Posted on 08/16/2009 5:53:44 AM PDT by nuconvert
OTTAWA (AFP) – Canadian underwater archeologists accidentally discovered what they believe to be the wreck of a US Air Force airplane that sank in the Saint Lawrence seaway in 1942, the Parks Canada divers said Thursday.
The divers said in a statement that they were carrying out routine work in an adjacent area when they came across the wreck. It must still be confirmed that it is indeed the lost plane.
"This is a very significant discovery," Quebec region Minister Christian Paradis said. "This plane is a testament to the collaboration between Canada and the US during the Second World War."
The amphibious aircraft foundered in rough weather on November 2, 1942, in the waters surrounding what is now the Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve in the eastern Gulf of Saint Lawrence.
The plane was based at Presqu'Ile, Maine, in the United States, and serviced an airfield in the village of Longue-Pointe-de-Mingan, Quebec, about 1,000 kilometers (641 miles) northeast of Montreal.
Nine persons were on board when the aircraft went down. Four of the crew escaped the flooding plane and were rescued by local fishermen rowing out from shore in open boats in rough seas.
The five others perished, trapped inside.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
They mention it later in the article and spell it right the second time. Typo, maybe?
Hmmm...wonder what happened on landing that sank a PBY.
The Army had a few twin engine Grummans in service in the 60’s - 70’s, the HU-16 Albatross. BTW, In the late 60’s and early 70’s the Army had more pilots than the Air Force and Navy combined.
As a side note - a good book on PBYs
Those Navy Guys and Their PBY’s: The Aleutian Solution
a page turner if you are a WWII buff.
It supposedly had nine people on board, this means it was a multi-engined craft, quite possibly a DC3(the Air Corps and the Marines used different designations for the DC3, but still that’s what it was!). OTH, 9 people was originally the number of crew members on board the B17, it was later changed to 10. So actually it could be just about any multi-engined Airplane of that day. Too bad they didn’t have brains enough to mention the model in the article. Typical left wing rag.
Ok, correction to my last post, I see some enterprising FReeper has ascertained it was a Catalina, one of the main stays of WWII, they were in short supply and highly valued.
Most likely very noisy, cruising speed was 90 MPH. They even had a squadron of them in use in the South Pacific called the Black Cat Squadron, they operated only at night and were used as ground attack craft.
I thought the same.
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Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. |
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