B-29 Lake Mead 10/4/08

Limited Time
Diving the B29 Bomber

The National Park Service has opened up the B-29 site for limited guided technical scuba diving, where a downed World War II vintage bomber is located in the Overton Arm of Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Being escorted is the only way qualified technical divers can dive the B-29 site.

The site remains closed to the general public. However, the National Park Service has awarded Xtreme Scuba with a 1 year permit for limited charters. We have teamed up with Lake Mead Technical Divers as our dive guides. They have considerable experience exploring the B-29 as well as other technical sites within Lake Mead.

General B-29 History

The Boeing B-29 Superfortress was a four-engine heavy bomber propeller aircraft flown by the United States Military in World War II and Korean War, and by other nations afterwards. The name "Superfortress" was derived from its well-known predecessor, the B-17 Flying Fortress.

The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II. It was one of the most advanced bombers of its time, featuring innovations such as a pressurized cabin, a central fire-control system, and remote-controlled machine gun turrets. It was designed as a high-altitude daytime bomber, but flew more low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing missions. It was the primary aircraft in the U.S. firebombing campaign against Japan in the final months of World War II, and B-29s carried the atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Unlike many other bombers, the B-29 remained in service long after the war ended, a few being employed as flying television transmitters for Stratovision. A total of 3,960 aircraft were built between 1943 and 1946.

B-29: Serial #45-21847

The Lake Mead B-29, designated B-29 45-21847, was one of the last of over 1,620 B-29's built for the U.S. Army at the Boeing plant in Wichita, Kansas. As part of the last B-29 production run the bomber was delivered eleven days after the surrender of Japan on September 13th, 1945. In 1947 the plane had its defensive armament removed and was designated as a reconnaissance plane. Later that year the B-29 was transferred to the Upper Atmospheric Research Project 288 at Muroc Army Airfield (China Lake).

Upper Atmospheric Research Project 288 was created to gather basic information about the upper atmosphere at the beginning of the cold war to aid in developing intercontinental ballistic missiles. Part of this research was focused on the development of a device that used the sun as a point of reference to guide missiles as they arched from the United States towards the Soviet Union. While testing the device known as a "suntracker" the B-29 crashed into Lake Mead on the morning of July 21, 1948. As the plane descended over Lake Mead, the pilot reportedly lost depth perception above the lake's smooth surface. The huge bomber hit the water at an indicated airspeed of 230 miles per hour. The contact with the lake immediately tore three of the four engines off the plane. The pilot managed to wrestle the bomber back into the air and then ditch; all members of the crew managed to get out alive before the B-29 sank.

The crew was rescued from the lake six hours later and was instructed not to disclose any details of the flight, its mission or its loss. As the mission was classified, these details were not released until fifty years later.This B-29 is in extraordinary condition and the fact that it is submerged in cold, fresh water will hopefully ensure this excellent state of preservation long into the future.