On Friday, June 23, 1950, Northwest Airlines Flight 2501 departed New York’s LaGuardia airport at 8:30 PM EST and headed west under clear skies on its way to Seattle Washington, with intermediate stops in Minneapolis, Minnesota by 1:23 CST, and Spokane, Washington early Saturday morning.  

    The plane operating as Flight 2501 was a Douglas DC-4 airliner numbered N-95425. It had four Pratt and Whitney propeller engines.  Northwest had ordered several new Boeing Stratocruisers, but manufacturing was delayed and Northwest continued to use its aged fleet of DC-4’s.  Many of those DC-4’s, including the plane used for Flight 2501, had been C-54 A military planes converted after the war into passenger planes. 

    The pilot was Captain Robert C. Lind.  In the right hand seat was co-pilot Verne F. Wolfe.  Stewardess Bonnie Ann Feldman was in the passenger compartment taking care of 55 passengers, identified as 27 women, 22 men and six children.  

    At 7:45 PM EST before the flight took off, Captain Lind was advised of thunderstorms over Lake Michigan, but other planes did not report severe turbulance and the flight was cleared for takeoff.  The flight plan filed with Air Route Traffic Control (ARTC) specified a cruising altitude of 6000 feet to Minneapolis. Lind requested an altitude of 4000 feet as he neared the Lake Michigan. His request was denied due to other traffic assigned at that level.     

    At 10:49 EST, when over Cleveland, Ohio, Lind again requested a lower cruising altitude of 4000 feet which at that time was approved. Forty minutes later ARTC directed a descent to 3500 feet to maintain a greater-than-normal separation from an eastbound flight at 5000 which was experiencing severe turbulence over the lake.  At about that time, the a revised weather report was put on teletype and made available to ARTC, but  purportedly because it was less severe than the original forecast, it was not called to Captain Lind's attention.
    As the DC-4 passed over Battle Creek, Michigan at 11:51 EST, it entered the storm front. Captain Lind notified Northwest’s Air Traffic Control Center at Chicago by radio that he estimated passing over Milwaukee 46 minutes from that time, and no records exist that indicate he made any mention of experiencing turbulence.  His course was due to cross Lake Michigan in air corridor “Red 57” which runs from Glenn, Michigan, on a northeasterly course towards Milwaukee.  At 12:13 AM EST when according to the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB)  report, the plane was in the vicinity of Benton Harbor, Michigan (20 miles south of his intended route), Lind requested a descent to 2500 feet, but did not indicate his reason for the request. ARTC denied the altitude change due to other traffic in the area and a minute later Lind acknowledged their reply. That was the last communication from Flight 2501.

    Surprisingly the official CAB report indicated that the crew of Flight 2501 made no reference to the storm or turbulence in the area, yet the storm was severe enough that three other airliners traveling that night opted to turn back to the Detroit airport and wait out the storm.
    By dawn’s light, it became clear that Flight 2501 had crashed.  Debris from the plane and an oil slick floated on the surface of the lake, and the devastation told searchers that there was no possibility of survivors.  The airplane, along with 58 men, woman and children, had impacted the water, leaving few clues as to what had occurred. One thing was sure- this crash represented the worst commercial aviation disaster at that time.