Posted in Maine by Michelle

The Maine Forest Trail That Holds A Long Forgotten Secret Of Aviation

There are a lot of ways to enjoy the outdoors of Maine. From simply sitting outside to strapping on your boots and finding the trails less traveled. We love them all. But one of the things that tends to get us outside more often is history. We love finding undiscovered bits of Maine history and this trail leads to one of the most interesting.

We’re aware that these uncertain times are limiting many aspects of life as we all practice social and physical distancing. While we’re continuing to feature destinations that make our state wonderful, we don’t expect or encourage you to go check them out immediately. We believe that supporting local attractions is important now more than ever and we hope our articles inspire your future adventures! And on that note, please nominate your favorite local business that could use some love right now: https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/nominate/

About six miles from Greenville, just east of Moosehead Lake you'll find Elephant Mountain, the 1963 crash site of a B-52 Stratosphere. Google Maps And there's a fairly simple hike to take that leads right to the wreckage. MLFrazie / TripAdvisor Directions: In Greenville you'll want to find Lily Bay Road and take it for about 7 miles, making a right onto Prong Pond Road. About two miles from here the road will veer and you'll want to stay right. 4 miles from here continue to stay right at the fork in the road. About 5.5 miles from here, you'll come to a small parking lot on the left. The trail begins here. But what's the story behind it? We'll tell you! James M / TripAdvisor The plane left from Westover Air Force Base in Massachusetts with two crews and two instructors who were based in New Mexico. JohnRWebb / TripAdvisor The crew aboard the plane was on a training mission learning get through Advanced Capability Radar without being detected by Soviets during the Cold War. These flights were not unique. They'd been made without problems on the West Coast. MLFrazie / TripAdvisor At arond 2:30 p.m. the plane began the simulation going through low altitude and mock enemy airspace. JohnRWebb / TripAdvisor But the plane quickly experienced turbulence and when the pilot attempted to recover the vertical stabilizer was lost. James M / TripAdvisor The plane began a downward descent that the pilot was not able to fix. He ordered everyone to eject themselves. James M / TripAdvisor While the navigator, pilot, and co-pilot were all able to eject, there were six crew members in the lower deck who didn't have enough time to make it out. When the plane crashed into the west side of Elephant Mountain at 3pm, they were still on board. JohnRWebb / TripAdvisor Only two people survived the freezing night, doing so with only the clothes on their back. James M / TripAdvisor Remnants of the crash are still visible today via a half-mile hike. MLFrazie / TripAdvisor It's an interesting site and really brings the reality of aviation history to life. JohnRWebb / TripAdvisor Make your way to Greenville to take this hike and you'll come away with a renewed sense of wonder for how planed fly and appreciation for those who have risked their lives to make us safe.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the only aviation disaster to happen in Maine skies. In fact, one of the deadliest accidents in U.S. history happened right here in Maine.

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