Dealing With Some Cold-Blooded Cargo

Wild PR stunt included crash landing of B-25 carrying snakes and alligators.

Martha Lunken

Wednesday, August 12, 2026 at 08:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

Firefighters prepare to unload these four trussed alligators from the B-25 bomber that crash-landed at Lunken Airport in 1963. [Credit: Fred Straub/Cincinnati Inquirer]

Key Takeaways:

In February 1963, a B-25 bomber made an emergency gear-up landing at Lunken Airport, reportedly carrying over 2,000 reptiles and four alligators.
The incident, which saw the co-pilot bail out and the pilot slide the plane hundreds of feet, drew significant media attention and required firefighters to unload the unusual cargo.
It was later revealed that the crash was a deliberate and elaborately planned publicity stunt by Arthur Jones, owner of the "Wild Cargo" show, to promote his struggling Cincinnati exhibition.
The highly successful stunt led to 10 days of sold-out shows, and the B-25 involved, N7947C, was eventually restored and flew again in 2005.

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At lunch several weeks ago, I told a story of a B-25 that crash-landed at Lunken Airport in the 1960s with a cargo of wild reptiles, snakes and alligators. Some of these guys were old hands at Lunken, but they simply didn’t believe me.

It was way back when the original control tower was still in the main terminal building, manned by a bunch of really great FAA controllers, and the tower chief was a good friend, Wes Schaeffer.