Recovery Effort Ends Hopes Of Survival | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-07.07.25

Airborne-NextGen-07.08.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.09.25

Airborne-AffordableFlyers-06.26.25

AirborneUnlimited-06.27.25

Mon, Aug 11, 2003

Recovery Effort Ends Hopes Of Survival

Wreckage Missing Since 1964 Recovered In Yukon

Many relatives of Chuck McAvoy, Albert Kunes and Doug Torp hoped that someday, the three men would walk out of the Alaskan wilderness. In 1964, the three men, with McAvoy at the controls, climbed on board the aircraft loaded for a gold hunt. They flew into the Great White North, into the Canadian arctic wilderness, and were never heard from again.

For 39 years, family members, suspecting the worst but still clinging to hope, waited for word. Some refused to change addresses when they moved, keeping two mailboxes for fear they'd miss a vital communication from the men in the process. But in the end, the wreckage of the aircraft was found in the bush, about 250 miles north of Yellowknife, the provincial capital of The Yukon Territory. Remains of all three were recovered.

There's no indication why the aircraft went down, although family members say the wreckage of the fabric-covered aircraft was burned.

Bruce Torp, Doug Torp's brother, said his mother "was always hoping that he would walk out of the woods someday. He might have been adopted by the Indians, or who knows," Torp said Saturday from his home in Burnet, Texas. "But after five years or so, you figure that's too far-fetched and just assume he died."

Kunes will be buried near his parents in Phillips (WI). His mother kept two mailboxes — one in Prentice (WI), where her son was high school valedictorian, and one in nearby Phillips, where they later moved. "She just wouldn't change any address for fear that someone would write and they wouldn't be able to find them," said Lucille Kunes, widow of James Kunes, who died last year. "Every single day his mother would listen for the phone to ring." The phone never rang.

After a long, cold sleep in the arctic, Chuck McAvoy, Albert Kunes and Doug Torp have officially gone west. Happy landings to them all.

FMI: www.faa.gov

Advertisement

More News

Airborne 07.02.25: TikToker Arrested, Vietnam A/L Ground Hit, ATC Modernization

Also: Outlaw Prop 4 Mooney, Ready 4 Duty, Ukrainian F-16 Pilot Lost, Blue Origin Flt On his journey to become the first pilot to land solo on all seven continents, 19-year-old Etha>[...]

Airborne Affordable Flyers 07.03.25: Sonex HW, BlackShape Gabriel, PRA Fly-In 25

Also: DarkAero Update, Electric Aircraft Symposium, Updated Instructor Guide, OSH Homebuilts Celebrate The long-awaited Sonex High Wing prototype has flown... the Sonex gang tells >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (07.07.25): Discrete Code

Discrete Code As used in the Air Traffic Control Radar Beacon System (ATCRBS), any one of the 4096 selectable Mode 3/A aircraft transponder codes except those ending in zero zero; >[...]

Classic Aero-TV: DeltaHawk Aero Engine Defies Convention

From 2023 (YouTube Edition): Deviation from the Historical Mean Racine, Wisconsin-based DeltaHawk is a privately-held manufacturer of reciprocating engines for aircraft and hybrid >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (07.07.25)

Aero Linx: Formation and Safety Team (F.A.S.T.), USA The Formation and Safety Team (FAST) is a worldwide, educational organization dedicated to teaching safe formation flying in Wa>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC