This Maine park borders the crash site that changed Air Force low-altitude tactics

The B-52 Crash That Claimed Seven Airmen

On a bitter cold January day in 1963, a B-52 bomber with nine men flew low through Maine’s mountains. Their mission?

To test ways to duck Soviet radar by skimming just 500 feet above the ground. But near Greenville, fierce winds tore off the plane’s tail.

The massive aircraft rolled and plunged into Elephant Mountain.

Only two men lived through the night in -29°F temps until rescuers came with dog sleds and helicopters. Seven others died in the crash.

The wreckage still lies scattered across the forest floor near Lily Bay State Park, a stark reminder of Cold War sacrifice.

B-52s Had to Fly Low During the Cold War

During the Cold War, American bombers changed how they flew. B-52s once flew at 35,000 feet, safely above enemy weapons.

That changed when the Soviets built better radar that could spot high-flying planes and guide missiles to them.

Strategic Air Command came up with a bold plan: fly the huge bombers just 500 feet above the ground to hide under radar. The Air Force tested these “terrain avoidance” routes on the West Coast.

By January 1963, they wanted to try the same thing in the tough mountains of Eastern United States.

The Crew Got Ready for a Risky Training Flight

Nine airmen sat through a six-hour briefing at Westover Air Force Base on January 23, 1963. The team mixed crew from the 99th Bombardment Wing with teachers from Walker AFB in New Mexico.

They had to pick between flying over the flat Carolinas or the tough mountains of Maine. The crew chose the northern route to test their skills in harder terrain.

Their B-52C “Frosh 10” took off from Westover at 12:11 p.m. on January 24. They planned to return by 5:30 p.m.

A Giant Bomber Readied for a Tough Mission

The Boeing B-52C Stratofortress was huge. It stretched 160 feet long with a wingspan of 185 feet.

Eight strong engines pushed the bomber through the air. Lt. Col. Dante Bulli sat in the pilot seat as mission leader.

The first 95 minutes of flight went to checking their terrain-following radar. This gear would help them stay exactly 500 feet above the ground while flying at 280 knots.

The system needed to work perfectly as they planned to fly through mountain passes.

Maine’s Mountains Became a Cold War Practice Area

The route started south of Princeton, Maine near West Grand Lake.

From there, the bomber would fly north toward Millinocket, going through the Jo-Mary and Greenville mountain areas. The weather turned bad that day.

A winter storm brought winds up to 40 knots, making flying very risky. The B-52 flew roughly 100 feet above the ground between mountain peaks reaching 3,000-4,000 feet.

The crew kept going, wanting to finish their mission despite the bad weather and rough land.

The Tail Broke Off in Rough Air

At 2:52 p.m., the B-52 hit rough air near Brownville Junction. Lt. Col. Bulli tried to climb higher to escape the mountain winds that shook the plane badly.

A loud noise like an explosion filled the cabin. The entire 40-foot tail that keeps the plane stable broke off completely.

The bomber rolled 40 degrees right and pitched down. Without its tail, the huge aircraft became impossible to control.

The crew had only seconds to react as the plane fell toward the snowy mountains.

Only Three Men Could Try to Escape

Bulli yelled the order to leave the aircraft when he knew they couldn’t save it.

A deadly design problem became clear: only the three upper deck crew members had seats that could eject. The pilot, co-pilot, and navigator could punch out, but the six men on the lower deck had no quick way out.

The low height gave them almost no time to act. Captain Gerald Adler, the navigator, ejected first, followed by Bulli and co-pilot Major Robert Morrison.

The other crew members stayed trapped as the bomber fell toward Elephant Mountain.

The Plane Crashed Into a Snowy Mountain

The B-52 hit the west side of 3,774-foot Elephant Mountain at 2:52 p.m., just moments after losing its tail. The crash site sat six miles from Greenville and eight miles from what is now Lily Bay State Park.

Seven crew members died in the main wreck: Lieutenant Colonel Joe Simpson, Majors William Gabriel and Robert Hill, Captains Herbert Hansen and Charles Leuchter, and Technical Sergeant Michael O’Keefe.

Co-pilot Morrison lived through his ejection but died shortly after. The crash spread pieces of the bomber across acres of thick forest and deep snow.

Survivors Fought Against Deadly Cold for 18 Hours

Major Robert Morrison landed in a tree about a mile from the crash. His parachute caught in branches, and he died before help arrived.

Lt. Col. Bulli hung 30 feet up in a tree with a broken ankle.

Captain Adler lived through something rare, his parachute failed to open, but he lived when his seat landed upright in deep snow. He broke his skull and three ribs.

Both men faced harsh cold: -29°F and snow five feet deep. They fought to stay alive through the night, waiting 18 hours for help.

Searchers Looked in the Wrong Places at First

A worker nearby saw the final moments of the flight and reported black smoke rising from the forest. About 80 rescuers quickly came from the Maine State Police, Fish and Game Department, and Civil Air Patrol.

The search ran into problems right away. Aircraft looking for the crash focused too far south and east of where the B-52 actually went down.

The deep snow, thick forest, and rough land made the search very hard. Searchers finally found the crash site on January 25, nearly a day after the bomber crashed.

Rescuers Fought Through Deep Snow to Save Lives

Scott Paper Company workers plowed 10 miles of roads through snowdrifts up to 15 feet deep.

This opened a path for rescuers who then used snowshoes, dog sleds, and snowmobiles to cover the final mile to the crash site.

At 11 a.m. on January 25, a helicopter finally reached the area and airlifted both survivors to Dow Air Force Base for medical treatment.

Technical Sergeant Gene Slabinski led the pararescue team that extracted the men from the wilderness.

The rescue teams showed remarkable determination, pushing through extreme conditions to reach the survivors before it was too late.

Wreckage Still Sits on the Mountain Today

The crash changed how the Air Force thought about B-52 operations.

Engineers found critical structural weaknesses that made the bombers vulnerable during low-altitude flights. Large pieces of “Frosh 10” remain scattered across Elephant Mountain today, left as they fell in 1963.

The Moosehead Riders Snowmobile Club erected a granite memorial at the site in 1998.

The wreckage serves as a living memorial to the seven airmen who died and the risks service members took during Cold War training missions.

Visitors can hike to the site and see the twisted metal that tells the story of that tragic January day.

Visiting Lily Bay State Park, Maine

Lily Bay State Park at 13 Myrle’s Way in Greenville gives you access to the 1963 B-52 crash memorial site. You’ll pay $5 day use (Maine residents over 65 get $1, kids 5-11).

The memorial requires an 8-mile drive on gravel logging roads via Prong Pond Road. The Center for Moosehead History on Lakeview Street displays recovered ejection seats from the crash.

Each January, there’s a memorial snowmobile ride to the crash site.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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