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1956 B-47 disappearance
Accident
A B-47E Stratojet similar to the incident aircraft.
Date	10 March 1956
Summary	Missing, status unknown
Site	Mediterranean Sea
Aircraft type	Boeing B-47E Stratojet
Operator	United States Air Force
Registration	52-534
Flight origin	MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, United States
Destination	Ben Guerir Air Base, Morocco
Passengers	0
Crew	3
Fatalities	Unknown
Injuries	Unknown
Survivors	Unknown

On March 10, 1956, a B-47 Stratojet carrying nuclear weapons material disappeared over the Mediterranean Sea.

Flight

A Boeing B-47 Stratojet, call-sign Inkspot 59, (306th Bombardment Wing/369th Bomb Squadron) took off from MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, in the United States for a non-stop flight to Ben Guerir Air Base, Morocco,^[1] and completed the first of two planned aerial refuelings without incident.^[2]

After descending through solid cloud cover 90 miles southwest of Oran, to begin the second refueling at 14,000 feet (4,300 m), B-47E serial number 52-534,^[1] ceased communication with the KC-97 tanker aircraft.^[3]

The unarmed aircraft was transporting two capsules of nuclear weapons material in carrying cases; a nuclear detonation was not possible.^[4]

Aftermath

A French news agency reported that the plane had exploded in the air Northeast of Saïdia, in French Morocco in the same general location of its last known position. After an exhaustive search, no remains of the device could be located, and the exact place of its disappearance was never established.^[3]^[5]

The crew was declared dead:^[6]