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The light of day shone on a World War II fighter plane Friday for the first time in almost 68 years, when crews recovered the crashed aircraft from the waters of Lake Michigan.
On Dec. 28, 1944, a FM-2 "Wildcat" Fighter aircraft crashed and sank during a training mission in Waukegan Harbor, NBCChicago.com reported. Engine failure was blamed, and the plane was left in about 200 feet of water, according to NBCChicago.com.
Friday's recovery, which had an audience of nearly 100, was the first milestone toward getting the plane restored and eventually in a museum, the Chicago Tribune reported. A 78-year-old pilot from Mettawa, Ill. paid for the recovery, according to the newspaper.
"It’s a pretty inspiring thing," pilot Charles Greenhill told the Tribune. "You think you get used to it, but you don’t."
The plane is expected to be transported to Greenhill's Kenosha, Wis., hangar and then to Pensacola, Fla., where it'll undergo a full restoration -- which could take at least five years -- at the National Museum of Naval Aviation, the Tribune reported. It's hoped that the plane will permanently reside in a proposed museum on the former Naval Air Station Glenview site in Illinois, according to the newspaper.
Courtesy NBCChicago.com
Crews remove a FM-2 "Wildcat" Fighter aircraft on Friday that crashed during a training mission on Dec. 28, 1944, in Waukegan Harbor.
Related: WWII veteran returns wedding photos 68 years later
The "Wildcat" aircraft was one of the planes used to train Navy pilots during World War II, and they'd practice flying from the naval air station and from aircraft carriers, the Daily Herald in suburban Chicago reported. During the war, over 17,000 pilots trained over Lake Michigan, according to Rockford, Ill. NBC affiliate WREX.
"This thing would've been a piece of junk,” Greenhill told the Daily Herald. "Instead, it will become a piece of history that people will be able to see and appreciate."
The recovery happened on a day of related significance: Friday was the 71st anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, which claimed thousands of lives and launched the United States into World War II, according to The Associated Press.
Related: Pearl Harbor dead remembered on 71st anniversary
Related: NBC's George Lewis blogs about remembering Pearl Harbor
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It's true that by 1944 the Wildcat - introduced by Grumman as the F4F and also produced by General Motors as the FM2 - had been relegated to a training role by 1944; but in the months after Pearl Harbor it was the Navy's first-line carrier borne fighter and, especially considering that it had less speed and maneuverability than its Japanese Zero opponent, compiled a distinguished combat record. Only when Grumman's F6F Hellcat and Chance Vought's F4U came on line was it phased out and relegated to training duty.
The type was also supplied to Great Britain's Royal Navy, who named it the Martlet.
My question is one of property rights. Is this plane not still government property? I DO NOT have a problem with this man having the plane. Given recent stories I have heard about people locating (at great expense) and salvaging gold in international ocean waters being successfully claimed by the Spanish government in court. I think this man should remain cautious about this plane and "ownership" issues.
Not exactly right, Bob.
The Grumman F4F-3 and F4F-4 saw heavy combat action for the entirety of 1942 and into 1943, so far more than just the few months after Pearl Harbor. The F4U Corsair didn't enter combat until February of 1943, and as she was dubbed unsuitable for carrier use, the Wildcat soldiered on as the main carrier-borne fighter of the US Navy, with most Corsairs going to land-based Marine Corps units. It was not until the arrival of the Hellcat in September of 1943 that the Wildcat began to be displaced from the fleet carriers.
Grumman did indeed cease production of the Wildcat themselves at this time, and production shifted to General Motors as the FM-1. The FM-1 was essentially an F4F-4 with the outer pair of .50cal machine guns removed (the F4F-4 had six .50cal to the F4F-3's four, and also incorporated folding wings, but was heavier and had a much shorter range. Pilots also preferred the 4-gun arrangement since it provided more ammunition per gun). These aircraft were deployed aboard the smaller escort carriers epitomized by the Casablanca-class carriers, since they were too small to handle the larger and faster F4U and F6F. Escort carriers would see service throughout both the Atlantic and Pacific, ensuring that the Wildcat would continue to see combat action for the duration of the war.
