A pilot’s fateful, career-altering flight under Michigan’s Mackinac Bridge.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Everyone has seen a flyover, right? The fighter jets that are somehow timed up to fly over the stadium right as the national anthem singer finishes the lyrics, “home of the brave.”

But have you ever heard of a military flyunder?

It’s not a technical term. Merriam-Webster doesn’t recognize it as a real word, and the U.S. military would like to pretend it has never happened, but there has been at least one military flyunder on record: when a West Michigan pilot flew his Air Force B-47 Stratojet bomber underneath the Mackinac Bridge.

There are not a lot of details confirmed on the record, but it happened. John Lappo, from Muskegon, lived the tale. And while the Air Force may not have anything to say about it, the late Lappo’s story lives on 65 years after the controversial flight.


I only vaguely remember the B-47. I just sent an email to my SIL and ex B-52 pilot to see what he has to say about it.