June 23, 1950 was two days before North Korea invaded South Korea. It was also the day that Flight 2501, a Douglas DC-4 airliner that was a converted World War II C54 transport plane, departed from New York’s LaGuardia Airport in the evening, headed to Seattle. It had 55 passengers on board including six children and three crew members. The plane disappeared over Lake Michigan and has never been found. There is even a book about it called “Fatal Crossing.”

According to Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates (MSRA), the flight left on time at 7:30 PM and headed west under clear skies. The pilot was 35-year-old Captain Robert C. Lind of Hopkins, Minnesota. In the right-hand seat was co-pilot Verne F. Wolfe, also 35, of Minneapolis. 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.

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The uneventful flight passed safely over Cleveland, Ohio, and continued west toward Minneapolis, Minnesota – a major hub for Northwest Airlines. As the DC-4 passed over Battle Creek, Michigan at 11:51 PM Eastern Time, Captain Lind notified Northwest’s Air Traffic Control Center at Chicago by radio that he estimated passing over Milwaukee at 11:37 PM Central Time. He was flying level at 3,500 feet.

As the plane reached the lakeshore at 12:13 AM EST that evening, Captain Lind requested clearance from air traffic control to go to 2,500 feet, most likely because of the storms over Lake Michigan. He was denied due to other traffic in the area.

That was the last communication from Flight 2501 and the disappearance of the aircraft marked the largest aviation disaster in world history to that point.

The DC-4, used by Northwest Airlines for Flight 2501 was considered a sturdy and reliable aircraft and the flight had a well-trained crew.

According to MSRA, Captain Lind had flown for Northwest Airlines since 1941. He was checked out on DC-4 type aircraft and qualified on the Milwaukee to New York segment five years earlier. He maintained his qualification in DC-4s, logging almost 200 hours on that aircraft, and had flown over the route continuously. In the 90 days prior to this flight, he had flown 105 hours in DC-4 aircraft and made 15 round trips on the Minneapolis to New York and Minneapolis to Washington routes. Captain Lind also had over 900 hours logged flying solely on instruments. Just four months before this flight, he completed a Civil Aeronautics Administration physical and he had a total rest period of 24 hours since his last flight. MSRA says, “If anyone was prepared for this flight, it was Captain Robert Lind.”

Co-Pilot Verne F. Wolfe had been with Northwest Airlines almost as long as Captain Lind had and was a capable pilot in his own right.

The crew checked in with Northwest flight control operations center at LaGuardia Airport to prepare for the flight and the weather all along the route was carefully checked so that the flight plan could be arranged to avoid unfavorable conditions and bring the plane in on time.

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The engines were engaged and the plane made its way from the tarmac to the runway. The flight plan called for a cruising altitude of 6,000 feet to Minneapolis. Aware of a storm brewing in the Midwest, Captain Lind requested a cruising altitude of 4,000 feet. He was denied due to other assigned traffic at that level. By the time Flight 2501 reached Cleveland, Ohio, at 10:49 PM Eastern Time, Captain Lind’s request to drop to 4,000 feet was approved by Air Route Traffic Control.

40 minutes later, Captain Lind 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. They were expected to pass each other near Battle Creek, Michigan, and the standard separation of 1,000 feet would not be sufficient due to the turbulence.

By 11:51 PM Eastern Time, Flight 2501 had entered the vicinity of the growing storm. Captain Lind reported that he was over Battle Creek at 3,500 feet and would reach Milwaukee by 11:37 PM Central Time. As he neared the lake shore, he made his last transmission, requesting a further drop in altitude to 2,500 feet. He never stated a specific reason and the request was denied.

On the other side of the lake, just before midnight Central Time, Northwest Radio at Milwaukee advised New York, Chicago, and Minneapolis that Flight 2501 was overdue reporting in at Milwaukee. After that, all Civil Aeronautics Administration radio stations attempted to contact the overdue flight on all frequencies, but to no avail. Northwest Air Traffic Control alerted air-sea rescue facilities to stand by. Flight 2501 was missing.

According to MSRA, by dawn’s light, it became clear that the DC-4 had crashed. At 5:30 AM Saturday, June 24th, the plane officially was presumed lost, as the fuel supply would have been exhausted by that time. At daybreak, the search and rescue teams began an intense search on the fog-covered lake.

The US Navy, US Coast Guard and State Police from Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana were all involved in the search. 13 hours later, at 6:30 PM Saturday evening, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Woodbine found an oil slick, aircraft debris, and an airline logbook floating in Lake Michigan many miles from shore. At 5:30 AM on Sunday, June 25th, sonar work by the US Naval vessel Daniel Joy near the oil slick revealed several strong sonar targets.

It’s reported that the Coast Guard vessels Woodbine, Mackinaw, Hollyhock, and Frederick
Lee focused on the recovery of floating debris, which included a fuel tank float, seat cushions, clothing, blankets, luggage, cabin lining and body parts. Small bits of debris floated endlessly over the surface of the fogbound lake. At the time, authorities had hoped to be able to determine whether the plane suffered a mid-air explosion or whether it struck the water intact. These small pieces would be the only clues they had.

