Water & Environment · Nevada
Falling Lake Mead water levels have brought a sunken 1948 B-29 Superfortress within reach of all divers, park officials say
Lake Mead National Recreation Area says a B-29 that sank in 1948 now rests at depths open to all divers, a sign of a reservoir that hit a record low in August and is projected to keep falling.
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What happened
A B-29 Superfortress that has sat at the bottom of Lake Mead since 1948 is now closer to the surface because of the reservoir's dropping water levels, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. The wreck was once reachable only by advanced divers.
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. According to the Review-Journal, the post said the plane "rests at depths that no longer place it in a technical dive category."
How the plane ended up in the lake
A research flight gone wrong
According to the recreation area's account, a crew of researchers from California was using the B-29 for high-altitude atmospheric research in 1948. After finishing a set of measurements, the pilot flew lower toward the lake, and the pilot and copilot checked the altitude at about 400 feet above the water.
Officials said the altimeter was wrong. At around 12:30 p.m., moving at 230 miles per hour, the plane hit the water and sank. The park's post said all crew members got out safely, deployed life rafts and were rescued by the National Park Service.
Decades before it was found
The plane's exact location was unknown for decades, according to officials. Processing of map data in the early 2000s turned up a plane-shaped mass under the water. The park describes the wreck as a unique and significant resource and says the National Park Service balances recreational access with protecting it.
Why the water keeps dropping
Record lows and federal projections
The Review-Journal reported that climate change and extreme drought have been lowering Lake Mead, the reservoir that supplies 90 percent of Nevada's drinking water. In August, the lake set a new record-low elevation of 1,040.46 feet above sea level.
The most recent projections from federal forecasters show the lake setting a new record low nearly every month through 2028, according to the Review-Journal. For more on how the state's share of river water is changing, see our explainer on Nevada's Colorado River cut.
A threshold for Hoover Dam
Forecasters say the reservoir will fall below 1,035 feet by the end of November, the Review-Journal reported. Below that elevation, only five of Hoover Dam's 17 turbines can generate power without risk of damage.
Other recent reports at the lake
The Review-Journal also noted that in August, the National Park Service and the Metropolitan Police Department responded to a report of human remains found at Boulder Beach, a public shoreline in the recreation area.
Separately, when the lake dropped to what were then record lows in 2022, a series of human remains surfaced, according to the Review-Journal. They included a body found in a barrel that may have been dumped at the reservoir decades earlier. Readers can follow ongoing coverage of the reservoir on our water page.
What to watch next
- Whether Lake Mead drops below 1,035 feet by the end of November, as federal forecasters project, a level below which only five of Hoover Dam's 17 turbines can run without risk of damage.
- Whether the reservoir continues to set new record lows nearly every month through 2028, as current federal projections show.
