I was intrigued to read an article at The Aviationist.
65 years ago today on April 24, 1959, legend has it that an aviation stunt so bizarre it defies belief actually took place in the Mackinaw Straits between the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan.
A U.S. Air Force RB-47E Stratojet reconnaissance aircraft piloted by Strategic Air Command pilot Capt. John Stanley Lappo was said to have flown underneath the Mackinaw Bridge where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron converge. As history records the event, no photos of the aircraft flying under the bridge exist, but the stunt, if it actually did happen, created enough buzz that a legend was born.
According to the thisdayinaviation.com website and the Wikipedia page for the Mackinaw Bridge, fitting a Boeing RB-47E Stratojet under the Mighty Mac was a tight squeeze with little margin for error. The highest place between the water surface in the Mackinaw Strait and the bottom of the Mackinaw Bridge is 155-feet at the center. The tail of an RB-47E stands 27-feet, 11 inches off the ground. If you do the math, that leaves about 127-feet of space between the water and the bottom of the bridge to play with. Considering the RB-47E stall speed in these conditions may have been as slow as 150-190 MPH, the plane would cover that distance in altitude in just over a second or two.
As the story goes, and is told in several media outlets, Capt. Lappo was, “Reported by his navigator” to some higher authority after the bridge fly-under. The legend claims that Lappo was, “charged with violating a regulation prohibiting flying an aircraft below 500-feet”. No great aviation tale is complete without details, and the story is that Capt. Lappo was permanently removed from flight status by the Commanding General of the Eight Air Force, Lieutenant General Walter Campbell.
. . .
Most stories about the alleged fly-under appear on the internet after 2019. Before that, there is no verifiable report of the incident. Given these results, all the features of an urban legend exist here. This is not to say the story is impossible.
There's more at the link.
I can see a fighter or fighter-bomber flying under that bridge, just as has been done to other famous bridges around the world (for example, see the Tower Bridge Incident in London, England in 1968). However, the much larger, less nimble and maneuverable B-47 bomber would be very difficult indeed to fly through such a confined space. If it was done, one can only tip one's hat to the pilot in admiration.
The question is, did it ever happen? There seems to be no conclusive evidence out there. I would think an incident like that would have attracted attention and headlines from all over, so I'm confused. Was there an orchestrated cover-up by Strategic Air Command, so as not to encourage any of its other pilots from trying the same trick?
If any reader can shed any further light on the subject, please let us know in Comments. I'm sure I'm not the only one intrigued by this rumor.
Peter
18 comments:
I don't know about this incident, but I did witness a low flight by 3 B-52s over the Gulf of Mexico back in the 80s, practicing low level penetration using offshore oil rigs as pylons for their turns.
I was in the Derrick of a drilling rig, about 200 ft off the water, and could see into the cockpit of the bombers as they passed, wings vertical and bent like a bow, less than 50 yards from the rig.
Black smoke from all engines.
Our mechanic came up from between two 16 cylinder GM railroad diesels to see what the noise was.
John in Indy
I suspect that flying under bridges is always a temptation for pilots. The best footage I have ever seen of that is at the end of Episode 1 of the British TV series Piece of Cake, where a Spitfire pilot flew under a stone river bridge (set) in rural France. The footage is real, the actual bridge is in northern England and the Spit is being flown by its owner.
No further light to shed from me, all I can do is stand in slack-jawed awe, applaud, and say, "Bravo! Bravissimo!"
Fargin' crazy flyboys. ;)
My father said he did it in a F-102 (or a F-106 he flew both with ADC and loved the 106 the best) when stationed at Kincheloe AFB while with ADC in the 1960s. He said he did it night so they could not get the tail number. He turned on the intercept radar and just flew between the two vertical line on the scope (being the bridge supports) He said one of the other pilot did one better after learning of his 'stunt" and did a loop around the bridge span. It was a different time and military then
During WWII pilot training at Curtis Field, Brady, Texas several students at various times flew a PT-19 under the bridge on the Brady to Comanche, Texas hiway. My dad was one of them.
