EPISODE 1: THE MISSING B-25

On the afternoon of January 31, 1956, a B-25 bomber on a training mission ditched into the Monongahela River near what is now Sandcastle Water Park. Drivers on the Homestead High Level Bridge parked their cars and watched as the plane headed toward them. When it finally passed overhead, it missed the bridge by only 25 feet. It splashed into the Mon, spewing a geyser into the sky, and floated for about a mile before slipping into the fast-moving, muddy water.

Two of the six airmen on the plane that afternoon died in the Monongahela. The other four were treated at area hospitals and released. But no one seems to know what became of the plane.

Did the government pull it out of the river under the cover of darkness or is it still down there buried under 60 years’ worth of silt and debris?

EPISODE NOTES:

Music used in this episode came from the Free Music Archive.

Podington Bear “Aim is True” “The Gall” and “Cake”

Borrtex “Floating” and “Pleasure”

Research and resources for this episode came from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Archives, personal interviews with Steve Byers and Bob Shema, and the U.S. Air Force accident report.