Lake Mead's Cold War Legacy: The Aviation Archeology of a Secret Mission
Author(s): Matthew Hanks; Dave Conlin
Year: 2020
Summary
This is an abstract from the session entitled "Strides Towards Standard Methodologies in Aeronautical Archaeology" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.
In 1948, at the dawn of the Cold War, B-29 ser. # 45-21847 crashed into Lake Mead while engaged in top secret scientific research tied to intercontinental ballistic missiles and heat seeking sensors for air to air combat. Located in 2001 and actively managed by the National Park Service through the present day, the Lake Mead B-29 offers an interesting case study of how the NPS balances public access and preservation of unitque resources for future generations.
This talk will highlight successes and failures, ups and downs and some of the science and management policies that the National Park Service has drawn on to preserve this unique resource and the story behind it.
Cite this Record
Lake Mead's Cold War Legacy: The Aviation Archeology of a Secret Mission. Matthew Hanks, Dave Conlin. 2020 ( tDAR id: 457528)
This Resource is Part of the Following Collections
Keywords
General
Aviation Archeology
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National Park Service
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Photogrammetry
Geographic Keywords
United States of America
Temporal Keywords
WWII
Spatial Coverage
min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 175