Lake Mead B-29 Crash Site

 historical layer / disappeared object, aircraft crash site

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In July of 1948, a B-29A Superfortress bomber was on an Army Air Forces scientific mission to study variations in solar radiation with altitude as part of the Upper Air Research Project. The mission called for runs from "as low as possible" to 30,000 feet and back. The aircraft had taken off from Inyokern, CA and was on one of its final runs of the day. After completing a run to 30,000 feet east of Lake Mead, the crew began their descent and leveled out just 300 feet above the lake's surface. It was a midsummer's day and winds were completely calm. The crew described the lake as looking like a mirror, with the sun reflecting brightly off the surface. These conditions make judging height above the surface incredibly difficult. Combine that with an incorrectly set altimeter, thermal activity from midday heat and inexperience on the part of the pilots in flight over water and the stage for this accident was set.