Submerged B-29 closer to surface at Lake Mead

The wreckage of a B-29 Superfortress that was once accessible only to advanced divers has moved closer to the surface due to declining water levels at Lake Mead.

Officials with Lake Mead National Recreation Area said in a social media post this week that, as of 2025, the site is open to all divers.

“We’re no strangers to water levels fluctuating at Lake Mead. Nowadays, the plane rests at depths that no longer place it in a technical dive category,” the post read.

According to Lake Mead National Recreation Area, in 1948, a crew of researchers from California were conducting high-altitude atmospheric research aboard a B-29 Superfortress. After completing a set of measurements, the pilot brought the plane lower toward the surface of Lake Mead. The pilot and copilot verified the plane’s altitude at about 400 feet above the water, according to the post.

However, officials said the altimeter was inaccurate. At around 12:30 p.m., while traveling at 230 miles per hour, the B-29 struck the water and sank to the bottom of Lake Mead, where it remains today.

“All the crew members aboard the B29 safely got out of the plane, deployed their life rafts, and were rescued by the National Park Service,” the post said.

For decades, the exact location of the submerged plane remained a mystery. According to officials, processing map data in the early 2000s revealed a plane-shaped mass beneath the water.

“The Lake Mead B-29 is such a unique, significant resource, the National Park Service balances recreational access with protection.

Falling water levels

Due to climate change and extreme drought conditions, water levels have been dropping at Lake Mead, the reservoir that supplies 90 percent of Southern Nevada’s drinking water.

In August, the reservoir set a new record-low elevation of 1,040.46 feet above sea level. According to the most recent projections from federal forecasters, Lake Mead will set a new record low nearly every month through 2028.

By the end of November, forecasters say the reservoir will dip below 1,035 feet — a critical elevation level below which only five of Hoover Dam’s 17 turbines can generate power without risk of damage.

Also in August, the National Park Service and Metropolitan Police Department responded to a report of human remains found at Boulder Beach, a public shoreline within the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

When lake levels receded to then-record lows in 2022, a string of human remains turned up, including a body found in a barrel that may have been dumped at the reservoir decades earlier.