A Private Plane Headed to Rhode Island in 1971 Went Missing — Now, Mystery Unveiled

A Private Plane Headed to Rhode Island in 1971 Went Missing — Now, Mystery Unveiled

The mystery of a private jet that was carrying five people from Vermont to Rhode Island in 1971 — that had disappeared — has now reportedly been solved. 

Those onboard were Frank Wilder, George Nikita, Donald Myers, Robert Ransom Williams III, and Richard Kirby Windsor.

“Fifty-three years after a private plane carrying five men disappeared on a snowy Vermont night, experts believe they have found the wreckage of the long lost jet in Lake Champlain,” reported Lisa Rathke for the Associated Press on Tuesday. 

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The article continues: 

The corporate jet disappeared shortly after departing the Burlington airport for Providence, Rhode Island, on Jan. 27, 1971. 

Those aboard included two crew members and three employees of a Georgia development company Cousin’s Properties, who were working on a development project in Burlington.

Initial searches for the 10-seat Jet Commander turned up no wreckage and the lake froze over four days after the plane was lost. 

At least 17 other searches happened, until underwater searcher Garry Kozak and a team using a remotely operated vehicle last month found wreckage of a jet with the same custom paint scheme in the lake close to where the radio control tower had last tracked the plane before it disappeared. 

Sonar images were taken of the wreck found in 200 feet (60 meters) of water near Juniper Island.

“With all those pieces of evidence, we’re 99% absolutely sure,” Kozak said Monday.

The discovery of the wreckage gives the families of the victims “some closure and answers a lot of the questions they had,” he said.