Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska has a strange piece of history in a pond at the end of a runway. A Boeing B-29 Superfortress has been sitting there in the water for at least 60 years, where it's earned the nickname the Lady of the Lake.
For decades, all that was visible of the sunken B-29 from the roadside was the starboard wing, the distinctive metal lattice of the cockpit and the tip of the vertical stabiliser. The latter is adorned with faded bumper stickers and pockmarked by modern bullet holes, reminders that the Lady of the Lake may be abandoned, but isn’t forgotten.
For years, it’s been widely held that Eielson’s last Superfortress was dragged to the its watery resting place in the 1950s for use in aircrew evacuation drills. But its role as a crash rescue trainer eventually came to an end when the airframe sank deeper into the mud, becoming dangerous. After that, the enigmatic B-29 was abandoned where it lay.
However, a recent underwater survey has unearthed details about the plane leading to its exact identity, and it turns out to have quite an interesting history. You'll want to read that story, and see more pictures of the Lady of the Lake at Urban Ghosts.
(Image credit: Flickr user lns1122)
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