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Sterling L. Ambrose
Class of 1948

Corporal, U.S. Air Force
Non-hostile Air Crash
Died March 23, 1951 in Newfoundland

Corporal Ambrose. was a passenger aboard a C-124 Globemaster transport assigned to the 715th Bomber Squadron, 509th Bomber Wing at Gander, Newfoundland. On March 23, 1951, the aircraft was enroute from Gander to Mildenhall Air Base, England when it disappeared about six hundred miles from Ireland, killing all 53 airman on board.

Corporal Ambrose was awarded the
National Defense Service Medal.

The Frederick News-Post, March 24, 1951
Cpl. Sterling Lee Ambrose
2 Brunswick Men Aboard Missing Plane*
Two Brunswick airmen are aboard a C-124 Air Force transport plane missing on a flight from Maine to England, the Strategic Air Command Headquarters in Omaha, Neb. Informed their parents Friday evening. Among the 53 persons aboard the transport are: Cpl. Sterling L. Ambrose, 19, son of Mrs. Rosie Ambrose Weller, of 115 Ninth Avenue, Brunswick. Cpl. Ambrose has been in the service since his graduation from Brunswick High School in 1948. He is a stepson of William Weller, Brunswick radio shop proprietor. Families of the two service men were notified between 4 and 5 o'clock on Friday afternoon.
** Friday, March 23, 1951 No Trace Of Craft Found In Atlantic
Searchers From Three Nations Join Hunt, Brig. Gen. Cullen Is Believed Passenger
A giant U.S. Air Force transport plane with 53 persons aboard vanished in fog and rain over the Atlantic Ocean today while enroute from the United States to England. One of the passengers was believed to be a brigadier general.
Search and rescue planes from three nations scoured the wind-tossed seas in a thus far fruitless search for some trace of wreckage, survivors or life rafts. Officials at Shannon airport in Ireland said the big plane, a C-124, which is known as the Globemaster radioed at 1 a.m. that it had 52 persons aboard including a VIP (very important person) with the rank of brigadier general . At the time of the report that plane crew gave their position as 800 miles southwest of Ireland.
The plane, of a type used to ferry personnel and supplies across the ocean, was enroute to Mildenhall Air Base, Suffolk from the base at Limestone, Me. At. Limestone, the base public inromation officer confirmed that 53 persons were aboard.
British, Irish and U.S. Planes were engaged in the search for the Globemaster, which normally would carry life rafts.
The Royal Air Force control station directing the search operations said the plane carried a Brigadier General Cullens. This report aroused belief that he was Brig. Gen. Paul T. Cullen, deputy commander at Barksdale Field, near Shreveport, La., who left there Wednesday for a European destination.
The U.S. Third Air Division, headquarters here and the Royal Air Force said they had non information about the number of persons aboard. The British Press association did not announce the source of its information on the number.
Air Force headquarters here and in Washington also would not comfirm the Gen. Cullen was on board. American and British search and rescue planes, some carrying lifeboats, combed the area where the plane was last reported, but saw no signs of the missing Globemaster even after it was presumed to have exhausted its gas supply.
That type of plane normally carries its own life rafts, equipped with ample food, water and clothing to enable its passengers to survive for sometime. The search planes reported low ceilings and bad weather in the area.
The missing plane took off from an intermediate stop at Gander, Newfoundland, at 4:20 p.m. (11:20a.m. Est) yesterday and was due at Mildenhall at 5:20p.m. (12:20 a.m.) Today.
The first alert was sent out at 3:49a.m. (10:49p.m. Est Thursday) after the craft failed to give further position reports.
No information was received from any of the weather ships along the route which the huge craft was supposed to follow.
The C-124, larger, more modern version of the C-74 troop and cargo plane, is capable of transporting more than 200 troops with full field equipment. When fully loaded it can fly about 2,000 miles without refueling.