| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | July 21, 1948 |
| Type | Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) due to pilot error |
| Site | Lake Mead, Nevada, USA |
| Passengers | 0 |
| Crew | 5 |
| Injuries | 0 |
| Survivors | 5 |
| Aircraft type | Boeing F-13 Superfortress |
| Operator | United States Air Force |
| Tail number | 45-21847 |
| Destination | Armitage Field (now China Lake), California |
The 1948 B-29 Lake Mead crash occurred July 21, 1948 when a Boeing B-29-100-BW Superfortress, modified into an F-13 reconnaissance platform, flew into the waters of Lake Mead, Nevada, USA during a classified mission to study the Sun's solar variation.
After completing a run to 30,000 feet (9,100 m) east of Lake Mead, the crew began a descent and leveled out just over 300 feet (91 m) above the surface of Lake Mead. The crew described the lake as looking like a mirror, with the sun reflecting brightly off the surface. These conditions make judging height above a surface considerably more difficult. The aircraft then slowly began to descend below 100 ft (30 m) until it struck the surface at 250 mph (400 km/h) and started skipping along it. Three of the aircraft's four engines were ripped from its wings and the fourth burst into flames. The aircraft managed to gain around 250 ft (76 m) but then settled back onto the water's surface in a nose-up attitude and slowly skiing to a stop. The five-man crew then bailed out into two liferafts and watched the aircraft sink in a virtually intact condition.
The crew was rescued from the lake six hours later and was instructed not to disclose any details of the flight, its mission or its loss. As the mission was classified, these details were not released until fifty years later.
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Aviation accidents and incidents in 1948
