American P-38 Lightning Discovered Under Beach in North Wales (UK)

The Scottish Sun ^ | May 8, 2010 | NEIL SYSON

[BronzePencil]

THE eerie outline of a crashed wartime fighter plane emerges from the sands of a British beach. Incredibly, the rusting wreckage went undetected for more than 60 years.

Now a charity plans to retrieve the American Lockheed P38 Lightning - which suddenly appeared three years ago after being buried on the shore.

It was discovered at low tide following a drop in beach levels at Harlech, North Wales.

[Western Phil]

About eight to 10 years ago someone had pictures of some after WWII vintage pictures of a number of P-38s piled up in the center of the triange between the old runways on Shemya. He said they were either buried there or dumped in the ocean. I had hoped to get to Shemya with a GEM-1 or GEM-2 to look for them on the island. Didn’t happen.

[Rebelbase]

A flight of P-38’s were the birds that ambushed and killed Yamamoto in 1943.

[RFEngineer]

From the article: “US Air Force pilot Lt Robert Elliott walked away unscathed after the plane’s engines cut out on a training exercise, causing the crash.”

I know what happened. From looking at the picture, it’s clear that he didn’t clean all the barnacles out of his engine before he took off.

[Polybius]

how do you get “under” the beach? Just wondering.

You must be one of 'em landlubbers from Ohio. ;-)

Large Object + Sand + Ocean + Tide = Buried

It doesn't take very long at all.

21 vehicles buried in sand due to high tide ..... Sydney, Jan 21 (DPA) A group of Australian anglers competing in a beach fishing competition near Adelaide Sunday misjudged the tides and returned to find all 21 of their four-wheel-drive vehicles buried up to their roofs in the sand.

[MikefromOhio]

LOL - how’d ya guess?

But the article said under. I was making a horrifically bad joke about it being “under” the beach instead of “buried”....my bad :-)

[OA5599]

I don’t know where they found that stock picture of the p-38 in flight, but that isn’t a standard model. Looks like experimental mods to the wings. The one in the sand has the standard wings.

It also has a longer center fuselage than normal. Judging by the streamlined engine nacelles It's a pre-J model P-38. I found this on Wikipedia:

One P-38E was fitted with an extended central nacelle to accommodate a tandem-seat cockpit with dual controls, and was later fitted with a laminar flow wing.

[PAR35]

Good find.

[ArmstedFragg]

Oh look! They have page 3 girls in Scottland. I love those cute little kilts.

[Oatka]

When I was young (in the mid-60s), someone had a flying P38 based at a local airport. Seeing it fly over every so often was really a thrill.

I hear you. Back in the '90s I was working in Macon, GA when a B-17 from the Confederate Air Force (Sentimental Journey) landed at their airport.

As a contractor, I could take time off to visit the craft and took a tour through the insides (think of walking through a small round culvert).

Later that day I was in a conference when I heard a familiar drone of engines. I have watched those WWII air battle movies so often I immediately recognized the plane. "That's a B-17!" I shouted and ran outside to see her coming over the plant at about 500 feet. I took off my cap and waved it just to show my appreciation. The pilot saw me and waggled his wings - I damned near wet myself. Back at the conference I got some strange looks and I just blew them off - the fools missed a once-in-a-lifetime moment.

[JimWayne]

an aside: how is it that this was noticed 3 years ago when the oceans only began receding at the moment of Obozo’s victory?

Due to Global Warming (also known as AGW or Al Gore Warming) the ocean levels kept rising. So this plane was submerged. But keep in mind that more snow also means more global warming and so lower sea level means higher sea level. So when the sea level rose, the plane emerged! I hope this explanation is helpful.

[Joe 6-pack]

It amazes me to think that the same guy (Kelly Johnson) who led the design team for the P-38 in the lead up to WWII would also have a hand in the SR-71. The man’s genius seemed to be limitless...

[jabbermog]

Dont know if anyone is aware, but there was a USAF base at Goxhill Haven, near here, and the planes were these P38 things.
Anyway, in 1944 a few of them crashed nearby, killing the pilots. One was identified ; a captain from upstate New York. There is a campaign by the Royal British Legion to have a memorial stone put down.
Unfortunately this is all I know. My Grandad and Gran told me, but they are long gone.
I ll try to find out a bit more.

[wita]

Thanks, I knew someone would find the answer. It points out something else I was not aware of, the yaw meter.