Forgotten WWII-Era American Fighter Plane Found on Beach in Wales

Reminds me Hughes' XF 11 .

Thanks for sharing !
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

That paint will probably buff right out.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Very cool
If they could get Glacier Girl flying, they can get this one in the air as well. It will be restored.

 

It should be interesting to see how they get the plane out of the water without it all falling apart.

 

I remember watching a show about 2 years ago where a war plane was found frozen similar looking to this one, they got it running with new engines and the gas generator in the back caught fire before lift-off and burned the plan to the ground, years of work gone in seconds. Finding old lost planes like this is amazing, couldnt think of anything better to watch on the tube.

 

Thats awesome

 

I would venture to say its in good condition. Sometimes the barnicles and other things that grow on surfaces act as protection devices for whats hidden underneath. I might of missed it but is this a saltwater body or a fresh water body? Very cool and I hope they will restore it.

 

Per the Discovery channel. There are quite a few planes of that vintage not too far off the coast of Florida. I guess you just have to go dig them up.

 

I know you're kidding... Glacier Girl's 60 years of packed snow vs. 60 years of salt water.

 

I hear salt is great for metal

 

Glacier Girl looked like wadded up tinfoil when they found her.
Check out the restorations that sat in Davy Jones' locker now on display in PCola, and not just the Lake Michigan planes. It is quite an unbelievable thing to behold.
"All that glitters is the data plate"

 

I'm sure there are. A whole lot of unknown specimens around Bermuda.

 

"All that glitters is the data plate"

Ha ha, it hink I agree 60 years of salt has at the very least made that metal real thin. An interesting static display though.

I wonder how much of the original airframe from clacier gril is in the current plane.?

 

"All that glitters is the data plate"

Ha ha, it hink I agree 60 years of salt has at the very least made that metal real thin. An interesting static display though.

I wonder how much of the original airframe from clacier gril is in the current plane.?

If they can rstore that salty p38, then arent their some chrysler turbine cars on the andrea doria?

 

You are probably thinkng about a different aircraft with a similiar ending. The B-29 Superfortress which was found in Greenland a few years back was actually preserved quite well by the cold, and it was running and getting ready to take off when the fire destroyed it.

 

Back in her Glory Days
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I don't know about the Turbine cars, but a show car built in Italy, I think it was built by Pininfarina.

Shiny Side Up!
Bill

 

This is the equivalent of a barn find- in water. Makes most of my landings look good.

 

For those who wonder what flying a P-38 is like, check out:

http://www.flightjournal.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=9453C1928AC24B3D9505B8F3E1625B4F&type=gen&mod=Core+Pages&gid=8889597305B0472BA9ACB3953D8999ED

 

The B-29 that was located in Greenland was the "Kee Bird". They did fix her to fly out and then on taxi test the APU caught fire and the plane burned up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kee_Bird


The P-38 Glacier Girl is now flying and is no doubt the most accurate P38 in the world.... a truly amazing restoration. That said, the "restoration" as tantamount to a complete recreation the plane was in such sorry shape when recovered. It was largely crushed by the ice.

This P38 could no doubt be restored (and I would bet that it does get restored) but it will be another such effort.... data plate indeed as the most important part. Then again lots of the corroded beyond help parts on the plane will serve as excellent templates and guides to making new parts.

Most the old WWII planes that may be in waters off Florida were US Navy or Marine aircraft. These are all but impossible to recover as the Navy claims continued ownership over them. Despite the fact that the Navy struck them from inventory lists and wrote them off as lost over 60 years ago, if you find one and recover it they will come take it away from you and charge you with theft of Govt. property. If you do want to recover one you have found the process of obtaining permission and permits is all but impossible. A number of years ago some guys located a Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bomber off the coast of SC. This made it the only know example in the world and it was a veteran of the Battle of Midway to boot. (the Devastator was the plane flown by the ill fated Torpedo Squadron 8 at Midway... every single plane was shot down trying to strike Japanese carriers and only one man survived... Ensign George Gay). While the group fought the Navy Bureaucrats to get permission to recover it... the plane was snagged by fishing nets and destroyed. Way to go Navy!

They are still finding and recovering WWII era aircraft in remote northern Russia. I read about a lend/lease P-39 recently recovered in amazingly good condition from a lake bed, the pilot still in the cockpit.



Terry

 

I too saw that documentary about getting that old B-29 going, and flying her out from where she had been imprisoned for all those years. What a difficult job it was, to get all the systems functioning, rebuild things as need, find parts, etc. One man even died from illness during the saga. And at the end, when the plane is ready to go, all engines running....after years of hard work by a dedicated few.....a fire errupts near the tail! The crew scarmble out of the plane, and watch it burn....

I watched that show once, and I can't ever watch it again - it was heart-wrenching to see it...!!!! It even messed up my sleep for a few days!