Pilots found the FM-1's performance unsatisfactory, and Grumman continued improving on the aircraft's design. This led to the development of the XF4F-8, which was built under license by GM as the FM-2. The FM-2 mounted a much more powerful engine, requiring the vertical stabilizer to be heightened considerably, and resulting in a faster machine with a better rate of climb. The FM-2 replaced the FM-1 on the escort carriers by 1944, and would be heavily involved in combat action in the final year of the Pacific campaign (in fact, the FM-2 downed nearly 400 enemy aircraft of all types for the loss of only nine between September 1, 1944 and August 15, 1945).
Probably the FM-2's finest hour came at the Battle off Samar, where the little Grummans were thrown up against the massive Japanese task force attacking the American landing forces in Leyte Gulf. FM-2s only carried a pair of 100lb bombs six 5" HVAR rockets, which might as well have been spitting on Yamato and the Japanese cruises engaged in the battle, but the Wildcat's efforts strafing the Japanese gun emplacements were a critical part of convincing Japanese admiral Kurita that he had run right into Halsey's entire fleet, and not just a handful of destroyers, destroyer escorts, and escort carriers.
Why should the money be spent on the living then the dead past? In my town we had a restored aircraft from WWII on exhibit for many years and then it was decided that it had no longer any significance and it was sold for scrap. I remember going over it and seeing the patched bullet holes.
Humans who sacrificed many years of their life for us deserve all the help we can give them. IT IS MY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT AND HUMAN RIGHT TO SPEAK MY MIND!. That is why I made the comment. Many have PTSD and will never get rid of it. It is a terrible affliction and if you ever had it, you would know what effects it has. Night sweats, nightmares, recurring images, an overriding fight or flight response and this response happens at the most difficult, embarrassing moments.
I would rather donate to a cause to help the returning soldiers than to spend $$$ on a piece of junk. After they spend the $$$ where are they going to put it and how many people are going to spend the few minutes to look at it and not remember the living soldiers who need help, unable to hold down steady jobs due to the effects of the war experience?
While we are at it, should we do away with Memorial day?
David W, you are 100% correct. Good post. The FM's were indeed manufacture by the Eastern Aircraft division of General Motors. Pilots generally hated the FM-1 and considered it a slug except for it's armor protection but were generally very satisfied overall with the FM-2 as it's performance envelope was greatly improved over the FM-1. The FM-2s also, I believe, had non manual landing gear retraction, instead of the old manual hand crank wheel on the early F-4s. Don't recalll whether they were electrical or hydraulically operated. That was also much appreciated by pilots. Had an uncle who flew FM-2s in the Pacific in the latter half of the war off escort carriers and he loved them.
Yes, it is still government property. And the location where it crashed is, of course, government property as some level of government owns all land that no one else has made claim or purchase to, such as the vast majority of Nevada and Alaska!
In recent decades, the US Air Force has been absolutely great for warbird restorers to work with; our blue suiters seem tickled pink when anyone is interested in recovering and restoring one of their long abandoned wrecked aircraft. The US Navy, on the other hand, has been a different story altogether. They seem to steadfastly hold their claim on their lost aircraft and usually seem none too interested in allowing anyone to lay a hand on them.
Either they've come around and have blessed this, will kindly look the other way, or will catch wind of this and make life miserable for everyone involved. I don't know that they'd press charges of theft of government property, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they do.
I have no idea why the USAF and USN are so opposite in this respect.
How many of you are going to take the time and spend the money to see wherever this airplane winds up?
There is already one on exhibit: Like the F4 that graces the Butch OʼHare exhibit at the Chicago hub, this fighter was pulled from the bottom of Lake Michigan, nearly 50 years after it had crashed there on a training flight, and painted with Butch OʼHareʼs scheme.
And if you deadly serious that you want to see one, the internet is filled with pictures of them.
