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

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

Discussion in 'Aviation Chat' started by REMIX, Nov 14, 2007.

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  1. REMIX

    REMIX Two Time F1 World Champ

    So cool...be sure to visit the link to see the photo...


    NEW YORK — Sixty-five years after it ran out of gas and crash-landed on a beach in Wales, an American P-38 fighter plane has emerged from the surf and sand where it lay buried — a World War II relic long forgotten by the U.S. government and unknown to the British public.

    During those decades, beach strollers, sunbathers and swimmers were often within a few yards of the aircraft, utterly unaware of its existence just under the sand. Only this past summer did it suddenly reappear due to unusual conditions that caused the sands to shift and erode.

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,311724,00.html

    RMX
     
  2. Maranello Guy

    Maranello Guy F1 Rookie

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    #2 Maranello Guy, Nov 14, 2007
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  3. toggie

    toggie F1 World Champ
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    #3 toggie, Nov 14, 2007
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  4. snj5

    snj5 F1 World Champ

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

    Lemke F1 Rookie

    Oct 27, 2004
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    It should be interesting to see how they get the plane out of the water without it all falling apart.
     
  6. Newman

    Newman F1 World Champ
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    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.
     
  7. SefacHotRodder

    SefacHotRodder F1 World Champ

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    Thats awesome
     
  8. FerrariF50lover

    FerrariF50lover Formula 3

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    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.
     
  9. Devilsolsi

    Devilsolsi F1 Veteran
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    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.
     
  10. JCR

    JCR F1 World Champ
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    I know you're kidding... Glacier Girl's 60 years of packed snow vs. 60 years of salt water.
     
  11. Devilsolsi

    Devilsolsi F1 Veteran
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    I hear salt is great for metal ;)
     
  12. snj5

    snj5 F1 World Champ

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    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" :)
     
  13. TexasF355F1

    TexasF355F1 Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    I'm sure there are. A whole lot of unknown specimens around Bermuda.
     
  14. boxerman

    boxerman F1 World Champ
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    "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.?
     
  15. boxerman

    boxerman F1 World Champ
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    "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?
     
  16. Kds

    Kds F1 World Champ

    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.
     
  17. WILLIAM H

    WILLIAM H Three Time F1 World Champ

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    #17 WILLIAM H, Nov 15, 2007
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  18. Protouring442

    Protouring442 F1 Veteran

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    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
     
  19. drjohngober

    drjohngober Formula 3

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

    Tspringer F1 Veteran

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    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
     
  21. carguy

    carguy F1 Rookie

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    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!
     

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