Byline: Bill Geroux

Aug. 17--NORFOLK -- The Navy and Coast Guard searched into the night last night for three aviators aboard a Navy radar plane that crashed into the ocean Wednesday night.

The plane, an E-2C Hawkeye, was conducting routine training operations on the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman about 50 miles east of Wilmington, N.C. It went down shortly after takeoff at 11 p.m., Navy spokesman Mike Maus said.

He said the cause of the crash is under investigation, though the catapult that launched the plane appears to have worked properly. Maus said he did not know whether the crew sent a distress signal. The names of the missing were withheld yesterday.

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