The aggregate plant and the B-29 offered unique opportunities for the MHP to work with its sister organization in the National Park Service. The pilot managed to wrestle the bomber back into the air and then ditch all members of the crew managed to get out alive before the B-29 sank. The contact with the lake immediately tore three of the four engines off the plane. The huge bomber hit the water at an indicated airspeed of 230 miles per hour. As the plane descended over Lake Mead, the pilot reportedly lost depth perception above the lake's smooth surface. While testing the device known as a "suntracker" the B-29 crashed into Lake Mead on the morning of July 21, 1948. Part of this research was focused on the development of a device that used the sun as a point of reference to guide missiles as the arched from the United States towards the Soviet Union. Upper Atmospheric Research Project 288 was created to gather basic information about the upper atmosphere at the beginning of the cold war to aid in developing intercontinental ballistic missiles. Later that year the B-29 was transferred to the Upper Atmospheric Research Project 288 at Muroc Army Airfield, now Edwards Airforce Base (Rodgers Dry Lake). In 1947 the plane had its defensive armament removed and was designated as a reconnaissance plane. As part of the last B-29 production run the bomber was delivered eleven days after the surrender of Japan on September 13th, 1945.
Army at the Boeing plant in Wichita, Kansas. The Lake Mead B-29, designated B-29 45-21847, was one of the last of over 1,620 B-29's built for the U.S. Both sites are in the final stages of documentation and the National Park Service is planning to open them to the public in the near future.ĭiver inspects inside the cockpit. The second site was a B-29 Superfortress bomber that crashed into the lake in 1948 after testing a prototype missile guidance system known as a "suntracker." The B-29 is in extraordinary condition and the fact that it is submerged in cold, fresh water will hopefully ensure this excellent state of preservation long into the future. The first site was an aggregate plant that was used in the construction of the Hoover Dam and later submerged after the dam's completion in 1935. Led by the SRC's Dave Conlin and Brett Seymour the project's goal was to aid in the documentation of two historic sites within the Lake Mead National Recreational Area.ĭiver inspects the B-29's crushed cockpit (Photo: Brett Seymour NPS/SRC) From February 19-March 5, 2006, the Maritime Heritage Program's Tane Casserley, Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary's Russ Green and the NOAA Dive Center's Bill Gordon joined the National Park Service's Submerged Resources Center (SRC) for a project in Nevada and Arizona.
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