Maine Missing Aircraft | New England Aviation History

Northeast of Augusta. ME. – May 2, 1972

December 8, 2024

Missing Aircraft

Possibly Northeast of Augusta, Maine – May 2, 1972

At 8:30 a.m. on the morning of May 2, 1972, Lewis “Billy” Hogan, Jr., (28), took off from Danbury, Connecticut, in a new yellow and white, single-engine, Champion Citabria, aircraft, Reg. No. N11655. His destination was Houlton Airport in Houlton, Maine. Houlton is a small town close to the Canadian border in northeastern Maine.

While in route Hogan encountered bad weather and became lost. His plane was equipped with a radio navigation system that relied on ground based radio beacons. At the time he was passing over Maine, the beacon at Augusta, (according to the Maine Civil Air Patrol), was reportedly not working. Investigators later speculated that Hogan became lost when he switched from the Kennebunk beacon to the Augusta Beacon.

As Hogan ran low on fuel he radioed a distress call asking for directions to the nearest airport. The call was was received by the control tower at Portland, Maine. Hogan’s plane reportedly disappeared from radar somewhere Bangor and Rockland. Despite the intense search that followed, the plane and Mr. Hogan have never been found.

Volunteer searchers continue to look for the missing aircraft to this day.

There is a Facebook page dedicated to finding Mr. Hogan. To see it, click here: https://www.facebook.com/Citabria1972/

Sources:

Bangor Daily News, “The Search Isn’t Over For A Maine Pilot Missing Since 1972”, August 22, 2024.

The County, “Brother Of Downed Pilot Asks Hunters To Look For Wreckage”, September 9, 2018.

NTSB brief, number NYC72@AN1YZ

Atlantic Ocean – April 27, 1975

July 19, 2018

Atlantic Ocean – April 27, 1975

On the evening of April 27, 1975, a single-engine Piper Cherokee Six, with a pilot and six passengers aboard, took off from Lawrence, Massachusetts bound for Saint John, New Brunswick. The passengers were construction workers headed for an oil refinery project. As the aircraft was passing over Maine it encountered a snow storm and the pilot radioed that he’d be changing course. When the plane never arrived at its destination a search was begun.

The search reportedly involved more than a dozen military aircraft and volunteers from the Civil Air Patrol, as well as several Coast Guard and navy vessels. The search was called off on May 12th after nearly 24,000 square miles had been covered and no trace of the missing plane had been found.

A few days later, a fishing trawler operating ten miles off the coast of Boothbay Harbor, Maine, caught a large piece aircraft wreckage in its nets. It was positively identified as being part of the missing plane because it contained the aircraft identification number on it.

Sources:

Hartford Courant, “Small Plane Missing With Seven Aboard”, April 29, 1975

Hartford Courant, “Hunt resumes For Plane With Seven Aboard”, May 1, 1975

Westerly Sun, “End Hunt For Missing Plane”, May 13, 1975

Providence Evening Bulletin, “Two Fishermen Haul Up Part Of Missing Plane”, May 19, 1975