Major Dick Bong is alleged to have looped the Golden Gate bridge inhis P-38.
He was reprimanded for flying down Market street, and knocking a lady's laundry off her clothesline in a low pass.
Ah the good old days.
Having written a short story of the incident of my friend and fellow Alaskan titled Assault on the Mackinac one would find that John did indeed receive a courts martial for the incident reported by a crew member who blew the whistle on Lappo to his flag officer daddy. I had in my possession the entire transcript of the courts martial trial and there is zero doubt that John accomplished this daring feat for which he is widely acclaimed. Check out the details via Google An Alaskans Assault on the Mackinac. Cheers, Danny Shepherd LT USN-Ret
https://www.b-29s-over-korea.com/john-lappo-story/
It is completely believable! I flew C-130s and could have put one under that bridge.
“ as slow as 150-190 MPH, the plane would cover that distance in altitude in just over a second or two.”
I hate useless statistics like this…as if the plane was suddenly going to pitch into a vertical dive.
Aircraft Commander Lappo would not have faced a courts martial and reprimand if the event did not occur.
The B-47 was a very nimble bomber.
https://www.b-29s-over-korea.com/john-lappo-story/
Lieutenant Dick Bong was ordered to help the woman with her laundry as recompense.
The bridge incident nearly cost him his flight status, and he was held back when his fighter group was transferred to the Pacific. As a consequence, he ended up in a better situation/location, which directly enabled his climb to his status as top Ace in US service, with 40 documented kills. Supposedly, his actual kills were notably higher, as he didn't want to be forced home when he hit that magic number of downed aircraft. Some were shared with pilots in his group, and others were not officially recorded.
TPTB's obsession with keeping him safe by yanking him out of combat probably got him killed, when he died flying a test jet after making the rounds as a national Bond Drive name. He was not test pilot material, according to others who knew him.
"Stunt" flying was a time honored endeavor of military pilots in their training process. Frankly, as high a loss rate as our pilot training system created, the brass should not have been upset with this sort of occasional activity that encouraged daring exploits that required precision flying and guts. I'm reminded of the painting of a P51 Mustang following a ME109 under the French Eiffel Tower in WW2 as the damaged German plane desperately tried to shake off the American pilot.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/515451119826152489/
In the 50s the Boeing chief test pilot did a barrel roll over Seattle in a Boeing 707-80. The footage isn't great because it was the 50s (and he didn't happen to mention to anyone in advance that he was going to do it).
https://youtu.be/AaA7kPfC5Hk?si=TETujv_N2ERkfE8Z
@heresolong The story goes that when he landed he was met by a senior Boeing board member who fired him on the spot, to which he retorted, "But just think how many planes I just sold!" And he was re-hired on the spot.
My own story is from the Gulf War. Allegedly... the terrain-following radar of the RAF was so accurate that it was affected by the ripples in the sand and gave the pilots a very uncomfortable ride so they changed modes from Above Ground Level to Above Sea Level. Much to the distress of one camel-herder who was sheltering in the lee of a particularly large sand dune when a plane missed the top of the dune by inches.
Proving nothing, the first two pages of internet search don't even reveal the existence of any Lt. Gen. Walter Campbell, USAF.
The whole thing may have happened exactly as alleged.
But without something more substantive, this goes in the file next to the creative early Darwin Award write-up for the imaginary/legendary death by launching a car into a cliff with a JATO bottle strapped onto it.
I.e. a yarn worthy of Paul Bunyan, but with even less documentation than same.
There was a General Walter Campbell Sweeney who was in charge of Tactical Air Command at the time. He retired as a full general, but would have been a lieutenant general then.
Wikipedia's article on the B-47 says that Lappo flew under the Mighty Mac and was grounded by a general court-martial.The citation:
"Grounded for good". The News-Palladium. Benton Harbor, Michigan: Ancestry.com#Newspapers.com. 11 December 1959. p. 10.
As one of the daughters of Capt. John Stanley Lappo, I can attest that the story is true. He is also in the Guinness Book of Records for Largest aircraft flown under a bridge!
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