Best to fly OVER the Mighty Mackinac Bridge

Posted on by farlane

Michigan Air National Guard by Michigan National Guard

Popular Mechanics shared that 65 years ago this Sunday, an Air Force pilot flew into the record books but out of active flight duty by flying a B-47 bomber under the Mackinac Bridge:

Sixty years ago this week a person standing next to Michigan’s Mackinac Bridge might have been witness to an amazing sight: a six engine U.S. Air Force nuclear bomber flying between the spans of the bridge, barely clearing the structure. The stunt was roasted in the local press, which declared the incident “capricious” and “foolish”, and ended the military pilot’s flying career.

The incident, which took place on April 28th, 1959, involved Air Force Captain John S. Lappo, a native of Muskegon, Michigan. Lappo flew his B-47 nuclear bomber under the Mackinac Bridge.

The Mackinac Bridge is five miles long but there is only 155 feet maximum clearance between the bottom of the deck and the waters of the Great Lakes (Lake Huron and Lake Michigan) below. The B-47 bomber is 28 feet high, meaning there wasn’t much margin for error in Lappo’s flying.

Read on for more.

The Michigan National Guard shared this this is a pic of four A-10 Thunderbolt IIs and a KC-135 Stratotanker flying (safely) over Michigan’s iconic Mackinac Bridge back in 2016. The aircraft were based at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County, Mich. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Elizabeth Hollicker) You can see their latest pics on Flickr.

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World War II Training on Lake Michigan

Posted on by farlane

Wingspan

Wingspan, photo by Phil Squattrito

in advance of Memorial Day, the New York Times reviewed Heroes on Deck: World War II on Lake Michigan (trailer below) that tells the tale of how dozens of wrecked planes came to be on the bottom of that body of water. They write:

The film, by John Davies, recounts the training of pilots in how to land on aircraft carriers. Two passenger liners were stripped down and fitted with long decks (though not as long as the decks on actual aircraft carriers) and floated on Lake Michigan, where the training could take place without the threat posed by enemy submarines. Landing a plane on a floating airstrip was easier for some young men than others.

…Vintage footage shows crash after crash, though only a few fatalities resulted, in part because preflight training included how to escape if your plane were to go into the drink.

The film, showing on many public television outlets (including NJTV on Saturday and WLIW World on Sunday; check local listings), does more than just revisit an interesting tidbit of military history. It also chronicles present-day efforts to raise some of the planes from the lake bottom and restore them for display in museums and airports.

View Phil’s photo of this World War II fighter plane from the 2009 Gratiot County Airport open house background big and see more in his Transportation slideshow.

Here’s the trailer…