On June 22, 1951, Pan Am Flight 151, flown by the Lockheed L-049 Constellation propliner Clipper Great Republic (registration N88846[1]) crashed into a West African hill at an elevation of 1,050 ft (320 m) near the village of Sanoyie[note 1] in Bong County, Liberia.

The Johannesburg to New York City flight was on the Accra, Gold Coast (now Ghana), to Monrovia, Liberia leg of its journey.

After a day's search, the "completely disintegrated remains of the Pan American World Airways plane that disappeared over West Africa Thursday night were found yesterday," Harold R. Harris, vice president of the line said.

Searchers from a Lutheran mission at Sanoye, Liberia, first located the shattered four-engine plane that had carried thirty-one passengers and a crew of nine.

[2] Investigation of the wreckage revealed no indications of mechanical malfunction, the aircraft had enough fuel for another eight hours of flight, the weight and disposition of the payload was within allowable limits, and the weather was above minima.