Honoring a plane rather than the men who flew and fly the new U.S.Airforce panes is like honoring a spent bullet from a rifle.
Over 7,400 were made at the factories and except for a very few, they all were sent to the scrapheap. So much for honoring the planes that served well at the beginning of WWII!
Today and Joe Bob -
The US Navy does not relinquish title to wrecked planes. The USAF, to the contrary, does. So the plane is and will be owned by the US government.
These recoveries are funded by PRIVATE individuals, not the goverment. My tax dollars probably helped pay for the roads in your town, and lots of other services that I do not partake of. So its really a logical error to say that the recovery, retoration, or display of this plane has anything to do with the care of our wounded military heros. There should be unlimited funds for rehabilitating those men and women, but its not correct to correlate that to this in any way.
I wonder who was flying the plane when it went down and did he survive?
The vast majority of old machines, no matter what they are/were or how much they were loved, ended up in the scrap heap.
The first factor is that aircraft, automobiles, or anything else mechanical has a limited service life. Given enough use, it wears out. Within reason, this can be remedied through repairs and parts replacement. Unfortunately, there are costs associated with making repairs and parts replacement possible, namely in maintaining an inventory of spare parts and in providing the skilled labor and facilities with which maintenance and repairs are made. Ultimately, enough needed spare parts become unavailable and machines are put out of service except when usable parts can be cannibalized from other machines. This was commonly done with wrecked aircraft; the salvage team got to the aircraft, if it was accessible, and removed pretty much whatever equipment they could, however they could do it the quickest. This very often included just cutting holes in the fuselage. The removed equipment was hauled away and made available for maintaining other aircraft still in operation. The wrecked airframe may have been left, or in some cases the team dynamited it for ostensible 'security' reasons. (They don't do that anymore...unless it's in a war zone, all wreckage is recovered today. Environmental responsibility, you know! Warzone wreckage is still usually subjected to high explosives so hostile forces cannot reap any benefits from it other than perhaps a quantity of scrap aluminum.) Most machines do eventually become obsolescent, especially during times when designs are rapidly evolving as they were during WWII. Even if parts are available, often the manpower to fix a plane that was no longer used for frontline service just couldn't be justified.
Scrapping machines does not equal throwing them out.
Someone owned those machines, and they cost money to acquire and maintain. In the case of this FM-2 specimen, the US taxpayers bought them and covered all expenses associated with them. When they could no longer be used in the defense of the United States or provided to our allies for their use against common enemies such as the Axis forces, selling the aircraft to a metal recycler is the only real option. Storing them somewhere would accomplish what? If no one else wanted or could use them, and we couldn't use them, recovering as much of the money spent on them by selling them for their residual (scrap) value was the fiscally responsible thing for the US Government to do. With early wartime production, worn, damaged, or obsolete machines would help provide desperately needed metals. After the war, we were practically waist deep in 1940 war material (most of it was actually mid to late 1930's tech) and the 1945 technology far outclassed most weapons in the inventory. About the only thing this didn't apply to was small arms and personal equipment for the infantry; the WWII equipment would generally see several decades of further use. Not so with most vehicles, especially aircraft! Limited funds would be spent on acquiring the new stuff to fight the Cold War with, not maintaining equipment that was a generation or three behind.
Todayopinion - Are you living in a shoebox, or what? Comparing it to a bullet from a rifle? Are you serious? Take a look at each individual WWII aircraft and you can see a story that it has to tell. National markings. Squadron markings. Unit markings. Pilots names, crew chiefs names, dates, nose art (usually relating to a loved one at home), kill markings... these things all help tell the story of PEOPLE. You clearly have no idea what the purpose and mission is of restoring these aircraft and machines from WWII. You see them as a piece of junk, a useless relic from the past. Have you ever seen the look on a WWII veteran's face when he is reunited with HIS ORIGINAL aircraft that took him to hell and back and returned him safely every time? These aren't just pieces of metal and aluminum, they're meant to honor the soldiers who had to use them to fight for freedom! They help preserve history, so we don't forget our past, and so that us spoiled humans taking 21st century technology for granted, can see what our grandparents/great grandparents had to fight with. These restorations are a vivid, living piece of history that people can experience. When I flew in a B-25 Mitchell for my first time, I was absolutely blown away by what these pilots/gunners/flight engineers/bombardiers had to go through, and I was flying at low altitude, on a nice day, in friendly skies. That experience is something no textbook can even begin to convey. Seeing an original Fw-190 scream over my head gave me chills, as I could finally SEE, and FEEL, and HEAR a machine that was struck fear across an entire continent. You think veterans want us just taking some authors word for it?
Have you even been to a warbird museum? Have you even seen one at an airshow? Do you know how much many of these organizations give back to their communities, and help support veterans? Hell, these aircraft are painstakingly recovered, restored, maintained, and flown BY VETERANS! AND through private funds.
Absolutely soldiers returning home need better support (Heck, better indicates there is support to begin with). Again, if you did your homework and had any idea of what you're actually talking about, you would realize that these organizations are FILLED with veterans and many do a lot to support their local communities, and veterans.
Well said Jason. and the other guy "today" is the kind of person who we aspire to use the term just once: "If I have to explain it to you, you still would not understand it". I think this is a wonderful find. Our WWII vets are dying at a very high rate these days. Lest we not forget. History is still history, and touring museums that salute their courage and sacrifice will always keep that and the memories of those of loved ones, since gone, fresh in our hearts.
Jason, you are absolutely correct. Storage and recycling of old or antiquated aircraft is the primary reason for the existence of AMRC at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, Arizona. If you have ever been to or driven by this facility (also known as The Boneyard) it is an incredible place. So much history in one location! This is also not to mention the Pima Air and Space Museum right next door that has one of the largest collections of vintage aircraft in the world. I think the only collections larger are the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterso Air FOrce Base in Dayton, Ohio and the collection at The Smithsonian in Washington, DC. At AMRC, I actually saw a ski equipped C-130 Hercules transport stored there that I rode from Christchurch, New Zealand to Antarctica back in 1988. Seeing that bird brought back a lot of memories.
Todayopinion has little or no clue just what these aircraft mean to people and has apparently has little or no imagination or the sense of awe and wonder that seeing, or for those fortunate enough to fly or fly in, vintage aircraft can invoke. I can't help but pity him a little!
As Thought put it so well above, "History is still history.....". To all a good evening.
It sounds good to salvage and restore the plane, however, I believe that the money would be better spent to help veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
A 78-year-old pilot from Mettawa, Ill. paid for the recovery, according to the newspaper.
It's HIS money and he can spend it any way he wants. The Iraq and Afghan vets have numerous other programs designed to help them already.
Why do people jump to "...but the money should have been spent on X, Y or Z..."?
Same with every story about a politician talking about something light or doing something non-essential, "when they should be focusing on A, B or C"?
The plane has real value, historical and otherwise.
It's a mindless non-sequitir to jump to some alternative use of money or time without some logical basis.
It's funny when people tell other people what to do with their own money. I think this is great to preserve history. It's unbelievable how many of these awesome WW2 planes were simply scrapped, running or not, after the war. My Uncle was a gunner on an old Navy TBF "Avenger". His plane was shot down. The pilot was killed and my uncle survived but broke his back in the crash so he was discharged from the Navy but fully recovered from his injuries but has a lot of scars. He went on to use his GI Bill to go to the University of Tennessee and got a degree in civil engineering. BTW, he was credited with shooting down 2 Japanese planes before they were hit themselves. He has the confirmation report and decals in his war scrapbook. He's still going strong at 89.
Exactly. His money. When it becomes your money, then feel free to give it to me and my fellow vets.
I know a lot of Iraq and Afghanistan vets, including some who are definitely NOT rich. Every man jack among them would be delighted to hear of this WWII relic being salvaged and restored.
Finally, a tiny little piece of good news among a sea of depressing bringdowns!!
