On the night of June 23, 1950, Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501 disappeared over Lake Michigan.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501

Coordinates: 42°22'N 86°37'W
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501

A DC-4 similar to the accident aircraft
Occurrence
Date June 23, 1950
Summary Unexplained disappearance
Site Lake Michigan
42°22'N 86°37'W
Aircraft
Aircraft type Douglas DC-4 (former C-54)
Operator Northwest Orient Airlines
Registration N95425[1] (formerly 42-72165)
Flight origin LaGuardia Airport
New York City, New York
1st stopover Minneapolis–St. Paul, Minnesota
2nd stopover Spokane, Washington
Destination Seattle, Washington
Occupants 58
Passengers 55
Crew 3
Fatalities 58 (all presumed; only body fragments found)
Survivors 0

Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501 was a DC-4 operating its daily transcontinental service between New York City and Seattle when it disappeared on the night of June 23, 1950. The flight was carrying 55 passengers and three crew members; the loss of all 58 aboard made it the deadliest commercial airliner accident in America at the time.[2]

According to the Civil Aeronautics Board report, the aircraft was at approximately 3,500 feet (1,100 meters) over Lake Michigan, 18 miles (29 kilometers) NNW of Benton Harbor, Michigan,[3] when flight controllers lost radio contact with it soon after the pilot had requested a descent to 2,500 feet (760 meters). Numerous witnesses reported hearing engine sputtering noises and a flash of light around the time of the last radio transmission.[4] A search was commenced by the Navy including using sonar and dragging the bottom of Lake Michigan with trawlers, but to no avail. The Coast Guard, using four large vessels, found and recovered considerable light debris, upholstery, and human body fragments floating on the surface, which was eventually turned over the Northwest. County personnel recovered debris and human remains that washed ashore between South Haven and Benton Harbor, Michigan.

Cause
At the time of the last contact Flight 2501 was entering a squall line and turbulence. Since the plane's wreckage underwater has not been found, the cause of the crash has not been determined.

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Hat tip, MLive

NEWS
Remembering the lost: Northwest Airlines Flight 2501 vanished over Lake Michigan 75 years ago

Published: Jun. 24, 2025, 2:02 p.m.
By Tanda Gmiter | [e-mail]

LAKE MICHIGAN - Seventy-five years ago this week, a midnight thunderstorm moving across Lake Michigan was keeping people awake. Lightning flashed as a squall line whipped down the southern part of the big lake.

But some people heard a different sound over the storm during those first minutes of June 24, 1950: The roar of a struggling aircraft. One woman who lived in South Haven recalled hearing it once - then again - lower and louder the second time. Then she heard a “bang” so violent it shook her home a quarter mile away from the lake.

Northwest Airlines Flight 2501 disappeared over Lake Michigan 75 years ago this week. It had been flying from New York to Minneapolis. With 58 people aboard - including six children - at the time it was the worst aviation disaster in U.S. history.

Debris and pieces of human remains washed up on shore for days after the DC-4 aircraft vanished. The plane itself has never been found.

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Search for plane that went down in Lane Michigan in 1950 not taking place this year

June 25, 2025 Local Stories



A mission to find an airplane that crashed into Lake Michigan 75 years ago has now ended. ... Northwest Orient Flight 2501 went down in a storm over Lake Michigan, killing 58 people in 1950. It lost contact with flight controllers when it was about 18 miles northwest of Benton Harbor.

The Michigan Shipwreck Research Association in Holland has been looking for the wreckage for 20 years, but says it will not search this year. Director Valerie Olson van Heest tells The Detroit News it’s a hard thing to have to say because part of her feels like they’ve failed. However, she says they have done so much to keep the memory of the crash and the victims alive that it’s almost like they’ve done better for them than if the wreckage had been found.

The flight took off from New York June 23, 1950 for Seattle, but when the plane did not respond to radio requests and did not pass near Milwaukee, it was presumed lost. ... South Beach in South Haven was closed for several days after the crash as body parts and debris washed ashore. Debris also washed up in Benton Harbor.

U.S.

Group ends search for missing airliner that crashed into Lake Michigan in 1950, killing all 58 people on board

June 25, 2025 / 3:25 PM EDT / CBS/AP

A group is ending a 20-year search for a plane that crashed into Lake Michigan in 1950, killing all 58 people on board, after sweeping the vast body of water using sonar technology and even getting support from an acclaimed adventure writer. ... When Northwest Orient Flight 2501 crashed, it was the worst aviation disaster in U.S. history.

Valerie van Heest, executive director of the Michigan Shipwreck Association, said she has mixed feelings about ending the search, which began in 2004. ... "It's a hard thing to have to say because part of me feels like we have failed," van Heest told The Detroit News, "but we have done so much to keep memory of this accident and these victims at forefront that I feel like we've done better for them than if we'd found the wreckage."

After covering 700 square miles of Lake Michigan, Van Heest said scientists believe the plane broke up into pieces too small to be detected by side-scan sonar and likely "sunk into the muck" on the bottom.

While searching for the wreckage from 2005 to 2013, the nonprofit found nine shipwrecks, but not Flight 2501.

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