The Search for Ables’ S-3 Viking (Point Loma, CA)

Background

For close to a decade for Tyler and over 5 years for me, we have been trying to find a S-3 Viking that crashed off Point Loma, California in the late 1970s. The project got started when Tyler was contacted by the daughter of the pilot Kenneth Ables whose body was never found.

We have a funding request at the end of this post in order to continue our efforts. Anything that we receive will go directly towards the search and the dives. We are also offering the opportunity for some local Southern California donors to go out on a mission with us (see details at the end of the post).

The photo below is actually of the specific S-3 Viking that we are looking for (Bureau Number 159408).

We thought it was worthwhile and informative to provide some details around what resources these projects entail and highlight our partnership with UCSD/Scripps and Air|Sea Heritage to locate this missing jet. The efforts have been extensive and we are making more headway in our journey.

Search History

We are essentially in our 3rd Act in terms of the search. The brief history is:

• Act I – After Tyler found the SBD Dauntless, the daughter of Kenneth Ables II contacted him to see if he could help find the crashed S-3 Viking that her father was flying. When the Viking crashed on March 27, 1978 the remains of LCDR Clark were found but they never found the body of the pilot, LCDR Ables. Tyler did a few dives looking for the plane.
• Act 2 – Tyler had the accident report and we started to conduct additional exploratory dives to see if we could find the wreck. We had the approximate location but nothing else. Based on some sketchy bathymetry data, we made a series of dives and found a lot of “dumped” airplanes (see here, here, and here) but not what we were looking for.
• Act 3 – Realizing that we needed better data, we started to enlist the help of others. I had mentioned the history of our search and of Ables to Russ Matthews (a fellow Explorers Club member) and founder of Air|Sea Heritage. Russ got talking with new EC member Russell Bingham who had access to an Iver AUV and contacts at UCSD. We had a series of calls and developed plans to scan the area in the accident report with the AUV in order to get better data.

Current Progress and Plans

We had a series of planning calls with Professor Florian Meyer and his graduate student Khoa Nguyen along with Russ Matthews, Idee Matthews-Montijo, Russell Bingham, Tyler and myself.

We planned to cover a 1 square kilometer area with the Iver AUV across 2+ days and four missions (1 quadrant per mission) depending upon conditions and how well the missions went. We conducted the first set of scans on the Scripps vessel R/V Bob And Betty Beyster on 22 and 24 September.

Day 1 – 22 Sept 2025

Tyler and I joined Florian and Khoa on the first day on-board the Beyster and learned how to launch and recover the AUV before we left the port for the open ocean. We had some technical glitches on the first day but we were able to scan one sector of the grid. The conditions were amazing and perfect for scanning.

Day 2 – 24 Sept 2025

Russ & Idee joined us for the second day of scanning. We had amazing conditions once again and we were able to conduct the scanning of all three of the remaining quadrants which was fantastic progress.

The Data

We all poured through the data and we had (at least) two legitimate targets.

The first target looks to be a very distributed debris field:

The second target appears to be a section of wing:

We need to go dive both targets. When we overlayed the sonar image with the front outer section of the S-3 Viking wing, it appeared to be a potential match. We will be posting the results of the dives over the next week or two.

Funding

In terms of funding, Florian was able to get UCSD/Scripps to cover the first day and Russ, Tyler and myself funded the second day through Air|Sea Heritage. We also reached out to EC chapter chairs for Southern California (Steve Elkins) and San Diego (Martha Shaw) who both agreed to donate funds to help with the search.

It is important to note that this has been a true “grass roots” effort that demonstrates the power of connections made through the Explorers Club. We are continuing to raise funds for the effort and we would appreciate anybody who wants to make any contributions for our scanning and diving. Every single dollar will be spent directly for this effort.

You can make a tax deductible donation by going to the Air|Sea Heritage website and clicking on the “Donate” button and selecting the “Valhalla” project.

Below is a flyer providing more details. If you donate more than $1,000 you will be able to participate in planning calls and join us for a search day or dive day.

You can also use the QR code below to go directly to the donation site on Air|Sea Heritage and donate via PayPal. ANY amount helps our efforts to locate the Viking.

Thanks To…

• Efforts like this involve a team of people. I happen to be the one writing about it, but there are a lot of people behind the scenes that help make this project possible. That list includes:
  • Tyler Stalter
  • Russ Matthews
  • Idee Matthews-Montijo
  • Russell Bingham
  • Florian Meyer
  • Khoa Nguyen
  • Brett (captain of the Beyster)
• I would also like to that the organizations of UCSD, Scripps, and Explorers Club. This project got started through connections made at Explorers Club and would not be possible without the support and equipment of UCSD and Scripps.
• Thanks to donors Martha Shaw (who got to go out on a dive day!) and Steve Elkins.