 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeArticlesDiving DestinationsLearning Scuba DivingMarine LifeMiscellaneousDiscussion GroupsGeneralScuba EquipmentScuba LocationsAustralian ScubaUK ScubaDirectoryScuba Clubs |
Scuba Forum / General / September 2004P38
We have just found a P38 lightning in perfect condition in 17m of water in Milne Bay, PNG. Just wondering if any of you out there might know who/where we can get any info on this plane and how it came to be there. The radio call sign on it is 2-12649. Any help would be most appreciated. TIA, telita at halsteaddiving dot com > We have just found a P38 lightning in perfect condition in 17m of water > in Milne Bay, PNG. Just wondering if any of you out there might know [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > TIA, I am sure these guys could help: http://www.p38assn.org/ > I am sure these guys could help: > > http://www.p38assn.org/ Thanks Scott, I have emailed them and am awaiting a response. The aircraft is in great condition and the villagers in the area have said that the pilot they saved was American and that he was taken to an allied camp in the area and they don't know what became of him after that. T. "T?" wrote ... > We have just found a P38 lightning in perfect condition in 17m of water > in Milne Bay, PNG. Can you recover the airframe data plate? With that, someone could completely rebuild the aircraft from scratch and sell it as a P38... > We have just found a P38 lightning in perfect condition in 17m of water > in Milne Bay, PNG. Just wondering if any of you out there might know [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > telita at halsteaddiving dot com I can't help you with this particular P38, but here's a link to another P38 wreck in San Diego with quite a bit of historical information. It's a fun dive here, although someone recently stole the O2 cannister off of it. http://www.cawreckdivers.org/Wrecks/P38.htm Maybe if the thief is lucky, the thing that happened to John Chatterton with an O2 tank off U-869 will happen again.... RM > ? We have just found a P38 lightning in perfect condition in 17m of water > ? in Milne Bay, PNG. Just wondering if any of you out there might know [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > http://www.cawreckdivers.org/Wrecks/P38.htm In this case, there was a witness and the ship's registration was reported. >Maybe if the thief is lucky, the thing that happened to John Chatterton with >an O2 tank off U-869 will happen again.... [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] >> >> http://www.cawreckdivers.org/Wrecks/P38.htm --- Rich http://richlockyer.tripod.com/ > In this case, there was a witness and the ship's registration was > reported. Yes, although it remains to be seen if anything will happen. It's questionable whether the wreck is protected in any way, so it's likely that the people who did this didn't do anything illegal. Has anyone publically named the boat owner yet? Alan It's military, so it's federal property, no salvaging without permission. What's really stupid is I remember those same O2 tanks being sold surplus for like $10.  SignatureChuck Tribolet triblet@garlic.com http://www.almaden.ibm.com/cs/people/triblet Silicon Valley: STILL the best day job in the world. > ? In this case, there was a witness and the ship's registration was > ? reported. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Alan >> In this case, there was a witness and the ship's registration was >> reported. > >Yes, although it remains to be seen if anything will happen. It's >questionable whether the wreck is protected in any way, so it's likely >that the people who did this didn't do anything illegal. The law posted on Divebums indicated that unless specifically named as abandoned or transferred for salvage, all military hardware remains property of the government. That tends to cover things like that little bomb that was misplaced off the coast of Georgia :) >Has anyone publically named the boat owner yet? The CF number was posted to Divebums, but I have not heard who it's registered to. --- Rich http://richlockyer.tripod.com/ http://www.aviationarchives.com/research.html > We have just found a P38 lightning in perfect condition in 17m of water > in Milne Bay, PNG. Just wondering if any of you out there might know [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > telita at halsteaddiving dot com > We have just found a P38 lightning in perfect condition in 17m of water > in Milne Bay, PNG. Just wondering if any of you out there might know [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > telita at halsteaddiving dot com This is all I have found out so far: 17JUN42 Ordered as a P-38E 27JUN42 Re-designated P-38F-2 16JUL42 Accepted by the USAAF and flown to the Sacramento Air Depot 21JUL42 Assigned to the 5th Air Force in Australia 25JUL42 Shipped ex San Francisco 12AUG42 Re-designated P-38F-5 29AUG42 From this date no longer under the control of the 5AF 04NOV42 Condemned by the 5AF at Brisbane as a result of a non combat related accident The nature of the accident is unknown at this stage. The last entry is not necessarily the place or date of the accident. It merely indicates that the paperwork was attended to on this date and that said paperwork was held at 5AF HQ at Eagle Farm in Brisbane. The accident probably happened closer to 29AUG42 when the aircraft ceased to be under the control of the 5AF. Either way it was clearly short-lived. (Shipping usually took about one month to reach Australia from west coast USA). Waiting for more info from other sources. T© > T? wrote: > This is all I have found out so far: > [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > Waiting for more info from other sources. Very cool, keep us posted, eh? > Very cool, keep us posted, eh? This is proving to be a real mystery. No joy from any source yet on how/why this plane ended up where it did. I have had both US military and US government people checking it all out and checking me out (scared the crap out of me when they did) but still nothing else yet. T© > > Very cool, keep us posted, eh? > > > This is proving to be a real mystery. No joy from any source yet on > how/why this plane ended up where it did. I have had both US military > and US government people checking it all out and checking me out (scared > the crap out of me when they did) but still nothing else yet. What did they do? Sounds better by the minute. Serial number would be 42-xxxxx, not 2-xxxxx. Interestingly, according to http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/1942_1.html there's a sister ship (42-12647) near by: 42-12567/12649 Lockheed P-38F-5-LO Lightning 12647 under water in Milne Bay, New Guinea Sure you got the last digit right? SignatureChuck Tribolet triblet@garlic.com http://www.almaden.ibm.com/cs/people/triblet Silicon Valley: STILL the best day job in the world. "T?" <T?@home.com> wrote in message news:nzx2d.33766$D7.153@news-server.bigpond.net.au... > T? wrote: > [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] > > T? > Serial number would be 42-xxxxx, not 2-xxxxx. > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Sure you got the last digit right? Thanks Chuck, the serial number does start with a 4 and is definitely 42-12649. The other one (12647) was found some years ago and is dived quite often.
|
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.