“Flight Simulator 2004” NORTHWEST AIRLINES DOUGLAS DC-4, by Arik Hohmeyer, Chris Grabow & Dale DeLuca. Flight 2501, a Northwest Orient Douglas DC-4 Airliner crashed into Lake Michigan sometime around midnight on June 23, 1950. The quick disappearance of the airplane was attributed to a training crash in Tokyo Bay but, actually. Northwest-Orient-Airlines-Flug 2501 Am 23. At approximately 19:31 the flight departed from LaGuardia Airport. Saturday, June 24, 1950: The Aftermath. 2006 S Navy man, Lt. Cmdr. One month later the Civil Aeronautics Board conducted a hearing in Chicago, interviewing over 30 individuals, including shore based witnesses, Northwest Airlines personal, and Coast Guard and Naval personnel over two days. Aware of a storm brewing in the Midwest, Captain Lind requested a cruising altitude of 4,000 feet. Twenty-first Century Hunt for Flight 2501. Air traffic control denied the altitude change due to other traffic in the area. Visit the Yankee Air Museum in Belleville, Michigan, to see the traveling exhibit about Flight 2501 called “Fatal Crossing.” It is designed by MSRA board member Valerie van Heest, and originally appeared at the Michigan Maritime Museum. He was denied due to other traffic in the area. They saw the plane approach from the northeast; follow the highway almost to Glenn, then veer out (west) over the lake. 2016 Side Scan Sonar reel designed and built by Jack van Heest. On the other side of the lake, just before midnight Central Time, Northwest Radio at Milwaukee advised New York, Minneapolis and Chicago that Flight 2501 was overdue reporting in at Milwaukee. However, because Cussler funded the search, he had ultimate authority where to search. They contend the plane’s engines were not operating properly and one of them reportedly yelled, “Bring that plane down here buddy. As a professional exhibit designer, she was hired by the Michigan Maritime Museum to develop an exhibit based on the contents of her book Fatal Crossing. On Expedition Unknown, Josh Gates searches for a commercial airliner that mysteriously vanished on June 23, 1950 while flying between New York City and Seattle. After the war, she was converted to commercial passenger use. The following day the Navy’s divers spent about 30 minutes searching for wreckage in the dark water. The development of the DC-4 dated back to 1938 when United Airlines conceived the first four-engine, long-range airliner. The details may be forgotten, but the horrible losses never will be. 1998 It had four Pratt and Whitney, R2000 “Wasp” piston engines that could generate 1,450 horsepower. More than half century later, Valerie van Heest became interested in the accident when research conducted in 2003 by the Michigan Shipwreck Research Association (MSRA) , cofounded by van Heest, determined that the aircraft had gone down in the same general vicinity as a number of number of lost ships the group hoped to find. On June 24th, 1950, Northwest Airlines Flight 2501 left New York City for Seattle. The loss of flight 2501 represented the largest loss of human life in a commercial aviation accident up to that point in 1950. As he neared the lake shore, he made his last transmission, requesting a further drop in altitude to 2,500 feet. By 11:51 PM Eastern Time, Flight 2501 had entered the vicinity of the growing storm. The crash remained in the news for only about two weeks. In 2019 after a successful fundraising campaign, MSRA was able to acquire its own side scan sonar capable of much deeper depth and greater range. Even with an amazing amount of clues available, the location of this missing airliner has eluded serious search crews for decades. Subsequently, Douglas built 78 additional DC-4s to fill new orders. So, on the evening of June 23, 1950, as Northwest Orient Flight 2501, a fully loaded Douglas DC-4, roared westward on a New York-to-Seattle flight bound for a layover in Minneapolis, its 55 passengers were well aware of the dangers. Ariz. But if you ask the average West Michigan senior citizen if they recall the loss of Flight 2501, they have either vague memories or none at all. In 2018 MSRA began its own operation using a side scan sonar that had been donated by MSRA associate Kevin McGregor, but could only cover territory in water less than 150 feet because that unit had limited range. Winston Churchill, General Douglas MacArthur and General Dwight David Eisenhower used C-54s as their personal aircraft. The Coast Guard and the Navy initially mounted a rescue operation off South Haven, but soon realized that no one had survived. 