HOMESTEAD — A group that’s spent nearly 20 years trying to find the remains of a World War II-era bomber that crashed into a Pittsburgh river is seeking permission to dredge the waterway for wreckage.

The B-25 Recovery Group first told a Pittsburgh newspaper the group has asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for permission to dig beneath the Monongahela River near the Homestead Grays Bridge. The corps controls the flow of the river and is taking public comment on the application.

The plane was flying from Nevada to Harrisburg when it ran out of fuel and ditched in the river Jan. 31, 1956. Two of its six crew members were killed.

Since there’s little evidence the wreckage was recovered, conspiracy theories have sprung up about whether it’s still in the river or been secretly carted away by the military, perhaps because it was carrying nuclear material, mob money, or some other unusual cargo.