The Investigation

"Distant and hollow, Frank Salavarria's voice sounded as though it had come from the depths of the sea. Spaces between transmissions normally vacant during the day were cluttered with nighttime radio sounds, foreign conversations and mysterious beeps. I was listening to the tope that contained the final transmission from Meal 88 to the Matagorda RBS site--our only clue to the missing aircraft's fate."

Source: Earl McGill's book Jet Age Man: SAC B-47 and B-52 Operations in the Early Cold War. McGill, a retired US Air Force lieutenant colonel, is the last surviving member of the 29 Feb - 8 Mar 1968 formal investigation team.

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On 29 February 1968, fourteen US Air Force officers and enlisted personnel began arriving by aerial transport at the now-abandoned Air Force base (AFB) on Matagorda Island, Texas. With the exception of the team's medical officer, all were highly experienced B-52 pilots and maintenance, systems and aircraft records specialists. Seven members were from the 7th Bombardment Wing at Carswell AFB, just 320 miles north and home for all eight of the missing aircrew.

Known then as an Accident Investigation Board (AIB), the team's president had a singular mission: Discover the root cause of the mishap within 30 days so the Air Force could take the required actions to prevent a similar mishap from ever occurring again.

Because there had been no emergency radio calls from the aircrew or eye witnesses to a crash, the investigation team's only pathway to determining root cause was in analyzing the wreckage. Unfortunately, that would not be the case because no evidence of a crash or the aircrew could be found during an exhaustive nine-day search effort.

On 15 March 1968, the AIB president submitted his final report to the US Air Force. It did not contain a root cause because the aircraft wreckage could not be found. Shortly thereafter, the Air Force issued death certificates to each of the eight surviving wives and returned its attention to the business of defending our Nation.

Today, the official status of the missing Matagorda B-52 and her aircrew is as stated at the end of the AIB president's first report finding... both aircraft and aircrew are "downed in an unknown location."