Wreck Dive Lake Mead PBY Catalina Airplane Wreck, Nevada

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The tale of the PBY Catalina sunken at Lake Mead is a tragic one. On October 24, 1949, the Navy PBY-5A Catalina flying boat, converted for civilian use by the Charles Babb Company of Los Angeles, took off from the Boulder City Airport for a test flight. The aircraft was attempting a water landing in the Boulder Basin area of Lake Mead. Unfortunately, the landing gear was still down. The landing gear hit the water and the plane flipped and burned. The occupants of the aircraft were pilot Russell Rogers, mechanic Charmen Correa, and Clarence Masters, all from Southern California. Boulder City Airport Operator Ted Swift and his associate George Davis were invited to join the group on the test flight. Swift and Masters were thrown clear of the plane; however, they never regained consciousness and later died at the hospital. George Davis, the only member of the group that was strapped in his seat, survived the crash but did have a broken leg, cuts and bruises. Rogers and Correa went down with the plane. A dive that was once out of reach for recreational divers, record-low water levels have made the wreck a little more accessible. Location: Parallel to the Boulder Beach section of Boulder Basin. Depth: Roughly 190 feet. Technical Divers only. The PBY Catalina wreck is in 2 major sections. There is an excellent mooring provided by Lake Mead Technical Divers, which offers a secure tie point for your boat, and a quality line for descent and deco. There are 2 cave lines at the base of the mooring running to each section of the wreck. It's about a 75' swim from the mooring to each section of the wreck, so plan your gas accordingly. TIPS: IMPORTANT!This dive is accessible to advanced scuba divers only. This site is now listed as a US archeological site, so destruction or removal of any material or items from the site is prohibited by federal law.

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