Seventy Five Years Ago, a Plane Vanished Over Lake Michigan

What Really Happened to Northwest Airlines Flight 2501?

by Haliah Berkowitz, age 14

On a stormy night in June 1950, Northwest Airlines Flight 2501 vanished without a trace over Lake Michigan, creating one of aviation's greatest mysteries. It was considered one of the most alluring anomalies because no one knows why or what caused the plane’s disappearance, where any piece of the plane is now, or why there is not a single witness that can give a positive account of what occurred.

The captain was 35 year old Robert C. Lind, born in Hopkins, Minnesota. Captain Lind had been flying for Northwest Airlines since 1941, logging over 200 hours flying this particular aircraft—a DC-4 which is a modified war craft—with over 900 hours flying all together. In the right hand seat was the co-pilot, 35 year old Verne F. Wolfe, born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Co-pilot Wolfe had flown with Northwest for almost as long as Captain Lind. He was a capable pilot in his own right. Toward the back of the plane was a stewardess, Bonnie Ann Feldman. Feldman was in charge of the 55 passengers, 27 women, 22 men, and the six children.

On the evening of June 23, 1950, the passengers boarded Flight 2501 around 7:00 pm in LaGuardia Airport in New York, bound for Seattle, Washington, with a scheduled stop in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The flight left the airport at 7:30 PM under clear skies, they passed safely over Cleveland, Ohio at 9:49 CT and continued to their stop in Minnesota. As they passed over Battle Creek, Michigan at 10:51 PM CT, Captain Lind notified air traffic control that he estimated passing over Milwaukee at 11:13 PM CT. At 11:37 PM CT, knowing of storms over Lake Michigan, the pilots requested permission to lower their altitude from 3,500 to 2,500 feet. However, the request was denied due to other air traffic in the area. This was the last communication received from Flight 2501.

The Northwest Radio at the Milwaukee airport contacted the New York, Minneapolis, and Chicago airports informing them that the flight was overdue for their check-in with the Milwaukee airstrip, and that they were unresponsive to any and all communication attempts. The passengers, the staff, and the aircraft itself were missing. By the next day, it was clear that the plane had crashed, as the fuel would have been completely used. At 5:30 AM Saturday, June 24, 1950 Flight 2501 was officially declared lost. The same day the search and rescue mission began at Lake Michigan.

The U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard, and state police from Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana all had a part to play in the ongoing search of Flight 2501. At 5:30 AM on Sunday June 25, the U.S. Navy vessel Daniel Joy revealed many high sonar targets that could be different potential parts of the airplane. The U.S. Coast Guard focused mainly on recovering the floating debris and other noticeable parts. The recovery took place on Saturday and Sunday over a four mile area.

The Coast Guard’s rediscovery of parts of the plane was the only clue officials had to determine what really caused this aviation disaster. “Berhien County prosecutor Louis Kerlikowski and the U.S. Coast Guard Officials initially speculated that the plane may have "twisted" mid air in high winds, causing a spark, which ignited the fuel tanks,” said the Michigan Shipwreck Research Association (MSRA). Authorities in South Haven closed the “South Beach” for nine days after the crash to keep looking for other clues and parts. They later reopened the lakes to the public on July 3, for people coming in for the holiday.

Even with the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard, law enforcement from the four different states, and multiple divers, no substantial part of the plane was ever found. A newspaper reported that “two divers searched the muddy bottom of the lake for six hours, but found no trace of the missing plane.” So, there was no substantial part of the plane ever found, no witness to speak to what actually happened—just speculation— and no real positive answer as to what caused the disappearance in the first place. Will we ever know what really happened to Flight 2501 and to its passengers, or will this just be another mystery lost in time?

[Source: michiganshipwrecks.org, madison.com]