WWII history

Stalin, FDR, Project Zebra and a crash everyone tried to pretend never happened

An aircraft on a secret mission for the Russians crashed into the Pasquotank River near Elizabeth City almost 75 years ago.

For decades it was kept secret.

Elizabeth City locals knew little to nothing about it.

The flight was part of a collaboration between President Franklin Roosevelt and Soviet Union premier Joseph Stalin called Project Zebra.

The United States entered a lend-lease agreement to supply the Soviet Union with a modified version of the PBY Catalina, a seaplane with a primary mission of bombing submarines.

That Russian model, known as the PBN-1 Nomad, featured more fuel capacity and a longer range.

The Navy produced 185 of the large aircraft at a shipyard in Philadelphia, according to a book by M.G. Crisci.