While on one hand, there is so much need and want in the world, by the other it is nice to see acts such as this type of philanthropy to preserve history and memorials. Gives civility to our otherwise wretched and barbaric species.
i don't see anything wrong with the salvaging of this plane.it has great historical value and national pride.this type of fighter during the u.s.' darkest moments was one of the only things that kept the ruthless japanese at bay.if this former fighter pilot wishes to spend his money to do that than that is his right.on the other hand you have NO right on how any private individual should spend his money ,unless you are a libtard.
The restoration is being paid for by a 78 year old guy- he can do what he wants with his money- he earned it. How about you take on a part time job and donate your salary to whoever you want.
thats maybe true too but i think his idea is for america NOT to forget the scarifices of all veterans who served and died.his generation was of the first to promote not to only remember the maine but all the other states and others.i would also like to see the iraq/afganastan veterans have there own rememberance way.sometimes we as americans have short memories,but anyone who served,really never forgets all of it.just try i guess,i dont know.go to a va chapel sometime for svcs if available,still do on occasin.lets me remember the idiots i served wiyh,and still miss from 25yrs ago myself.vets get it.
@str8jkt82
You were doing fine up until the "libtard" remark.
I'm a vet.
I'm a liberal.
And I think this guy can choose spend his money any way he likes and you and I and everyone else has zero say in the matter.
"plane &simple" its his money and he has the right to spend it the way he wants ,p.s. he most likely used maritine salvage laws and claimed the salvage rights legally as he paid to recover it from the bottom ,kudos to him for saving this vintage aircraft
I believe that the money would be better spent to help veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
=================================================
There are quite a few professional athletes, entertainers and high society types (Kardashian, Hilton, etc.) who own huge mansions and drive around in Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Maseratis, Bugatis, etc., perhaps you should address this statement to them before questioning this guy who is willing to spend his own money to restore a piece of history for the rest of us to appreciate. Yes, there are some who contribute to charities, but there are many who are all about themselves.
Chris from Yucaipa
you and your lefty Chavez brothers and sisters are ALL about telling people what they can and should do with their money , i.e your attacks on "rich" people and the pure theft that is your "health care" scam , you know , the one that tells me what I have to spend my money on , ergo your post is weak at best
Chris,
Thanks for your service. I'm as much a right-wing nut job as you can get, in every manner (also a Vet - Retired USAF). But I agree, the silly name-calling is infantile, by both the right and the left. As to this subject...good-on the man that wanted to spend his money on what he wanted, some preservation of history. We can talk politics some other time :)
@Chris - what Str8 posted about liberals is generally spot on: your political kind is very generous with other people's money taken from them by force through government. And it's never enough taken, either. It's always take more more MORE!
/Political rant off
My weak post beats your nonsensical one any day.
I call BS, JHawke--otherwise, you wouldn't be bringing up anti-liberal talking points on every single thread, no matter its topic. I haven't figured out exactly what the point is of the political BS on a thread about salvaging a WWII aircraft except that it's the only topic you really care about...
John Atherosclerosis, you tell me what "the Chavez brothers" and healthcare have to do with an aircraft salvage, and I might stop thinking you're a neurotic troll with political obsessive-compulsive disorder...
He is putting his money to a great cause because everything he does to that plane will cost money. Money that people will have to earn not recieved through donations or taxes.(their is nothing wrong with donating)
todayopinion- did you read the article? The money was from a private citizen not the government.
lol...I get your point but isn't all of the money from private citizens and not the government, I mean really the gov't does not make money it simply takes it from private citizens.
Hey coontzy, did you read the responses? They were all aware that this was private money.
Did you guys bother to see that coontz comment came directly after todaysopinion posted his, and before any of those 'responses' were posted? He simply forgot to do it as a reply and made it a new post instead. You should check these things before you jump on a guy.
Chris, When you refer to "you guys" are you including me, Because I certainly did not "jump" on Coontz I was merely making the point that All money originates from private origins, The only money the government makes is when it prints money it does not have which make my money worth less and the post office and penalties and fees which still originate from the private sector and neither cover the cost of their bureaucracy.
