DEATH LOST DEATH FOUND

How could a two hundred-ton engineering marvel such as the B 52 Strato Cruiser, nuclear equipped bomber with all of the modern navigational and communications equipment get lost, and miss its refueller? How indeed?

'MOLLY O' dropped at a rate of fifteen hundred feet per minute.At the fifteen minute mark in the rapid descent, the massive airplane was at one thousand feet in altitude, flying level with McKay totally in control.There was a blizzard in progress, nevertheless, Sergeant Stanley spotted a huge expanse of frozen water, either part of Hudson's Bay or an inland lake.

Billy circled the possible landing area, and with the fuel now exhausted warned the crew to bundle up, and strap in.His final words were, "It's been a pleasure gang, see you in a few minutes on the ice."

Captain McKay lined 'MOLLY O' up straight and level.As the large engines flamed out, one by one, he eased her down in a graceful foot by foot descent until the tail started to create a quickly deepening trail into the compacted snow.The crew were braced for a slamming impact on the ice that never came.'MOLLY O' was faithful until the end, as she slowly settled her bulk onto the icy surface beneath the four-foot snow cover.

Two hundred tons traveling at more than two hundred miles per hour creates a massive thrust of energy in motion, but slowly she reduced her speed.McKay and Steward both maintained control of the rudder and actually were able to keep the plane on a straight course.When the aircraft had slowed to seventy miles per hour, Billy joyfully shouted into the intercom, "We got it made gang, is everybodyhappy? ."

He turned his head to smile at Heather Stiles sitting twenty feet further down the fuselage when he heard Steward shout, "Oh Shit! ."

As McKay turned his head, 'MOLLY O' smashed into the sheer cliff on the east shore of what proved to be Crystal Lake.At that speed, the first fifteen feet of the aircraft were crushed into a twisted mass of metal.Captain William McKay, Captain Steward Dow, and Lieutenant Lew Messing were killed instantly.Their bodies turned to a red pulp among the smashed aluminum.

Lieutenant Stiles had a broken left arm and crushed pelvis.Her thoughts were confused, as she tried to comprehend why she hurt so badly, and why it was so cold.Heather'sheadset was still in place, and she could hear Doug Stanley in the rear turret calling for help.

"Can you hear me Doug?"

"Yes Heather, can you help me, the turret ball is jammed, and it will take an axe to get me out.Is everyone else okay?"

"Doug, brace yourself, Billy, Steward and Lew are dead.I'm broken up badly, but will get back to you."

Heather unstrapped her body using only the right hand, if she could free Doug, he would be able to make them comfortable.She had gotten up, and started to drag herself toward the rear of the plane when there was a loud crack from outside.Heather thought, what now?"

If she could have looked outside, Heather would have watched in horror as the ten-foot thick ice cracked open like a broken mirror, and slowly swallowed 'MOLLY O'.She settled quickly beneath the icy surface.Heather's last moments on earth were spent gasping for breath as she drowned.Mercifully, it took only a few seconds.Doug Stanley was not so lucky as the rest of the crew.As the plane tipped, the tail turret rose fifteen feet in the air and then slowly settled.Doug could see death creeping toward him and spent his last few minutes screaming and crying for help.There was no one to hear, and he joined the rest of the crewten minutes later.