1972 B-52C Lake Michigan crash

On January 8, 1971, a Strategic Air Command B-52 low level flight training bomber B-52C 54-2666 crashed into northern Lake Michigan at the mouth of Little Traverse Bay near Charlevoix, Michigan. All nine crew member aboard were lost. No remains of the crewmen were recovered. Parts of the aircraft were retrieved from a water depth of 225 feet in May and June of 1971. The structural remains included parts of the wings, all eight engines, tail and crew section, landing gear and wheels, plus numerous smaller parts of the plane. Oceans Systems, a Florida based salvage company, carried out the recovery mission.

Background
The Strategic Air Command was formed by the United States Air Force after World War II to provide an active defense against any surprise attack by the Soviet Union-Russia. Though an ally during World War II against Germany and Japan, the Soviet Union showed a propensity to instigate problems with Britain, France and the United States by 1948. In August of 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic weapon and by the early 1950's then exploded its own hydrogen bomb. The war of words between the two superpowers escalated during 1950s and 1960's into a nuclear weapons race and a race to develop new ways to deliver those bombs. By 1970 the Strategic Air Command was using a "Triad Defense System" composed of nuclear submarines armed with nuclear missiles, land based inter-continental ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads and the B-52 long range bombers capable of delivering four hydrogen bombs on enemy targets. The B-52 Stratofortress bomber had been designed in the early 1950's by Boeing Aircraft Company to give the United States Air Force the capability of delivering its nuclear weapons far inside the territory of Soviet Russia. The planes were to fly at an altitude of 40,000 to 50,000 feet with enough fuel to hit their target and then return safely to their base of operations. In May of 1960, the Soviet Union made known its capability to shoot such high altitude planes out of the sky by using a surface to air missile to strike CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers' U-2 spy plane over Russian territory. From that point on, the high altitude flight designed B-52 had to be adapted and modified into a low level flight bomber. Something it was never intended to become.

B-52C 54-2666
The B-52C low level flight trainer being used by the crew, referred to as "Hiram 16" on Thursday January 8, 1971, had been built in the summer of 1956 as one of thirty-five B-52C bombers built. From 1952 to 1962 a total of 742 B-52s were built. By January of 1971, all remaining thirty-one B-52Cs were stationed at Westover Air Force Base near Springfield, Massachusetts. The aircraft were 15 years old and four of the original thirty-five had been lost to accidents. None of the remaining aircraft had been modified to cope with structural stress demands of low level flight. All were and had only been used for training purposes, firstly in their designed high altitude role and after May of 1960, in a new low level role, typically at 300 to 500 ft height. Some of the aircraft stationed at Westover were also loaned out to other state-side bases during the late 1960's and early 1970's, due to Strategic Air Command being forced to loan their later model B-52's to the Hot War effort in South-East Asia, beginning with Operation Rolling Thunder in March of 1965.

Hiram 16 Crew
The crew who flew B-52C 54-2666 on its final mission on January 8, 1971 were all veterans of the Hot War in Southeast Asia. They had been loaned by the Strategic Air Command to assist in that war effort and were back stateside by January of 1971 to participate in a Cold War training mission that involved a low level military flight over northern Lake Michigan at Bay Shore, Michigan's mobile Bay Shore Radar Scoring Site. It was a radar site operated by Air Force technicians using advanced electronic equipment designed to track, plot, score and at the same time jam the capability of the incoming jet bomber. A practice done to simulate what the bomb crew would experience over Soviet enemy territory. The crew members consisted of Air Commander and pilot Lt. Col William Lemmon, co-pilot Lt. Douglas Bachman, navigator-bombardier Cap. John Weaver, navigator-electronics warfare officer Cap. Joel Hirsch, tail gunner Tech. Sgt. Gerry Achey, navigator instructor Maj. John Simonfy on board to re-certify navigator and electronics officers Lt. Douglas Ferguson, Maj. Gerald Black, and Maj. Donald Rousseau. The Four extra crew members were on board for a SAC required low level flight Cold War re-certification.

Accident
After taking off from Westover Air Force Base at 1:30 pm EST, the "Hiram 16" crew completed a mandatory practice refueling procedure with its accompanying K-135 Stratotanker. A second refueling attempt had to be aborted and by 6 p.m. EST the bomber had successfully completed and were scored as positive for laying down two electronic bombs at Bay Shore Ob-9 Route targets Echo and Foxtrot. The bomber then proceeded to circle to its entry spot at the top of Lake Michigan to make its second an final bomb scoring run north to south towards Big Rock Point where targets Delta and Charlie were located. At 6:32 p.m. EST the bomb crew scored a successful drop on target Delta. The plane's crew were at that time in contact with the Air Force Bomb Scoring Site at Bay Shore. The two crews were both trying to electronically jam each other as would be the case over enemy territory. Bay Shore radar technicians had the bomber on its radar until at 6:33 pm, just 20 seconds into the electronic pinging of target Charlie the radar screen suddenly lighted up and then went blank. No verbal contact was heard before or after that loss of radar tracking. The large aircraft had disappeared.

Accident investigation
Recovery of the B-52C T/N 54-2666 was not accomplished until the end of June 1971. Winter weather did not allow recovery procedures to continue went started in January of 1971. Ocean Systems, a salvage company from Florida, retrieved parts of the plane that included all four engines, crew and tail sections, landing gear and wheels, and large sections of the massive wings. All recovered parts were taken to Kincheloe Air Force Base near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and laid out in a hangar for inspection. Boeing engineer Lawrence Lee and USAF Col. Robert Saye inspected the salvaged parts and concluded that the accident was a result of structural failure between the left wings two engine pods. With the loss of that wing, the plane nose-dived into the water exploding on contact. The planes wings and fuselage were giant jet fuel cells that ignited and caused the explosion. No human remains were ever recovered. The plane's explosion was witnessed by at least five civilians living on Little Traverse Bay who all said the sky lit up like a giant fireball. Some said it appeared the sun was arising in the west. The accident board also stated that the plane was not carrying nuclear weapons and thus, was not a "broken arrow" type accident. The aircraft had been used past its serviceable time and succumb to metal fatigue.

Aftermath
Beginning in July of 1963 United States Air Force bombers were being scored by Air Force technicians at the mobile radar scoring site in Bay Shore, Michigan. The site was made up of mobile trailers filled with electronic gear used to track, plot and jam the incoming aircraft and its crew. Each mission was a simulated use of electronics on the bomber to jam enemy radar so that the Cold War mission could be accomplished, while at the same time the ground crew of radar and electronic technicians were doing the same. Five miles west of the Bay Shore site was the Big Rock Point Nuclear Power Plant which was owned by Consumers Power and had gone active in October of 1962. The 67 MegaWatt nuclear reactor was encased in concrete under a steel dome that was 5.5 in thick. From July 1963, most low level training flight bomber crews had been using the large green dome of the nuclear power plant as a sight target since flying directly over the Bay Shore radar site did not give the ground technicians the ability to properly score the planes. The bombers had to be either west or east of the Bay Shore-Lake Michigan based site. As early as November of 1963 Consumers Power officials were complaining about the overflights stating in one letter that they posed an exceedingly high risk factor. The B-52C was traveling at 365 mph when its left wing deteriorated causing a complete loss of pilot control. It was 5 mi due North of Big Rock Point when it went down.