Personally I commend this guy for salvaging and planning on restoring this fine old aircraft.
Lost - It's true that tax money is ours but once it's in government coffers, the decision of how to use it becomes someone else's purview. Otherwise, ALL my tax dollars would be going to the VA or PBS.
Whiskey, ...We the People, The Government is of the people, The people are not of the government, They(the government) represents and works for us not the other way around.
You missed my point entirely. Are you saying you're pleased with where every cent of your tax dollars go? Did you make a direct decision about wherever that money has gone? If you know some place where I can say where my own money goes after I pay my taxes, please publish the website or whatever. Yeah, I get that I can vote Blah Blah Blah. That's not what I'm talking about.
Thank you starbuck for reading the article unlike others. The fact that so many of these planes where just sold for scrap after the war makes it important that any possible examples that can be save are. It is amazing that this plane was allowed to be salvages with all the red tape that there is surrounding all the WWII planes in Lake Michigan. BTW the article talks about aircraft carriers on the lake. If you can call 2 old ships fitted with flight decks (USS Sable and USS Wolverine) aircraft carriers, then I guess they are correct.
The article states they practiced from the naval air station and from aircraft carriers - didn't mention which aircraft carriers or where they were located. Maybe they meant aircraft carriers in other locations.
I'm delighted to see that the aircraft will be restored and appreciated in a museum. It's amazing that it was salvaged in such relatively good condition after nearly 70 years in 200 feet of water. Kudos to all involved.
The depth of the water and the temperature of the water(very cold) more than likely helped preserve the plane.
The difference of salt vs fresh water is lost on many people. Being in the boat business for over 30 years has shown me that in spades. They just found another plane similar to this one off the FL coast and I guarantee it could not be restored to museum quality at any cost.
The Sable and the Wolverine were side paddle coaliers that were fitted with flight decks so that new pilots could practice take off and landings on carriers.
Thank you, Coontz for that info! I wasn't aware of the freshwater carriers used to train our aviators! Did a few Google searches and learned a little tonight. And I agree, it is important whenever possible, to salvage these old warbirds. They are an important part of our history, and the legacy of military aviation.
The Wildcat was a stud of an airplane but still no match for the Japanese Zero as far as maneuverability but it could take a load of damage and keep flying...saving a lot of US pilots. When the Hellcat and Corsair came out it was pretty much over for the Japs in the air. While the heroes fought on the ground and in the air the US eventually gained air superiority which greatly helped the heroics of the ground troops.
Sorry for the histrionics but it is sort of an obsession of mine...doesn't mean I'm an historian just obsessed lol
I totally agree. The Corsair, especially, was a monster fighter for its time.
I can recall a pair of books as a youth of the 1950's doing research on fighters of WWII and found incredibly rapid,nearly exponential advancements in the purpose driven craft(range,armaments,power,protection,agility,and in specialized functions-carrier duty).It was part of research for military school training in military science and tactics at Linsly. While my research was just basic,everything I read points to the Corsair as the weapon of choice for Pacific theatre actions against most Japanese crafts,very adept,powerful.
However the author of those books who was involved in several theatres of operations had a personal favorite as a fighter jockey that he indicated saved his life,his P-47 Republic Thunderbolt,which he indicated because of its power could outclimb most any enemy craft enough to save you from a gang attack,as well indicating the craft's ability consequently to also outpower ME109s in a dive,just not as agile in tight circumstances. Since then,I've sought out some of the remaining P-47 s and listened and watched them and one things for sure,they are stout powerful fast aircraft,and just flatout beautful to watch a skilled familiar vet put one 'thru its paces'.The sounds alone are so outstanding.
