page_title: 1971 B-52C Lake Michigan crash
section_title: B-52C 54-2666
hierarchical_section_title: 1971 B-52C Lake Michigan crash / B-52C 54-2666
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of B-52 Model C 54-2666 bomber that crashed January 8, 1971 into Lake Michigan
context_page_description: On January 7, 1971, a Boeing B-52C Stratofortress of Strategic Air Command crashed into northern Lake Michigan at the mouth of Little Traverse Bay near Charlevoix, Michigan, while on a low-level training flight. All nine crew members aboard were lost. No remains of the crewmen were recovered. Parts of the aircraft were retrieved from a water depth of 225 feet in May and June 1971. The structural remains included parts of the wings, all eight engines, the tail, crew section, landing gear and wheels, plus numerous smaller parts of the plane. Oceans Systems, a Florida-based salvage company, carried out the recovery mission. It remains the deadliest plane crash involving a B-52 Stratofortress in aviation history.
context_section_description: The B-52C used on the mission of Thursday January 7, 1971, with the call sign "Hiram 16", had been built in the summer of 1956 as one of thirty-five B-52C bombers. From 1952 to 1962 a total of 744 B-52s of all models were built. By January 1971, all thirty-one remaining B-52Cs were stationed at Westover Air Force Base near Springfield, Massachusetts.  The aircraft were more than 15 years old and four of the original thirty-five had been lost to accidents. None of the remaining aircraft had been modified to cope with the structural stress demands of low-level flight. All were used for training in their designed high altitude role and, after May 1960, in the new low-level role.  Low-level B-52 missions were typically flown at 300 to 500 ft (91 to 152 m) above ground level. Some of the aircraft stationed at Westover were loaned to other bases during the late 1960s and early 1970s, due to Strategic Air Command being use of later model B-52s in combat in Southeast Asia, beginning with Operation Rolling Thunder in March 1965.
caption: B-52 54-2666
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