The airplane, along with 55 men, women and children had disappeared, leaving few clues as to what had occurred 3,500 feet in the air.

Initial reports suggested the plane exploded in mid-air with debris falling into the lake between Glenn and South Haven, Michigan. Officials began discovering debris and body parts Saturday and Sunday over a four-mile area about 12 miles northwest of Benton Harbor.

Berrien County Prosecutor Louis Kerlikowski and U. S. Coast Guard officials initially speculated that the plane might have “twisted” in the high winds, causing a spark, which could have ignited the fuel tanks. Kerlikowski stated to the local paper, “It must have been a terrific explosion to disintegrate the bodies so badly.”

Coast Guard Captain Nathaniel Fulford said he doubted there was any piece of the wreck “big enough to be worth diving for.” MSRA reports that he actually refused a request by Northwest Airlines to lower a diver into the 200-foot deep water. According to the Holland Sentinel, Fulford said, “I don’t consider it the Coast Guard’s duty to perform recovery duty in this case.” It was reported that Northwest then requested a Navy diver.

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. Fulford had said the largest piece of wreckage was “no bigger than your hand.”

A week later, portions of the bodies of two women were discovered – one about two miles north of South Haven and the other about seven miles north, at Glenn, Michigan.

The Coast Guard sent the cutters Mackinaw, Woodbine, Hollyhock, and Frederick Lee to the scene over the next few days to assist in search efforts. The cutters were employed to recover as many pieces of floating wreckage as possible and to ferry reporters and officials from shore to the wreck site. Newspaper reports detailed the recovery of small parts of bodies, clothing, wallets and other personal effects by the Coast Guard. Authorities in South Haven closed the popular “South Beach” for nine days after the crash, due to the large number of body parts that washed in among the bathers.

According to MSRA’s reporting, a pair of boy’s pants was identified as belonging to 8-year-old Chester Schaeffer who was traveling with his mother, Mrs. Oscar Schaeffer of Port Chester, New York. A wallet belonging to Frank G. Schwartz of New York City was also found. It contained papers indicating that he was on the way to St. Paul to witness the marriage of his daughter.

On Monday, June 26th, the South Haven Tribune quoted retired U.S. Navy man, Lt. Cmdr. R. T. Helm as saying he had witnessed the plane fly over his home at 12:20 am. He said, “Minutes later there was a terrific flash out in the lake.” He told the United Press, “I took a look out of the window and he (pilot) seemed to be flying pretty low. How low, I don’t know.”

On Tuesday the 27th, the Tribune reported that the Coast Guard was conducting dragging operations in an attempt to locate a large enough piece of wreckage to warrant the lowering of hardhat divers to the lake floor. The following day, the Navy’s divers spent about 30 minutes searching for wreckage in the dark water. 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. The area searched was about 16 miles north and west of St. Joseph in 150 feet of water.

By Wednesday, June 28th, newspapers were reporting eyewitness reports from residents in the Glenn, Michigan area. The witnesses say the plane was not more than 2,000 feet off the ground. William Bowie, who operated a restaurant/gas station in Glenn told the Holland Sentinel about how he

was sitting in front of his station at 12:15 AM on Saturday and saw the plane cruise over the area, heard its motors “plunk” twice and saw a flash of light. He claimed to have ten witnesses to the incident, all of whom were sitting in their cars in front of the gas station waiting for the power to come back on after a fierce lightning storm had caused an outage.

The witnesses saw the plane approach from the northeast; follow the highway almost to Glenn, then veer out (west) over the lake. They contend that the plane’s engines were not operating properly. One of the witnesses, Denny Thompson, said the plane’s engines sounded “like a stock car with a blown head gasket.” Bowie reported a funny yellow light trailing from the wing.

Bowie’s wife said, “All of a sudden there was this flash. It was a funny light. It looked like the sun when it goes down. It only lasted a second and then was gone.”

Six months after the loss of Flight 2501, and after careful analysis of the floating remains and communication records, the official cause of the disaster was listed as “unknown”. No cause for the loss ever was determined and no major piece of the wreckage was ever found.

Today, Flight 2501 is listed on nearly every UFO website as a strange anomaly since some in the Wisconsin area reported a bright light over the lake about two hours after the event.

Since 2004, the Michigan Shipwreck Research Association has spearheaded research and partnered to attempt to locate the wreckage of Northwest Flight 2501. It’s a multi-year survey operation that is part of a joint venture project with nationally acclaimed author/explorer Clive Cussler, who operates the nonprofit organization National Underwater Marine Agency (NUMA). The organization mounts expeditions around the world to find the world’s most famous lost vessels. Cussler has funded survey services and crew members and sent them to South Haven, Michigan in collaboration with MSRA.

The nonprofit MSRA still conducts an annual search for the missing airliner every year.