Mystery Aircraft Wreck Identified Off Florida Coast

During the Cold War with the Soviet Union, the B-47 Stratojet was the Strategic Air Command’s tip of the spear for their nuclear arsenal.

The Stratojet was designed shortly after World War II and was known as a difficult aircraft to fly due to its unforgiving tendencies and six General Electric J47-GE-25 engines that were slow to spool up. Aerial refueling was also challenging, as the Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter fleet’s maximum speed barely exceeded the stall speed of the B-47; various methods were employed to address this issue, including refueling the B-47 while the KC-97 was in a gentle descent to gain speed. During its career, incidents and mishaps plagued the B-47 program, with numerous crashes documented at MacDill AFB, in Tampa Bay, and other areas in Florida; in one notable incident in 1960, a B-47 Stratojet crashed off Coquina Key near St. Petersburg, and then not one, but two, USCG Sikorsky HUS-1G search and rescue helicopters crashed at the scene during the attempted rescue efforts.

At 3:01 a.m. on November 4, 1959, Lockeed-Marietta B-47E Stratojet (52-205A) of the 306th Bombardment Wing, call sign Smokering 60, took off from MacDill AFB at Tampa to participate in Team Scrimage. Team Scrimage was a round-robin aerial refueling exercise consisting of four B-47 Stratojet bombers that would rendezvous with three KC-97 Stratofreighter refueling aircraft over the Gulf of Mexico. Smokering 60 was commanded by Maj. Morris O. Beck, with co-pilot Lt. George W. Eggleston, navigator Lt. Franklin D. Harrod, and crew chief Sgt. Norman William Ruwe onboard. While traveling back eastbound and after meeting up with its assigned tanker at 4:20 a.m., a fire broke out on engine #6 due to an unknown catalyst. The B-47E broke away from the tanker and fell out of formation, while Maj. Beck gave the order for the crew to bail out. Lt. Harrod successfully managed to bail out of the crippled aircraft at 9,000 feet and was eventually rescued by a helicopter, but no other parachutes were observed before the aircraft impacted the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. 

On August 1, 2025, the Association of Underwater Explorers explored a site approximately 70 miles west of Sarasota in 205 feet of water known as the 33 Fathom Wreck they believe is most likely the main wreckage site of a B-47 Stratojet. The tail of the aircraft is broken and a short distance away from the core of the aircraft, which is noted by the numerous turbojet engines and distinct fore and aft landing gear assemblies. The location of the site, architecture of the landing gear, number of turbojet engines, rigging of the speed deceleration drogue parachute spilling out from the tail assembly, and other diagnostic features indicates this wreckage most likely belongs to B-47E Stratojet 52-205A.

Notably, the shoulder-mounted wing structure is absent from the site. But it is believed the wing, stripped of its engines and other structure, appears to have drifted approximately 40 miles west, and now rests upside down in 330 feet of water. This site, first explored by Team Headhunter, is devoid of any other wreckage in the nearby vicinity, which supports this theory. Further, the construction of the wing as one unit may support this position; an image of the B-47 wing assembly production line can be viewed on the Boeing website here.

Tragically, the lone survivor of Smokering 60, Franklin D. Harrod, passed away with 12 other crewmen on May 4, 1970, when their USAF Convair VT-29D transport aircraft crashed after taking off from Hamilton AFB in California due to weak casting in the cockpit’s windshield and rivet holes in the metal frame that resulted in the aircraft’s explosive decompression.

The loss of Maj. Morris O. Beck, Lt. George W. Eggleston, and Sgt. Norman William Ruwe in the crash of their Lockeed-Marietta B-47E Stratojet (52-205A) provides further testimony that military training can be as dangerous as combat, and their sacrifice while serving to deter war and ensure our nation’s security should be remembered.

Article kindly submitted by Michael Barnette and Jimmy Gadomski