Dauntless recovered

There were a couple of pictures of the Dauntless divebomber that was recovered from the bottom of Lake Michigan in our local paper. It has some local interest because the plane had some wartime history here, flying out of Ford Island and serving on the USS Enterprise and USS Yorktown. It is going to be restored and brought to the Air Museum on Ford Island to replace the replica Dauntless that is there now.

The plane was lifted by airbags and then towed to shore where a crane lifted it out of the water. It is incredibly intact. The canopy looks to be intact, the paint and markings are visible, even the propellar blades look straight. The only thing that looks damaged is that the ribs/framework of the rudder are showing. Would the rudder have been fabric covered?

A Chicago based Hula halau performed at the ceremony after the plane was on dry land, setting the stage for its Hawaiian retirement.

The article said that the recovery and restoration was being paid for by Fred Turner, former CEO of McDonald's Corp.

 

Very interesting. I followed the link provided by Ney and, for a moment, wondered if they were talking about the same recovery. (Insert appropriately cynical comment about news media here!)

The pictures contained in the link showed significantly more damage to the plane than the pictures published in our paper. They did not show the line of Hula dancers in front of the plane as it was being set on the ground. There was no mention in our paper about the possibility of the plane going to the New Orleans museum. I wonder if there will be a fight over the plane's final home like there was over a final home port for the USS Missouri.