A long lost airplane that crashed during WWII is finally discovered almost perfectly preserved on

U.K. Daily Mail ^ | 8/9/2017 | James Draper

[Red Badger]

Look closely.
The engine and prop has broken off from the main fuselage and fallen down at an angle.

The wing flaps are pointed ‘down’, which means they were ‘up’ when it was crashing. The pilot was desperately trying to gain altitude or intentionally stalling trying for a ‘soft’ crash in the water....................

[robroys woman]

Took me a while to see that what I was looking at was the engine. You’re right.

[DaxtonBrown]

That’ll buff right out.

[forgotten man]

Could it be a Hell Diver (IIRC a Douglas aircraft) which the Navy was flying in the Palaus in 1944? It looks like a twin seat dive bomber to me.

[barmag25]

On the tail it looks like landing gear. The p39 had landing gear in the front I think.

[mountn man]

Would it perhaps be a Lockheed Electra?...............

If it had a couple of pontoons
It could be a Carmen Electra

[Red Badger]

Good one!......................

[sevlex]

If you folks actually ‘read’ the article, it identifies the plane:

“The plane is a Japanese Aichi E13A long range reconnaissance seaplane “.

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[robroys woman]

Yes, it’s pretty wide. Those old WWII aircraft were pretty tight fitting. When I look at the guy in the boat, this one looks like it could have fit two guys side by side, actually.

But I’m done speculating. It was a fun exercise, but we’ll find out soon enough. If someone were paying me by the hour to do it, that would be different.

[Bringbackthedraft]

TBF? Large cockpit, small man in a kayak = TBF? Wing hinges???

[Phlyer]

It isn’t an avenger . . .

You say that with great confidence, but I'm not so sure. It's clearly not upside, down. The flaps are down and you can clearly see the wing-root fairing that they would fair into. It's also not an SBD (Dauntless) because that was a low-wing design and the wings in the photo attach nearly at the top of the remaining fuselage. The rules out most of the other tactical aircraft from both the US and Japanese navies as well (e.g. Zero, Kate, Val) plus most of the floatplane options.

If you took the canopy off a TBM (Avenger) which is shoulder-winged, then the wing would look like it came from near the top of the fuselage. Further, there is a circular set of structural members about where the wheel well is on an Avenger. One final possible identifying point is that there is no visible wing fold partway out on the wing. Since the wings on the Avenger folded at the root, it would not show a double-rib, etc.

None of that is proof, but I think that it is likely to be an Avenger.

[Red Badger]

It's clearly not upside, down.>I>

If you right click on the image, select 'View Image' from the menu that appears, then use CTRL + to magnify the picture to max resolution, you can see the outline of a landing gear tire in the lower portion of the wing section, right beside the tree's three-leaf branch ...............

[TalonDJ]

I don’t think it is inverted. I think it just has a shoulder mounted wing.

[Moonman62]

It’s hard to believe this was just discovered.

[TalonDJ]

If that is a correct ID then a lot of the upper fuselage has rotted away.

[real saxophonist]

What? Read the article? That’s no fun!

[TalonDJ]

The avenger’s wing changes angle just a few feet from the fuselage. That wreck does not have that.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

If the nose area is intact and hasn’t lost too much, it would be safe to say it was a tail dragger. No sign of landing gear up front.

[TalonDJ]

It is pretty clear that ID is wrong. The trailing edge of the E13A comes right to the bottom of the fuselage. The person that claimed it was an E13 also claimed it was inverted. It clearly isn’t.

[Red Badger]

The Engine has broken away from the fuselage with the prop.

If you right click on the image, select ‘View Image’ from the menu that appears, then use CTRL + to magnify the picture to max resolution, you can see the outline of a landing gear tire in the lower portion of the wing section, right beside the tree’s three-leaf branch ...............