2005 Unsolved Mysteries Since 2018, MSRA is continuing the effort independently, focusing solely on the area defined by David Schwab’s hindcasting reanalysis, which he further narrowed down in 2019. The Navy and Coast Guard never located the wreck, rendering it impossible to determine a cause for this tragic accident. In 2016, Van Heest had an opportunity rarely afforded authors or explorers. I'll start this from the beginning, and try to trace this to today. The uneventful flight passed safely over Cleveland, Ohio and continued west toward Minneapolis, Minnesota — a major hub for Northwest Airlines. As the plane reached Benton Harbor, Michigan, it encountered a line of thunderstorms. A wallet belonging to Frank G. Schwartz of New York City was found to contain papers indicating he was on the way to St. Paul to witness the marriage of his daughter. 2017 At that time, however, a squall line that had developed earlier that afternoon reached the region of Lake Michigan. The “Sacred Cow” is now on display at the US Air Force Museum. Archived. They hired Douglas to devise the highly ambitious DC-4E (“E” for experimental). NUMA and MSRA agreed they would need to expand the search area to some 600 square miles based on the evidence of floating debris. Small bits of debris floated endlessly over the surface of the fogbound lake. At that point, all Civil Aeronautics Administration radio stations attempted to contact the overdue flight on all frequencies, but to no avail. When the plane approached the storm-whipped skies over Lake Michigan, the turbulence would have been a grim reminder of the recent air disasters in the news, … 25-year old stewardess Bonnie Ann Feldman was in the passenger compartment taking care of 55 passengers, identified as 27 women, 22 men and six children. The flight left New York’s LaGuardia on time in the evening of June 23, and proceeded normally towards Minneapolis. 1997, Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress. Flight 2501 was a Douglas DC-4 airliner with four Pratt & Whitney, R-2000 “Wasp” engines. How low, I don’t know.” Helm later was ordered to testify at a hearing in Chicago. 2007 It includes personal items from a passenger found floating in the waters of Lake Michigan immediately after the accident. The interior of a DC-4 in the early 1950's. Captain Lind had flown for Northwest Airlines since 1941. To narrow down the search, MSRA began working with renowned Lake Michigan scientist David Schwab, then with NOAA, who developed a more defined, smaller e search area based on drift analysis and hindcasting. At 5:30 AM on Sunday June 25, sonar work by the US Naval vessel Daniel Joy near the oil slick revealed several strong sonar targets. Had the lost passengers been local West Michigan residents like the passengers aboard the ill-fated steamer Chicora 55 years earlier, then the disaster may have had more impact on residents than just the closing of their local beaches. The 1950 Disappearance of Northwest Orient Flight 2501 over Lake Michigan A Northwest Orient DC-4 with 58 passengers and crew left New York Laguardia for … A week later, one of the newspapers reported, “Two divers searched the muddy bottom of the lake for six hours, but found no trace of the missing plane.” It was reported by the divers that they sank into two feet of mud on the lake bottom and that visibility was less than one foot. Producers from KARE 11 called WZZM to ask for material so they could do a story, since many of the lost passengers were from Minnesota. Captain Lind notified Northwest’s Air Traffic Control Center at Chicago by radio that he estimated he would pass over Milwaukee 46 minutes from that time. Captain Lind reported that he was over Battle Creek at 3,500 feet and would reach Milwaukee by 11:37 PM Central Time. 1999 … 40 minutes later the pilot was instructed to drop to 3,500 feet to avoid an eastbound flight at 5,000 feet, which was experiencing severe turbulence over the Lake. APPEARANCE ON DISCOVERY CHANNEL’S SHOW “EXPEDITION UNKNOWN”. After five days, the search ended with the authorities declaring they had been unable to locate the crash site. His course was due to cross Lake Michigan in air corridor “Red 57” which runs from Glenn, Michigan, on a northeasterly course towards Milwaukee and Minneapolis. Winds whipped up the lake’s surface. Captain Carl G. Bowman, skipper of the U. S. Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw told the United Press bureau at Detroit by radiotelephone that “Tiny pieces keep floating to the surface all through the area.” He said his men found hands, ears, a seat armrest and fragments of upholstery. In the few homes equipped with that new invention, the television set, families were watching Snooky Lanson singing the week’s top songs on “Your Hit Parade”. MSRA team with Clive Cussler, Dave Trotter and others. It was re-opened on July 3 for the holiday crowds. “Minutes later”, he said, “there was a terrific flash out in the lake.” He speculated the pilot was looking for a place to land.