you Enjoy What you Do. it's Very Rewarding work? jeff

[williefire]

What else can I sa But "AWESOME"....hunt of a lifetime... Wade