ker-SPLASH! <|:)~
Posted on 08/09/2002 5:41:29 PM PDT by tophat9000
KLAS-tv Las Vegas
(Aug. 7) -- The waters of Lake Mead hold plenty of secrets, but one of the most enduring mysteries may have finally been solved. A local group claims to have found the wreckage of a B-29 bomber that crashed into the lake more than 50 years ago. George Knapp of the I-team has reported in the past about the search for the B-29 and has more in this special assignment.
It was July 1948, three years after the end of World War II, a B-29 bomber conducting classified atmospheric research was returning from the Grand Canyon, heading toward California, when it experienced engine trouble over Lake Mead.
"According to reports, the lake was glassy," says Rosie Potito of the National Park Service. "They felt they were 100 feet above the surface. Little did they know they were a lot lower. They hit the water; the number 2, 3, and 4 engines were ripped off from the crash."
The B-29 was swallowed up by the waters of Lake Mead. Because the mission was classified, a report on the crash was kept from public view for 50 years. When it was finally declassified, it provided hints about the location of the sunken wreckage. The crew--four military men and a civilian--could only guess where the bomber went down, and their guess came after they floated on a raft for six hours before being rescued.
In the ensuing years, numerous attempts were made to find the B-29. There were conflicting theories and rival technologies involved in the searches.
Some claimed to have succeeded but their stories never panned out.
Rosie Potito of the National Park Service says when asked if she knows where it is, “We have a general idea where it is, but I don't know if anyone has an exact idea.”
Not anymore. A news conference is scheduled for this Friday to announce that the bomber has been found. The group that claims to have found it requested that most information be embargoed until that time.
The I-Team first learned about the find last summer, but the people involved changed their minds about going public with the story. In the year since then, they have reportedly dove on the wreckage and have recorded videotape of the bomber on the bottom. As we reported last year, the best guess is that the plane is in the Overton arm of the lake in water too deep for all but the most experienced divers....what a find it would be though.
The B-29 is the same model plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. Only 4000 were ever made (16 are still intact) and only one in the world is still deemed flight worthy.
The Park Service says, even though it hasn't found the plane, the B-29 is government property and a protected cultural and historical resource. The Park Service is expected to make its own statement, discouraging people from disturbing the site and warning of dangers to divers who try to reach such depths.
From what we know, locating the plane proved to be an adventure in itself, and even though the Park Service has yet to be informed where the bomber is, it too is happy that the mystery may finally have been solved.
A news conference is scheduled for Friday morning at City Hall. Reporters have been told they will be given video clips of the B-29 recorded on the bottom of the lake. Some of the names of those involved in the dive team are well known to Channel 8 viewers. We will have that part of the story on Friday.
ker-SPLASH! <|:)~
Back in 1956, a B-25 originating out of Nellis flew east and was eventually ditched in the Monongahela River at Pittsburgh. They never did find that one. You can read about it here.
The only thing marring the occasion was that the keeper of this national treasure, the former "Confederate Air Force", apparently has given in to political correctness and is now known as the "Comemorative Air Force".
This link might interest you (if you haven't been to it already).
What a coincidence, because I was in the Meziadin Lake area only last week. If I had found this link before then, I would have gone to see the B-36 parts at the museum in Stewart, BC.
BOEING B-29 SUPERFORTRESS NEEDS A LIFT The "Beetle Bomb," a B-29 bomber situated in 250 feet of water at the bottom of Lake Mead in Nevada, needs to be recovered prior to 21 July 1998; otherwise it will become part of Lake Mead National Park and will then be untouchable. The plane crashed into the lake in 1948 with a crew of five Army Air Corps members and a civilian scientist. They were on a joint Army-Navy mission to measure gamma rays and radiation from the sun in the upper atmosphere. One of the plane's four engines caught fire, forcing the pilot to ditch it into the lake south of Echo Bay. As the plane hit the water, it bounced about 200 feet into the air and then came back down. There was no loss of life and only one person was injured. The location was marked by the crew. The former mayor of North Las Vegas and some of his dive buddies, using a remote operated vehicle (ROV), similar to the one that found the Titanic, located the plane. The plane can be raised with lift bags. Nearby is a PBY in approximately 100 feet of water. (The National Park allows salvaging of planes and boats in the lake. A $100 fee is required.) -- Posted: 3/15/98
It the planes are now inside the NP, we'll never see a private group salvage them.
The last time a B-36 ever flew was on April 30, 1959 when a B-36J was flown to Wright Field, Ohio from Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. That particular aircraft, whose photo is shown below, was flown there to become a part of the USAF Museum Collection.
Regards,
Regards,
Convair B-36, Boeing B-52B and B-47E at Eglin AFB firepower demonstration
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