Of course then,there's always P51 Mustangs too and Lighnings as well.
the wildcats superior armor ,6 .50 cal machine guns ,and a fighter pilot named jimmy thatch(the thatch weave) made the wildcat a formidable opponent against the more nimble jap zero.it was not until the introduction of the f6f hellcat and thd f4u corsair did american pilots get the techonological edge.
always loved the corsair ,guss that is from being a marine and my dad telling me when he was a little boy in bridgeport conn,he would watch the corsairs flying
The Corsair was indeed a beauty--with the inverted gull wing, it was absolutely distinctive...
I wish the article had included what happened to the pilot(s) of the crashed plane.
Way kewl, now back to my Pepsi before I go to work this am.
Salvagable? Its a Blueprint,for sure!
Ant1369, this is probably what you're looking for...
According to the military's report, the aircraft (FM-2 Wildcat Bureau No. 57039) crashed into the lake in about 200 feet of water at 1151 hours on December 28, 1944. The pilot, Ensign William E. Forbes, was about to make his third takeoff from the USS Sable for his aircraft carrier qualification. Although the engine had checked out okay, it began to "pop" on the takeoff roll and then quit completely. It rolled off the carrier's bow and sank. Forbes survived the crash and went on to fly escort for Pacific-based ship convoys off the USS Antietam and USS Cabot carriers.
Forbes went to law school at Fresno State University and practiced there in from 1951 until his death in 2008. His daughter, Christine Smith, of Seattle, Washington, is thrilled that the Wildcat is being rescued, but can't be there on Friday to see it come out of the water due to the short notice for the operation.
Thank you :)
WW2 stuff like this needs to be protected for history. Time has a nasty habit of erasing things. We have to do what we can to keep these things around as long as possible. So future generations have it to learn from. This will make a wonderful Museum piece, or addition to a collection somewhere. The wildcat was one of the most common planes of WW2, especially in the Pacific.. Great find.
The later version "the Hellcat", was one of the planes that turned the war around. Its more powerful engine allowed it to stay with the lighter Japanese planes. Who before that would just climb away, repeatedly diving down to attack. Rinse/repeat. The more powerful engine of the Hellcat ended that, and turned the airwar around. The pilots who flew these planes were extremely brave.
"Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana
Reclaiming and restoring pieces of our history like this plane is a duty to future generations. I salute the person who paid for this project, he clearly understands this truth so clearly iterated by Santayana.
I wish my husband was alive to see this event. He would have loved it. He was in the Air Force, but loved all of the planes right from the Wright Brothers on up. This is a historical event and it is right that the plane be refurbished and put on display. Thanks to the gentleman who has paid for this.
I don't know if this has been asked or answered but what is the back story on the pilot(s) that were flying the plane when it crashed? The plane looks like it is in pretty good shape so I would assume the pilot belly landed the plane in the water and didn't parachute out.
read post 12
What a great and respectful String, for a change, except old what's his name, "todayopinion", who just
does not get it, but there is only One of him and his vote just doesn't count.
.....kudos to the man who recovered this valuable piece of history.............
These planes are rare and priceless - glad it is recovered, restored and enjoyed by thousands of people who enjoy aviation!!
That rear fuselage section might not buff out.
I would like to have heard what happened to the pilot?
Would have been nice if some indication of whether or not the plane's pilot had survived the crash had been provided.
Nothing in this article addresses the fate of the pilot flying the plane when it crashed.
Read post 12
100% Made in the USA.
Good point. At that time, everything here was made here which is how it should be. It's a shame things can't go back to being that way. Now I'm curious to know exactly how many parts attached to all US Military aircraft of today are actually made in a foreign country. It would be very interesting to find out.
This is a great opportunity to preserve history and help teach new generations that their families went to great lengths to protect what they treasure today.
Hmmm....didn't see mention of what happened to the pilot. If he was able to bail out and is maybe still alive or is in the cockpit? No mention of a body and it appears the cockpit is opened so maybe he did bail or escaped after ditching in the water. Plane couldnt have hit the water that hard to still have wings attached. Does kind of look like the back of the fuselage is missing though. Be cool if the pilot was still around and got to visit the plane or was there for its unveiling after refurb. I'm such a sentimentalist.
It is explained in a comment above.