The “Ghost Bomber” of the Monongahela River
History is littered with countless examples of aviation mysteries, like the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, the complications in the Bermuda Triangle and, more recently, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370; all unsolved and all now breeding grounds for conspiracy theories. These stories are recognized all over the world. The city of Pittsburgh has its own, lesser-known aviation mystery that remains unsolved to this day: the B-25 bomber that (maybe) lays in the depths of the Monongahela River (the mon), often referred to as Pittsburgh’s ‘ghost bomber’.
Photo by Don Johnson.
On January 31st, 1956, Major William Dotson was piloting a B-25 Mitchell bomber, along with five other passengers and crew members, from Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada to Olmsted Air Force Base in Harrisburg, Pa, with two stops along the way for maintenance and refueling. The purpose of the flight was to pick up aircraft parts from Harrisburg and transfer them to another location thereafter. The crew stopped to refuel at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma, then they proceeded to Selfridge Air Force Base in Michigan. They were supposed to refuel once again during this stop in Michigan, but they elected to proceed to Pennsylvania without additional fuel to keep up with their tight schedule after it was decided that the amount of fuel they were estimated to have had was enough to get them there.
Right around 4 pm, the crew reported an “obvious and unusual” decrease in the amount of fuel that remained in all of their fuel tanks. The crew decided that they likely wouldn’t make it all the way to Harrisburg and requested permission to land at the Greater Pittsburgh Airport, known today as the Pittsburgh International Airport. According to the official report of the incident, the aircraft was estimated to have had about 120 gallons of fuel remaining at that point.
As the aircraft began its descent, the wing tanks were showing that they were completely empty, and the main tank was showing roughly 80 gallons of fuel remaining. With the heavily populated city of Pittsburgh now in their sights, the aircraft was turned toward the south to avoid the potential of crashing in a residential area. At this point, the crew came to the conclusion that they were constantly losing fuel at an extremely high rate and likely wouldn’t make it all the way to the Greater Pittsburgh Airport. Major Dotson requested permission to land, instead, at Allegheny County Airport.
At 4:09 pm, with the Monongahela River (the Mon) in sight, the engines came to a halt, and the aircraft began to glide. Major Dotson lowered the wing flaps and the massive B-25 bomber floated roughly 30 feet over the heads of onlookers on the Homestead High Level Bridge, known today as the Homestead Grays Bridge. Dotson was able to successfully complete a wheels-up splash landing in the Mon just shy of the Glenwood Bridge.
A Google Maps screenshot showing where the plane went down.
All six passengers and crew members survived the initial crash. Everyone was able to reach the upper surface of the aircraft as it floated downstream. The aircraft remained afloat for roughly 11 minutes before the swim of their lives would begin. Three of these individuals were able to remain afloat long enough to be rescued from the icy water. One man, Master Sergeant Alleman, was able to swim, “with great difficulty”, to the shoreline where he was rescued by civilians. Two of the men, Captain Jean Ingraham and Staff Sergeant Walter Soocey, were not able to reach the shoreline and, ultimately, drowned in their efforts. Their bodies were not found until months later.
In the hours after the plane sank to the bottom of the Mon, the Forsythia of the U.S. Coast Guard was allegedly able to snag one of the wings of the aircraft with its line in an effort to pull it to the surface of the river. However, the line slipped, and the B-25, again, floated downstream and sank back down to the depths of the river, never to be seen again. The U.S. Coast Guard’s search continued for another 14 days, to no avail.
Of course, conspiracy theorists have run rampant with this story. And for good reason. At any given point, the Mon’s depth rests between 9-35 feet with an average depth of around 20 feet. The B-25 Mitchell Bomber stands 16 feet and four inches tall. How is it that a 14-day search conducted by an agency that operates within the framework of the Department of Homeland Security turns up nothing?
Many people believe that the United States government stepped in and secretly pulled the plane out of the Mon in the dead of night and moved it to an undisclosed location. Some believe it was taken to one of the local steel mills to be melted down. A tugboat operator claims that he witnessed the plane being hauled away on a barge. According to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, a man called a KDKA radio station in the 1970s, claiming to be a truck driver that was hired by the CIA to move pieces of the plane to a missile base near Oakdale, PA. While nobody has been able to substantiate these claims, it does add to the interest that the plane was allegedly never found.
Let’s assume, for a second, that the government did come in and recover the plane without alerting the general public. Why would they want to do that?
Many conspiracy theorists believe that the purpose of the flight wasn’t as innocent as the U.S. Air Force suggests. With the Cold War near its peak at the time, the most popular theory is that the B-25 bomber was transporting either (a) chemical or nuclear weapon(s). Another theory is that they were secretly transporting a soviet spy for questioning. There are also many, more outlandish, theories that include transporting extra-terrestrial beings, mob money, and Las Vegas showgirls that the crew met during their time in Nevada.
Despite all the theories floating around out there, no one seems to be able to substantiate any of these claims; but not for a lack of trying. In the mid-1990s, the B-25 Recovery Group teamed up with the Heinz History Center to search for the missing aircraft using special sonar equipment and divers. Regardless of their efforts, they weren’t able to uncover any new evidence, nor find the aircraft. They believe that the most likely scenario is that the plane ended up in a deep hole that was dredged in the river bed, and that it’s likely now hidden by years of sediment. Additionally, assuming the plane wasn’t removed back in the 1950s, the aluminum skin/frame of the aircraft would have dissolved away, by now, from the pollution in the Mon. All that would remain today would be the engine blocks and landing gear.
Does the plane still live at the bottom of the Mon? I find it highly unlikely. As someone that has walked along that river many times, and even taken a few boat rides on it, I can confirm that it is not that wide. Two bodies were recovered from it, albeit months later, but a 15+ foot tall and 15+ foot long airplane wasn’t? Something doesn’t add up there. Alas, the mystery of the missing B-25 Mitchell bomber lives on. What theory resonates most with yinz? Let me know on the socials!
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