The ditching and subsequent evacuation were successful, but the aircraft and its occupants had vanished by the time US Coast Guard Cutter Casco arrived at the last reported location.

At 1300 hours on 23 March 1951, the aircraft radioed "Mayday" to weather ship USCGC Casco, reporting a fire in the cargo crates.

[1][2] A Boeing B-29 Superfortress from the 509th Bomb Wing Detachment was en route from RAF Lakenheath with the intention of joining up with the stricken aircraft and escorting it to the nearest landing site.

Casco was later joined by British planes, weather ships, a submarine, and several warships, including the USS Coral Sea, which arrived at the crash site over 19 hours later, on Sunday, 25 March.

A copy of the Air Force official report into the crash was provided to the Shreveport Times in 2011 via a Freedom of Information Act request.

[4] In 2012, more than 50 years after the disappearance of all personnel on board the plane, two men from the crash were granted graves at the Arlington National Cemetery.