Thanks SteveH. Underwater archaeology / WWII week?
Posted on 05/08/2015 12:36:52 PM PDT by tcrlaf
A series of incredible photographs showing more than 150 lost World War Two aircraft 130-feet under the Pacific Ocean has been released.
The stunning images show the planes surrounded by coral and fish as they lie - sometimes vertically - on the seabed more than seven decades after they were dumped there.
The find includes historic American aircraft including Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers, F4U Corsair and TBF/TBM Avengers.Amazingly, many of the planes have remained intact, with only a few broken tails and wings littering the floor.
Brandi Mueller, from Cameron, Wisconsin, discovered the planes while scuba diving around five miles from Roi-Namur in the Marshall Islands.
The 31-year-old was taking time off from her coastguard job to teach diving when she came across the incredible find.
She told MailOnline: 'They call it the "Airplane Graveyard" - they aren't war graves or planes that crashed. They were planes that were taken out over the reef and pushed off intact after the war ended.
'For me, diving on airplanes, especially World War Two airplanes is really unique. Diving on shipwrecks seems normal, you expect ships to have sunk.
'But seeing planes underwater is strange, planes don't belong in the water, they belong in the sky, so it feel weird to dive on them. But amazing and special too. And because these planes didn't sink because of the war they are special.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I'm just guessing, but these could be the aircraft that were dumped after the December 1944 Typhoon that killed almost 800 sailors, sank three destroyers with almost all hands, damaged three carriers, and wrecked the Kwajalein airfields.
A couple of pics show instruments removed, so that gives me a reasonable impression.
Regardless, finding 150 WW2 Aircraft in an reasonably-recoverable area is a GOLD MINE for history!
Could be lend lease aircraft that the Brits pushed over the side too. They didn’t have to pay for what they didn’t have.
ping
That was my thought as well.
Doesnt explain the SBDs tho. The RN never flew them, except maybe during the whole “USS Robin” thing in 1942. I’m guessing these were war-weary Dauntlesses dumped when the SB2Cs arrived. I think the Enterprise’s and Lexington’s airgroups still flew them well into 1944.
At the mouth of Sydney harbor is another airplane graveyard with quite a number of planes from the Austrailian navy. The carriers were headed back to combat when the war ended so they dumped the planes to make room for all the troops to come home.
I think this was the typhoon on which the “Cain Mutiny” was based.
The Brits never operated in those waters. After the Japanese advances of 1941/42, the Brits pulled back to the Western Indian Ocean until 1944. At that point they did some operations around Indonesian waters and later participated in the Okinawa Campaign. That part of the Pacific was all US.
I thought about that but wonder at how much will survive after being removed from soaking in salt water for 70 years? The recent recovery of a Dornier 17 bomber off of England is an example. It is having to sit in a special bath to let the salt be leeched out, or whatever the technical term is.
The dauntlesses were probably done away with due to phased out of service which fits your timeline. They stored them below decks in the rafters of the hangar deck without the outboard wing panels for space.There seems to be a bunch of them in that condition.The cannon nose B-25 must have been barged out and dumped.
Thanks SteveH. Underwater archaeology / WWII week?
That certainly would be an eerie sight to come upon under water, huh?
Ping!
Thank you. I went out to the post parade ground today and watched the V-E Day flyover of the Mall by 60 WWII aircraft. It was quite nice. And it was something to get me out of the office!
And I forgot to say, that there were two Corsairs, a Dauntless dive bomber, and 2 Wildcats in the flight.
Avengers' wings folded, so they could get more on the aircraft carrier. That wing hasn't fallen off.
All that government money wasted.
Meh. The war was over, and they were obsolete for the next war.
Why would you waste capital, ever?
But it is so much quicker, easier, and efficient to do another round of endless scrap drives, than salvage those to melt down. /sarc
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
