USS Lexington, CV-2, found near Australia

March 08, 2018, 01:23 PM

^^^ Lake Michigan, I think. Training carrier out of Chicago.

As to restoration, all it takes is money. The saying is "If it can cast a shadow, it can be restored."

In some cases, it's like the old saw about Grandfather's Hammer: Six different handles and two different heads, but it's still my Grandfather's hammer.

March 08, 2018, 02:26 PM

walkinghorse

Amazing to me, that the aircraft are still with the carrier after the carrier sinks to those depths and hits the bottom!

March 08, 2018, 03:04 PM

Sigmund

quote:
Originally posted by Hound Dog:

...The Navy recovered a bunch of planes out of one of the Great Lakes (Superior?) where they crashed during flight training. They restored some to museum condition, and left some others in the condition in which they were found (on a life-sized diorama of sand, rocks, and snagged fishing nets...

The Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola has a great display on these planes, flown off passenger steamboats converted to carriers.

http://www.navalaviationmuseum...item=sunkentreasures

http://warbirdsnews.com/aircra...sable-wolverine.html

March 08, 2018, 04:43 PM

Hound Dog

quote:
Originally posted by PHPaul:

In some cases, it's like the old saw about Grandfather's Hammer: Six different handles and two different heads, but it's still my Grandfather's hammer.

I asked the Westpac people how much of the original aircraft is in the 'restored' aircraft. They said about 10%.

Even if they would display them 'as-is,' it would be a gift for the future. Left on the seafloor, they will rot to nothingness without anybody ever seeing them with their own eyes.

March 08, 2018, 04:58 PM

Steve Collins

When you see kill marks of japanese planes, the flags without the sunrays are for japanese army aircraft. The flags with the sunrays are for japanese navy aircraft.

March 08, 2018, 05:40 PM

jimmy123x

quote:
Originally posted by Hound Dog:
quote:
Originally posted by pbslinger:
I think these planes are not in good enough condition to attempt recovery. I suspect they would fall apart when lifted or on the way to the surface.

It's amazing what they can restore. There is an outfit in Colorado, Westpac Restorations, that restores aircraft. They literally dig planes out of the jungle where they've been rotting for 7 decades, and when they are done, they are in better condition than when they rolled off the assembly line.

The Navy recovered a bunch of planes out of one of the Great Lakes (Superior?) where they crashed during flight training. They restored some to museum condition, and left some others in the condition in which they were found (on a life-sized diorama of sand, rocks, and snagged fishing nets.

I would bet good money that they could restore these planes to flight if they really wanted to.

Due to electrolysis, it is most likely that all of the metal of that airplane is paper thin and not structurally sound and would never be flyable again. Also when removing something like that, that has been submerged in saltwater, as soon as it hits the surface and oxygen gets to it, it will start corroding almost instantly and you have to deal with that. Easy with small things like coins that they can keep submerged, then slowly rinse with freshwater, then dry. Not easy, with an aircraft.

March 08, 2018, 05:46 PM

Micropterus

The particular plane is a Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat.

The notch, the flat area, directly behind the canopy, is the life raft compartment. That its cover is off suggests the plane either ditched and the pilot deployed the life raft, or the life raft was retrieved while the plane was on the deck by someone as the ship was sinking.

Since the landing gear is down, it almost certainly sank while sitting on the ship. Ditching with the gear down would have flipped the plane over on its back making it exceptionally hard for the pilot to get out.

March 08, 2018, 06:32 PM

Hound Dog

quote:
Originally posted by Micropterus:
The particular plane is a Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat.

The notch, the flat area, directly behind the canopy, is the life raft compartment. That its cover is off suggests the plane either ditched and the pilot deployed the life raft, or the life raft was retrieved while the plane was on the deck by someone as the ship was sinking.

Didn't they deploy automatically when immersed in water?

Or, maybe, since the ship was sinking, maybe somebody thought a life raft would come in handy and they grabbed it before going over the side. . .

No way a pilot ditched with the gear down (and those had hand-cranked gear, so a power failure wouldn't prohibit the pilot from raising the gear).

March 08, 2018, 06:48 PM

Dtech

This is just an incredible find! The photo of the plane is amazing, so well preserved. Noticed it was a Wildcat right away. I'm sure the water at those depths is cold contributing to the preservation and state of the overall wreck. Looking forward to seeing more and would like to see any recovery efforts on some sort of Discovery channel TV show!

March 09, 2018, 09:35 AM

Storm

I'm interested in when/where that plane got those four air kills. To the best of my knowledge, Coral Sea was the first major battle the U.S. Navy fought, not counting Pearl Harbor - where I don't believe the Navy got any planes in the air, and the Doolittle Tokyo Raid - where I'm sure they never encountered an Japanese Naval forces.

I'm thinking those air kills had to have been scored at Coral Sea.

March 09, 2018, 11:05 PM

Citadel

quote:
Originally posted by Storm:
I'm interested in when/where that plane got those four air kills. To the best of my knowledge, Coral Sea was the first major battle the U.S. Navy fought, not counting Pearl Harbor - where I don't believe the Navy got any planes in the air, and the Doolittle Tokyo Raid - where I'm sure they never encountered an Japanese Naval forces.

I'm thinking those air kills had to have been scored at Coral Sea.

F 5 from VF 2 was assigned to Lt Albert O. VORSE JR. He had transferred from VF 3 12 April 1942.