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My girlfriend and I took a drive in some nearby backcountry to catch the scenery and re-visit her old stomping grounds. As we passed some farm out on some hill on some tiny road, I noticed the fuselage of an airplane sitting in a field. "What the fuck...that's a B-57" I noted as we drove on. The double-take kicked in in earnest five minuted later, and we turned around and headed back so I could snap some photos:



Sure enough, it was the wingless forward fuselage of a B-57 with the early A-model canopy. The tail has been neatly cut off just forward of the vertical stabilizer's leading edge, so no obvious serial number was available.



You can see an optically-flat insert in the canopy, over on the right.



This is the interior of the rear part of the fuselage. If that bulkhead marks the after part of the bomb bay - which by best-guess it seems to - then those blue things might be camera mounts.



While walking around the hulk, I found the bomb bay door lying face-up on the far side. The large placards indicate loadouts. The legible ones read, from top to bottom:

"Station 3
52 lb. flare (U)
80 lb. flare (U)
220 and 260 lb. frag (U)
750 lb. New Family
1000 lb. GP
M120 photoflash bomb" --I guess that makes it even more likely that this is an RB variant.

"Station 18
52 lb flare
80 lb flare
220 and 260 lb frag
M120 photoflash bomb"

"Station 9
52 lb. flare (U)
80 lb flare (U)
220 and 260 lb frag (U)
500 lb GP
500 lb frag
500 lb interim
M120 photoflash bomb"

The topmost one is Station 2; it's pretty illegible but it looks like the loadouts are the same as Station 9.

The next smallest placards say "Receptacle for Station [n] upper level store," and next to Station 18 there is a small, green placard that appears to read "79-SHIP-135."



Stations 17, 8, and 20. Sta. 17 and 20 are rated for the same as Sta. 18, while Sta. 8 is rated for both sizes of flare, the three sizes of fragmentation bomb, and the 500 lb. general purpose bomb.



The hatch (or panel) right aft of the perspex canopy was off, and though the fuselage was a bit taller than I was, I stuck my digicam in for a blind shot of the cockpit area. No seats, but you can see the rudder pedals, holes for the control cables, and obvious instrument panel sites. My guess is that the bit in the bottom left is part of the frame for the pilot's ejection seat, though it is somewhat odd that the frame is behind the perspex dome. Would the ejection process have blown off the panel I took this shot through, and then shot the pilot's seat diagonally back up and then out of the plane, or would it be more of a straight up-and-out?

Anyway, I couldn't poke around too much more than this because not only was my girl waiting for me back at the car, but the fuselage was sitting on what looked like high ground but was actually very, very wet. Anyone can find the fuselage in Google Maps by searching for 156 Clary Hill Road, Union, Maine. The B-57 is the long white object just to the left of the water hole right up the road, and behind the search-results word bubble that pops up. It's not a very distinct view, but it is there at full zoom.

Wow! Really impressive find!

Here it is in Google Maps, for those who are lazy.

For reference, here's a link to a picture of a B-57A:
Wikipedia link

It even has the same paint scheme. Note that there were only 8 A models built, so this is a pretty damn rare find...

That's very unusual. Who just loses an airplane like that? If it made an emergency landing there, wouldn't it have been fully recovered instead of just bits and pieces? If it didn't, how could it have ended up in a field?

You've got to move this thing quickly. With the coming recession, you can sell materials from it for extra cash, burn some of it for heat, and also just lord it up because you own part of an airplane while your fellow slum dwellers have to live in their cars.

Crayz9000 wrote:It even has the same paint scheme. Note that there were only 8 A models built, so this is a pretty damn rare find...

There were 67 RB-57As built, though, which were eventually converted to electronic warfare variants in the 1960s. The RBs were painted gloss black, apparently, but paint schemes change and for all I know the EB conversions went back to natural metal. The bomb bay loadouts suggest the RB version, though, because of the photoflash bombs and no mention of EW equipment, which was apparently fitted on the EB-57 bay door.

I don't really know enough about B-57s to ID this hulk any more precisely, I'm afraid.

Bounty wrote:That's very unusual. Who just loses an airplane like that? If it made an emergency landing there, wouldn't it have been fully recovered instead of just bits and pieces? If it didn't, how could it have ended up in a field?

Since the fuselage has been stripped and the tail and wings neatly and completely removed, I would bet anything that it was demilitarized and then purchased by a civilian or series thereof. The good condition of the fuselage and the fact that the field it's in is a hilltop rather than a large, flat swath pretty much rules out an emergency landing.

Also, the picture in Google Maps shows a half-sunk old speedboat in the water hole and a lot of junk cars next to it. There are also a pair of Ford Model A tractor conversions rusting away in the grass nearby; the guy who owns/owned that parcel of land is/was a bit of a junk collector. Maybe he aspired to be the next Walter Soplata?

loomer wrote:You've got to move this thing quickly. With the coming recession, you can sell materials from it for extra cash, burn some of it for heat, and also just lord it up because you own part of an airplane while your fellow slum dwellers have to live in their cars.

Slap some wheels on there and clean it out and it would make a hell of a mobile home.

Oh that's hot.

Simplicius wrote:

loomer wrote:You've got to move this thing quickly. With the coming recession, you can sell materials from it for extra cash, burn some of it for heat, and also just lord it up because you own part of an airplane while your fellow slum dwellers have to live in their cars.

Slap some wheels on there and clean it out and it would make a hell of a mobile home.

That SH-3 Sea King is a downright bitching mobile home. I don't think a B-57 could be converted similarly, though; from the looks of the fuselage, it'd be a bit...cramped.