Students go high-tech in old crash site search

RUSSELL, Kan. -- The small group of Fort Hays State University students crisscrossing a Russell County wheat stubble field were in search of pieces of an airplane that had crashed there earlier -- 60 years earlier, in fact.

The students, part of Ken Neuhauser's applied geophysics class, were using modern technology in hopes of perhaps finding an engine from the B-29 that had crashed in the field. It was something of an odd outing for an otherwise routine college class.

But it brought the students and the technology together into practice. So the students and professor headed east of Russell, set out a grid in a wheat stubble field and marched back and forth, carrying what many might consider a high-tech javelin.

It wasn't a javelin, of course. But it was very high-tech, its name alone a mouthful. It was a cesium vapor magnetometer, a device used to look for iron-bearing objects in the ground.

"You don't want to say it's a glorified metal detector," said Neuhauser, a Fort Hays State University professor of geology. "But I suppose it is."

The students, walking back and forth in the 90-by-120-meter block in the stubble field south of the Interstate 70 Pioneer exit east of Russell were looking for the remains of an airplane crash -- a crash that happened about 60 years ago.

As it turned out, the students didn't find any big objects buried in the ground. But they did find plenty of small pieces from the aircraft as they measured off a grid that would let them scan the ground. The magnetometer did find a small anomaly, Neuhauser said, and they hope to dig it up to see what it is.

"There is a small anomaly that is something, but not a B-29 engine and probably not part of the iron of a prop system," Neuhauser said. "It is something iron-bearing, however."

It was not what they had hoped for.

"Naturally, we're a little disappointed in not finding a large anomaly. We'll talk to Phil [Schulz] and ask about possibly digging up over the small anomaly," Neuhauser said. "We need to do more analysis to determine the depth first."

The hope had been that the technology would map out something as big as an engine from the B-29 that crashed moments after it took off from Great Bend on the last day in April 1945.

"It had developed high oil pressure and the No. 1 engine caught fire," said Phil Schulz, manager of the Russell Municipal Airport and the resident expert on B-29s. He is the one who sought out Neuhauser's applied geophysics class.

Schulz also provided the technical information for the crash site, including the apparent center of where the crash occurred. He has long scoured the field for bits and pieces from the airplane. Schulz also was the driving force behind a B-29 memorial at the Russell airport.

Schulz had high hopes that the engine might be in the ground, given that the plane had crashed at a nearly vertical angle. Schulz, in addition to cameras, carried with him bits and pieces of debris from the crash.

One crew member died in the crash even though all of the nine crew members bailed out when it became apparent that the fire could not be extinguished. Schulz said all four B-29 crashes in Russell County were a result of high engine oil pressures, which resulted in engine fires. The danger came because fuel for the plane was stored in the wings.

"They didn't show how many engines were recovered," Neuhauser said of the crash site. He had been supplied information about the crash by Schulz. The search is just part of the training for Neuhauser's students.

"Each year I try to come up with something new, some real-world experience."

Neuhauser said he's buried materials on the university campus to help train the students. That training comes in handy when the students want to find a job.

"Their salaries are $5,000 higher since they know how to do this," he said.