TBM Avenger ditches public beach

Twenty four hours in salt water means a write-off.

 

I very seriously doubt that. That plane should be flying again within a year.

 

From my experience in the air force during the war any airplane that was immersed in salt water for any length of time would have salt infused in the airframe that could never be eradicated and would eventually cause serious deterioration. Especially anything magnesium or magnesium alloys. Not saying that they won't get this one dried out and gone over but there isn't enough fresh water and hose pressure to flush out all of the salt that has hidden in all the layers and crannies. All of the instruments and the engine will be a bit spendy to replace and to repair.

 

A DC8 that a JAL pilot landed in San Francisco Bay sat there for a couple of days before they lifted it out. A friends father was in charge of getting it out and up on a barge. Henry Bigge and his wife Bernice of Bigge Crane and Drayage were the 2 lone passengers on it maiden flight to Honolulu after its repair. At high tide the water was up into the baggage area. Boats working on the lift poked some holes in the lower skin and I was told it was partially because of salt water attacking it.

Foggy day and pilot landed 2 or 3 miles short. Good landing. Not much damage.

 

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True, I used to own an aviation business that bought and sold turbines, most were from the military, the military does scrap everything that there is even the slightest cause for concern, I'd get 50 lots of Allison t63 a720's at a time with under a couple hundred hours on them, nothing wrong with them but the military had some reason to remove them.

 

Surely planes that live on aircraft carriers are constantly bombarded with salt water? They don't scrap them every five minutes do they.

 

No hope for this Corsair then. She's been underwater for around 75 years now.

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It seems that Ferraris that are wrecked always seem to come back to life somehow; the only ones that don't are the ones that burn. Remember that Enzo that was split in half on the Pacific Coast Highway some years ago? I understand that it's back on the road, or at least its identity is.

In its original life, that Avenger would have been scrapped after its dunking. Today, warbirds are too valuable, and the aircraft's owners have already said that the aircraft will be rebuilt and will fly again, though it may take some time. In the meantime, they may want to look for a new R-2600 mechanic.

 

What aluminum alloys were they using for aircraft in WW2? Were they clad or did they have any other surface treatments?

 

Almost all of the structural material was alloyed with other metals to strengthen the aluminum base. It was then clad with a coating of pure aluminum. 24ST was common but there were other more exotic alloys mixed in. Internal surfaces were left bare, external surfaces were painted until 1944 when everything was left bare. Operations always left scratches in the clad that exposed the alloys that were reactive to chemicals in the environment.

 

No hope! You are correct. Look at the wing and what's left of the skin.

 

I wasn't on carriers but I have to assume that the airplanes were painted inside and out and that there was certainly maintenance carried out to minimize the effects of salt spray. Salt spray is nothing like total immersion.

 

To get that airplane out of the water is going to be a labor intensive and careful operation. It appears that the water is too shallow for a heavy lift barge so a big chopper with big belts may be in the picture. Getting the belts under the nose and fuselage will take some digging because the sand has already invaded the cavities of the structure. Lifting will be slow or things will get a bit more damaged.

 

Clad 2024 (what 2024 is now called) is quite corrosion resistant, they shouldn't have too many issues from it being under water for less than 48 hours. I didn't realize that 2024 is such an old alloy, I thought it came from the 60s.

They used some floats to get it out and grabbed it with a crane, its already on its way back home.

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That was quick and it looks like they know what they are doing.

 

The now need a freshwater lake to dunk it in for a few hours.

 

Great flying
Seemed like the prop was still turning so why did it come down?

 

I think they'll hose it down quite thoroughly while it's still on the crane, or maybe after they lower the gear and put it down. At least while they transport it on the flatbed, they can fold the wings, an advantage of it being a Navy plane.

 

I saw a still image of it still in the air with a lot of blue smoke coming out the exhaust stacks. The R-2600 was in the process of going dead.

 

Well, 2024 (0r 24-ST as it was called in WW II) came in both bare and clad; I'm not sure if clad was already available in the '40s, but if it was, all Navy aircraft would have used it for obvious reasons. You're right; if it was clad and fully painted and/or primed on all surfaces, the structure will be fine. It's things like wiring that may be all screwed up.

75-ST, or 7075 as it was later known, appeared right near the end of the war and replaced 24-ST in certain applications. The B-29 Superfortress was largely made of 24-ST, but the later B-50 version was made of 75-ST instead, as were the models 367/377 Stratofreighter/Stratocruiser that were developed from the B-50.

 

I still have the image of the interior of the B-17 or B-24 with the red letters on the skin, " Alclad 24ST".