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.
