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On a remote Maine mountainside, a moment remains frozen in time and preserved by an unlikely protector, members of the Moosehead Riders Snowmobile Club.
On Jan. 24, 1963, a U.S. Air Force B-52 out of Westover Air Base in Massachusetts was on a special mission flying extremely low - averaging just 500 feet above treetops and Maine's granite cliffs. This was a "Terrain Avoidance Flight," the first of its type on the East Coast.
The crew's assignment was to practice low-level navigation to avoid the newest Soviet radar at a time when the Cold War was heating up. When the B-52 encountered turbulence, the pilot, Lt. Col. Dante E. Bulli, attempted to fly above it. Following the maneuver, a loud noise like an explosion was heard and the pilot ordered his crew to eject. The vertical stabilizer had broken from the jet, and just seconds later, the B-52 crashed into Elephant Mountain located in a remote area east of Moosehead Lake and Greenville.
A long, cold nightNavigator Capt. Gerald J. Adler ejected from the plane first, followed by Bulli and the copilot, Maj. Robert J. Morrison. Morrison died when he hit a tree while parachuting. Six other men still in the plane died when it crashed at about 3 in the afternoon. Adler and Bulli were the only survivors, spending 20 hours in temperatures that reached 30 degrees below zero before they were rescued at 11 a.m. the next day. People from Greenville reportedly were able to see the fire rising from the crash site as night fell along with the temperature.
"It was a long night and we had varying types of survival equipment. Mine was inaccessible so I used my parachute while Bulli, who was 30 feet up in a tree, used a sleeping bag," said Adler, who lost a leg in the crash. "I never thought I was going to die. You never practice ejections, so I just thought, 'this is what it is to eject.' I didn't have my life flash in front of me."
The crash was spotted by a Maine Fish and Game plane the next day. Military personnel, game wardens, Maine State Police, Civil Air Patrol and townsfolk used dog sleds, a new Scott Paper Co. bulldozer and snowmobiles to plow themselves through 5 feet of snow to the crash site. Bulli and Adler were airlifted to a hospital by helicopter.
Snowmobiles played an important role in getting rescue personnel to the scene. This is where the bond begins between the crash site and the Moosehead Riders Snowmobile Club, based in Greenville, Maine.
A tributeMore than 25 years ago, Fred Worster, a retired military pilot and the president of the Moosehead Riders, wanted to honor those aboard the B-52 and give the club a project that reached out to the community. When Worster died in 1999, Pete Pratt took over this emotional project.
"The whole point is to remember those who died and to honor the survivors. This is the club's tradition," says Pratt. "We have a corner of our snowmobile clubhouse devoted to the event with photos and newspaper write-ups dating back to 1963."
In fact, one of the plane's engines is in the clubhouse's front yard as a visual link connecting the club and the catastrophe.
"We are tied to the crash site as a club because snowmobiles were tied so directly to the rescue. Back then, they had wooden skis and one-lungers that barely made it in the snow," says Tom McCormick, Moosehead Riders' president.
Each January since the 1970's, the club has been making the 12-mile pilgrimage up Elephant Mountain for a ceremony that includes representatives from the Maine Air National Guard, the American Legion, the Civil Air Patrol, Maine Warden Service and members of the snowmobile club. There is a color guard, the laying of a wreath, the reading of the names of those who died, a prayer by a military chaplain and the playing of taps.
"I think it is very admirable for the citizens of Greenville and the snowmobile club to do this. It takes a great deal of thought and compassion," said Bulli, who spends winters in Arizona. "I know the club spends countless hours maintaining the trails up to the B-52 crash site. My wife and I visited the site five years ago where I lost seven crew members back in 1963. It was a very disturbing event to think back to all the things that happened at that time."
Col. Bulli went on to fly combat missions in Vietnam and is now in his 80's. Adler who could not continue military service because of his injuries, decided to go to law school. At 74, he still works as an attorney in California.
He returned to the crash site in 2003 for the 40th anniversary of the tragedy. He plans to return to the site this spring with two of the children of radar navigator Capt. Charles G. Leuchter, who died in the crash. Others in addition to Leuchter and Morrison who were killed in the accident include: Lt. Col. Joe R. Simpson Jr., Maj. William W. Gabriel, Maj. Robert J. Hill, Capt. Herbert L. Hansen and Tech. Sgt. Michael F. O'Keefe.
It isn't just those connected with the military or the snowmobile club who pay homage at this sacred site of death, survival and courage. Year-round the site attracts nearly 2,500 visitors who leave flowers, small American flags and other tributes.
In the summer, you can drive to within a few hundred feet of the site and there are always three or four cars along the logging road. The site, which is still littered with twisted chunks of aluminum, pieces of landing gear and other remains of the plane, is owned by Plum Creek Timber Co. The company has improved the foot trail up to the site so that people can experience this time capsule in the Maine forest, but salvaging of wreckage pieces is prohibited. In the winter, the club grooms the snowmobile trail leading up to the site.
"We owe it to the people who sacrificed their lives for us. It is very important not to let the memory of the tragedy die. More people should remember our servicemen and women because they defend our freedom," said Bill Higgins, a member of the Moosehead Riders' board of directors. "The snowmobile club has a physical as well as an emotional bond to the crash."
This year's annual ride will be Jan. 20, 2007. For more info on the club, or the ride, go to www.mooseheadriders.org.
Cathy Genthner is the snowmobile columnist for the Maine Sunday Telegram, is a registered Maine Guide and owner of River Bluff Camps in Medford, Maine. She can be reached at Riverbluffcamps@maine.rr.com.