User:Barbara (WVS)/ghost bomber



The Ghost Bomber of the Monogehela River was an airplane crash into the Mongehela river near Pittsburgh Pennsylvania on January 31st, 1956. The bomber crashed and sank in the Monongahela river near Pittsburgh. The cause of the crash is unknown and many rumors and legends surround this crash. The aircraft was never recovered. Multiple conspiracy theories have been proposed. The crash occurred during the height of the Cold War. Some thought the plane was carrying nuclear weapons or nerve gas.

Aircraft
The plane was a modified version of a TB-25N, and had been used as a navigational trainer. It was loaded with a cargo of airplane parts.

Accident
William Dotson and John Jamieson piloted the aircraft. The plane was to fly from Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada and then on to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with two stops on the way. After stopping briefly at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma, The plane traveled on to Selfridge Air Force Base in Michigan to refuel, and then continued on to Harrisburg. The plane ran out of fuel before it reached Olmsted Air Force Base in Harrisburg. Others believe that the plane refueled at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma and again at Selfridge Air Force Base in Michigan.

Investigation
A team of investigators attempted to find the plane in the 1990s and explained that the difficulty retrieving the plan was due to the plane sinking into a gravel bit on the bottom of the Monongahela river. They also explained the plane floated downstream and then sank. They proposed a theory that described the pit gradually filling with silt. Some local residents described a helicopter hovering over the crash site with a geiger counter.

Theories
Some thought that the government was covering up details of the crash. At the time, the Air Force was evasive and only responded with vague statements. Another theory described the aircraft being removed from the river during the night. It was then loaded onto a truck and taken to a coal plant. The wreckage was dropped into a furnace where: "[It] melted down into unrecognizable heaps of molten metal." Afterwards some claimed that the plane was transporting nuclear weapons. Other reports said that plane was transporting people of 'importance'. Others claim to have seen as many as five or six men rescued from the water.