Bourbon, Flies, and Lies

Monday, October 14, 2024

Acadia NP, Maine

Here are some random shoreline photos that I took while rock scrambling

Sunday, October 13, 2024

1963 Elephant Mountain Maine, B-52C Stratofortress crash site

Hello folks, this would be an extremely humble experience.

I investigated a place to visit and found this. I found the 1963 B-52 crash on Elephant Mountain in Maine.

It took a bit to find this place and to include making several wrong turns.

Old trail "you have been warned" lol

So, to help others who might find my blog post here is what you don’t want to do. Do not follow the B-52 signs. I hope you have a GPS unit, and you go to these coordinates N45° 31.673' W69° 26.085'. Do not follow the signs only because some of them well are not really clear what they are trying to tell you. See attached photos to illustrate my point.

It had to be cold in January when this crash took place. Looking at past history as far as weather goes here are the averages. Well as I look up, the historical weather appears at ground level it was below 10 degrees according to the local weather archives.

So being up in the air and being a plane of that size had a very narrow window for allowing any margin of error during that training mission and being that close to the ground. The specifications of this plane are as follows by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-52_Stratofortress it was 159 feet long with a wingspan of 185 feet. She was a big girl and her only job was to intimidate and bomb her enemies into the stone age. Her empty weight was 185,000 pounds.

Before I go on here are some articles of what happen on that day:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1963_Elephant_Mountain_B-52_crash

2. https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/1963-elephant-mountain-b-52-crash/

3. https://observer-me.com/2020/01/28/news/the-backstory-of-the-b52-crash-final-mission-the-north-woods/

4. https://explorenewengland.tv/videos/visiting-the-b52-memorial-site-greenville-me/

5. https://www.bangordailynews.com/2017/01/31/news/survivor-of-1963-b-52-crash-that-killed-seven-in-maine-dies-after-years-of-military-service/

6. https://newenglandaviationhistory.com/tag/elephant-mountain-b-52-crash/

7. https://open.spotify.com/episode/2mhUqvpPGxzbwjtIVp6Cq8

After reading all the articles I have posted and listened to the pod cast there is nothing I need to add to understand the sacrifice that my fellow serviceman made that day. The enormity of the accident is just too much for me personally.

Sonder

Claddagh Motel, Rockport, Maine

So cute it should be illegal lol my hotel stay in Rockport, Maine

As I recall it takes about 45 minutes to leave the peninsula that makes up Acadia. So, when I choose to drive back and forth from the Claddagh Motel (Click for Link) located in Rockport, Maine it was no big deal to drive nearly 2 hours one way.

The price was also the deciding factor for me. It was about 110 dollars a night for me to stay there. There are a bevy of other places to stay but they range from 200 – 500 dollars a night.

I already rented a place in Old Orchard Beach @ 1400 dollars for two weeks. I was willing to deal with the drive.

Back to the Claddagh Motel it is an extremely cute, clean, and well-maintained motel.

No animals are permitted here, which I love animals, but to have no one’s scent to smell it was a true blessing.

They are extremely accommodating if you need to check in after they close for the night. Their customer service is the pinnacle of their business model.

They are close to other down east burgs and the other eclectic shopping that surrounds the sleepy coastal towns of the coastline.