On a late September day in 1984, 37-year-old Charles Putnam Middleton III and his friend, Roy Pedersen, departed from Anchorage, Alaska, in a yellow Piper PA-12 aircraft for what they intended to be a recreational moose spotting flight. The plane, bearing the tail number N3751M and equipped with floats, took off without a filed flight plan, a detail that would later complicate search efforts.
Middleton, a white male with brown hair, brown eyes, and a distinctive four-inch scar on his forehead, was dressed in Levi's, a white t-shirt, a wool CPO jacket, and blue tennis shoes. He and Pedersen vanished without a trace, leaving behind an enduring mystery that has now spanned decades.
The absence of a flight plan meant that search and rescue teams had no designated route to follow, transforming their mission into a search for a needle in the vast and unforgiving Alaskan wilderness. The initial report was filed on September 27, 1984, the same day the men went missing, prompting an investigation by the Alaska State Troopers. Despite what would have been extensive search efforts at the time, no sign of the men or the wreckage of the yellow Piper PA-12 has ever been located. The terrain of Alaska presents unique and formidable challenges for any search operation, and many cases of missing aircraft in the state have historically resulted in similar dead ends.
The case of Charles Middleton and Roy Pedersen is one of many unsolved disappearances in Alaska, a state whose rugged landscape has often been the backdrop for mysterious and unresolved incidents. The official classification for their disappearance is 'Lost/Injured Missing,' and it is presumed that their aircraft crashed. Without any wreckage or further evidence, the specific details of what happened on that September day remain unknown. The families of Charles Middleton and Roy Pedersen have been left without answers, a painful reality shared by many who have lost loved ones in the vast wilderness of the Last Frontier. The disappearance stands as a somber reminder of the inherent risks of aviation in remote and challenging environments and adds to the long list of unsolved cases that haunt Alaska's history.Last Seen: Sep 27, 1984
