On November 23, 1953, a fighter jet mysteriously vanished over Lake Superior. The unexplained occurrence is now known as the Kinross Incident.
The jet was meant to intercept an unidentified aircraft near the Keweenaw from the Kinross Air Force Base, but as it inched closer to its target, it disappeared. The jet and its crew were never seen again.
A radar tower at the Calumet Air Force Station in the Keweenaw Peninsula detected what appeared to be a Canadian aircraft headed to Sudbury in Ontario.
But since it was 30 miles off course, it was classified as unknown. An F-89C Scorpion, nicknamed Avenger Red, was promptly sent to respond to the aircraft. It traveled northwest across Lake Superior to intercept the target.
About 30 minutes into the flight, the Calumet Air Force Station from Kinross in Chippewa County directed the Scorpion to start descending, as the target was 10 miles away. That was the last order the jet responded to.
Avenger Red approached the target, and the two aircraft seemed to converge on the control screen. But then, Avenger Red suddenly disappeared from the radar.
They were unable to reach the pilots. Two more F-89C Scorpions were deployed from Kinross to see what had happened. Forty minutes later, one of the pilots and their radio operator claimed to hear a short transmission of someone’s voice.
After that, no further contact was made with Avenger Red. The aircraft would have run out of fuel 72 minutes later. It was declared missing, and search-and-rescue efforts began.
Three planes and a ship searched the area, and more planes joined them in the days that followed.
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They widened the search area to include the northeast and southern coasts of Lake Superior. On November 25, a mail carrier reported seeing the wreckage of the aircraft near Cut River Bridge, which was located about 35 miles southwest of Kinross Air Force Base on the Lake Michigan shore. The area was searched three times, but nothing came up. The sighting was dismissed as simply rocks.
On November 27, a report came in about aircraft wreckage on a mountainside in the Canadian wilderness approximately 80 miles north of Kinross. Three planes and a helicopter looked through the area and didn’t find anything.
Finally, someone near the town of Limer, Ontario, reported seeing a low-flying aircraft on the night of the 23rd, but the time did not line up with the jet’s disappearance, so the lead was not investigated.
No trace of Avenger Red was found, and the search was brought to an end on November 28, after five days. In April 1954, the witness who saw the low-flying aircraft claimed that he may have been mistaken about the time he saw the aircraft.
The search was resumed in the area, but at the time, the snow was too deep, so the search was planned for mid-May. It is believed that nothing was found. The disappearance has never been solved.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
