66 Years Ago, A Man Flew An Airplane UNDER The Mackinac Bridge

Ah, the Mackinac Bridge. Affectionally dubbed the “Mighty Mac”, the 26,372-foot suspension bridge has been a staple image of Michigan since it opened back in 1957. Every year, around 4 million vehicles cross the bridge connecting Michigan’s peninsulas, usually by driving a car across the bridge, and boats, either recreational or trading ships, routinely sail underneath the bridge.

This is nothing out of the ordinary. However, on April 24th, 1959, a mere two years after the bridge was opened, bystanders witnessed something that definitely wasn't a boat go underneath the bridge. That something was a daredevil US Air Force pilot who decided to fly his plane under the bridge itself.

Captain Lappo's Daring Flight

When you watch movies like Star Wars, and you watch the Millennium Falcon fly through the smallest of spaces, it feels like something that could only happen in a movie. In most situations, a plane never needs to pull off maneuvers that risky. After all, planes are meant for the open sky, not necessarily for "threading the needle" type moves.

However, sometimes even a good pilot can get carried away. When you're as talented a pilot as Captain John Stanley Lappo, a Michigan native who flew 28 bombing missions in the Korean War and was regarded by his peers as one of the best in the Air Force, you want to challenge yourself, and one day that challenge presented itself.

READ MORE: This Is How Many People Died Building The Mackinac Bridge |

According to thisdayinavation.com, Lappo was flying back to Ohio from a simulated bombing mission when he let his impulses take over. To understand just how dangerous Lappo's flight under the bridge was, let's look at the measurements of the bridge.

A painting created by Peter Chilelli portrays the moment Lappo's bomber went under the bridge.

At its highest, the distance between the water and the roadway is a mere 155 feet. The bomber he flew, a Boeing B-47 Stratojet bomber, is ~28 feet tall. This left Lappo with a mere 127 feet of clearance to fly under the bridge. It was an incredibly tight squeeze, but clearly one that was within his capabilities.

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As impressive as this was, it was also unnecessarily risky. Were he to have messed up and damaged both the bridge, anyone on it at the time, or the plane, it could have been a catastrophic situation. Those in the aerospace community, however, were secretly impressed by Lappo's move.

John Lappo's Punishment

However, his navigator was not impressed. The navigator reported Lappo, who was court-martialed and forced to pay $50 per month for six months. More importantly, he was never allowed to fly for the US Air Force again. So, while Lappo will now forever be known as the man who flew under the Mackinac Bridge, it cost him his pilot's license.

When asked why he did it, Lappo had this stellar response:

"Why do men climb mountains? Or what motivates them to go into space? It's just a sense of adventure that some men have and some don't,"

I think Lappo would say the flight was worth it in the end.