The 1956 B-47 disappearance occurred on March 10 over the Mediterranean Sea. Four B-47 Stratojet

B-47 Stratojet

The Boeing Model 450 B-47 Stratojet was a long-range, six-engined, jet-powered medium bomber built to fly at high subsonic speeds and at high altitudes. It was primarily designed to drop nuclear bombs on the Soviet Union...

s took off from MacDill Air Force Base

MacDill Air Force Base

MacDill Air Force Base is an active United States Air Force base located approximately south-southwest of downtown Tampa, Florida...

 in Florida for a non-stop flight to Ben Guerir Air Base

Ben Guerir Air Base

Ben Guerir Air Base is a former United States Air Force base located in Morocco, later operated by the Royal Moroccan Air Force, which served as a Transatlantic Abort Landing site for the Space Shuttle...

, Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

 and completed their first aerial refueling

Aerial refueling

Aerial refueling, also called air refueling, in-flight refueling , air-to-air refueling or tanking, is the process of transferring fuel from one aircraft to another during flight....

without incident. After descending through solid cloud to begin their second refueling, at 14,000 ft, the Boeing B-47E-95-BW Stratojet (SN: 52-534), manned by Captain Robert H. Hodgin (31, commander), Captain Gordon M. Insley (32, observer), and 2nd Lt. Ronald L. Kurtz (22, pilot) failed to make contact with its tanker.

The unarmed aircraft was carrying two capsules of nuclear weapons material in carrying cases (a nuclear detonation was not possible).

Despite an extensive search, no debris was ever found, and the crash site has never been located.