In 2004, explorers began a search for a plane that crashed into Lake Michigan in 1950, killing 58 people. They didn’t find it, but they revived the history of what once was the country’s ...

Northwest Orient Flight 2501, a four-engine propeller-driven DC-4, left New York's LaGuardia Airport the evening of June 23 bound for Seattle with planned stops in Minneapolis and Spokane, Wash.

When Northwest Orient Flight 2501 crashed, it was the worst aviation disaster in U.S. history.

This undated photo from the 1940s provided by author and researcher Valerie van Heest shows a Northwest Orient plane in Milwaukee before it crashed in Lake Michigan in 1950.

More blades, more speed? Not exactly—here’s why extra propeller blades don’t guarantee higher top speeds for aircraft.

While the demise of Northwest Orient Flight 2501 remains a mystery, research efforts have yielded additional clues to the crash that claimed 58 lives June 24, 1950.

Search Has Ended for Plane That Disappeared Over Lake Michigan in 1950 — Worst Airline Disaster in U.S. History at the Time Michigan’s South Beach was closed for nine days as body parts and ...

The search for Northwest Orient Flight 2501 has been called off after a 20-year search. The passenger plane carrying 58 people disappeared over Lake Michigan on June 23, 1950 and no victims were ...

Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501, at the time the deadliest commercial airlines disaster in American history, disappeared when it flew into a storm over Lake Michigan on June 24, 1950.

In this photo provided by Valerie van Heest, a historical exhibit of the 1950 crash of a Northwest Orient plane in Lake Michigan is on display at the Heritage Museum in St. Joseph, Mich., Oct. 7 ...

SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. (AP) — A group is ending a 20-year search for a plane that crashed into Lake Michigan in 1950, killing all 58 people on board, after sweeping the vast body of water using ...

Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 2501, at the time the deadliest commercial airlines disaster in American history, disappeared when it flew into a storm over Lake Michigan on June 24, 1950.