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:

A B-25 bomber carrying 2,000 reptiles and four alligators staged a dramatic "crash" landing at Lunken Airport in 1963, an event witnessed by the narrator.
The incident was a calculated publicity stunt by "Wild Cargo" show owner Arthur Jones to generate hype and boost ticket sales for his Cincinnati exhibition, proving highly successful.
Despite its dramatic origins as a PR stunt, the B-25 involved was eventually salvaged from a wreck and astonishingly restored to flying status in 2005.

See a mistake? Contact us.

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.