B-25 BOMBER (Homestead, Allegheny County)1956 "Mafia money" ?

jeff of pa

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B-25 BOMBER (Homestead, Allegheny County)1956 "Mafia money" ?

The disappearance of the ghost Mitchell bomber still has the Tri-State wagging its' tongue. On January 31, 1956, the bomber went down in the bend of the Monongahela River between Glenwood and Homestead and it hasn't been found to this day. The Army spent two weeks trying to salvage it with no luck. Theories regarding the flight are a dime a dozen – it had nukes on board, nerve gas, Mafia money, Howard Hughes, a mysterious seventh passenger, although only six were supposed to be on the plane, even that it somehow splashed down in Pittsburgh's fourth river, an ancient glacial aquifer beneath the Three Rivers. The unofficial but generally accepted theory among conspiracy touts is that the Army closed down the river and pulled the plane up that night, sworn to by several folk. But on the hectic Mon (Pittsburgh is one of the busiest inland ports in America to this day, and was even more so in the 1950s when the mills were still humming), a secret operation of that magnitude would be virtually impossible to pull off. Add to the mix that the river was running high and swift, and the odds of getting a diver near the wreck was about zero. What happened to the bomber? The B-25 Recovery Group has sunk a huge amount of time and effort into finding the plane, and believe its' remains are sunk in a gravel bed. No metal would remain except for pieces buried deep in the sediment. The Mon was a toxic brew of chemicals back in the day and you couldn't leave a motorboat engine in it over the winter. The propeller would dissolve in the water. They also think the plane just ran out of gas and that's why it met its' watery fate. But until someone finds what's left of that plane, the stories of it being pulled up and melted down in the nearby mills after its' secret cargo or passenger was recovered will continue to flourish. And that's the way a good legend grows.

more

http://pittsburgh.about.com/od/transportation/a/b25_bomber.htm?p=1
 

warsawdaddy

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Re: B-52 BOMBER (Homestead, Allegheny County)1956 "Mafia money" ?

Good story and good mystery.I,myself,do not think it would have nukes aboard.I have only flown on one B-25 and there wasn't a whole lot of room,especially with 6 or 7 people aboard,and the nukes of '56 were still a pretty good size and weight.If all that activity did infact take place,salvage/destroy techniques,I would be more inclined to think maybe it was transporting some highly secret/classified documents.The Cold War was in full swing then with spys everywhere,so maybe this was done to insure nothing fell into the wrong hands.????
 

halfdime

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Re: B-52 BOMBER (Homestead, Allegheny County)1956 "Mafia money" ?

This story gets regurgitated every few years around here whenever someone makes another salvage attempt. It was a B-25, not B-52; a 52 they could probably find!
 

Montana Jim

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Re: B-52 BOMBER (Homestead, Allegheny County)1956 "Mafia money" ?

Jeff... the point is you keep typing B-"52" and not B-25 which the correct plane... The Mitchell B-25.
 

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jeff of pa

jeff of pa

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Re: B-52 BOMBER (Homestead, Allegheny County)1956 "Mafia money" ?

Montana Jim said:
Jeff... the point is you keep typing B-"52" and not B-25 which the correct plane... The Mitchell B-25.

Well the Story says B-52 so that's what I put in.

I didn't notice the link I pulled up & Attached
said B-25 :P Guess My eyes went a bit
Dyslexic along with the google
search engine which found it
even though I typed B-52 :D and I didn't catch it.

I Have to go with Halfdime, and the link that It was a B-25.

& I Thought I was Perfect HaHa ! :tongue3:

I Edited above

Thanks for the Correction :coffee2: :coffee2: :coffee2:
 

Tubecity

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Re: B-25 BOMBER (Homestead, Allegheny County)1956 "Mafia money" ?

This plane went down just down river from the huge US Steel plant at Homestead. Most of the local stories say
the military removed the plane that very night & it was loaded on rail cars & taken out. With all the mills & barge
companies here, cranes & equipment were damn near on site. While there are some deep holes in these rivers,
they say the average depth is only about 15 feet. Unlikely deep enough to hide a B-25 for 50 years if it was there.
 

pghmole

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This plane went down just down river from the huge US Steel plant at Homestead. Most of the local stories say
the military removed the plane that very night & it was loaded on rail cars & taken out. With all the mills & barge
companies here, cranes & equipment were damn near on site. While there are some deep holes in these rivers,
they say the average depth is only about 15 feet. Unlikely deep enough to hide a B-25 for 50 years if it was there.[/QUOTE my grandfather witnessed this happen and had the same story after seeing it happen,he was home at the time from active duty
 

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