F-18 wreck off San Diego, CA?

[rricks90254]

So CAl Divein
Awesome Corsair dive off of Oahu. Dove it this past Sept. 110 feet with excellent vis. Awesome pictures. Crash ed in 1945 after running out of gas. Fully intact.

I dove the Corsair this last May. It was incredible. I started to see the fuselage at about 40 feet and it kept getting better the closer we got.

 

[IDS_Bill]

It's a B-24 bomber, revamped with post WW2 stuff...Went down several years or more AFTER ww2 ended. It was originally in over 250 ft, but with the drought, it is probably in less than 180 ft now. I have several buddies who want to dive it, but the National Park Service (NPS) won't let anyone dive without getting their permission. Deep Sea Detectives did do a lot of dives on it, with the aid of NPS. I beleive because it is what it is, I doubt that the general public will ever be allowed to dive on it.

It's a B-29. Mead is about 45% capacity right now so it is probably in about 150 feet of water. You cannot currently dive it as the National Parks Service is formulating a policy to allow technical divers on the site and it is in litigation with the guy who found it. *sigh* We are trying to get trips going to it but it may be a while...

Bill

 

[Otter]

It's a B-29. Mead is about 45% capacity right now so it is probably in about 150 feet of water. You cannot currently dive it as the National Parks Service is formulating a policy to allow technical divers on the site and it is in litigation with the guy who found it. *sigh* We are trying to get trips going to it but it may be a while...

Bill

According to the NPS Website, "...The portion of the Lower Overton Arm of Lake Mead, from a northern boundary at approximately Latitude N. 36° 15' to a southern boundary at approximately Latitude N. 36° 10', and from the western shoreline to the eastern shoreline, to be closed to SCUBA and all forms of underwater diving unless a permit has been issued by the Chief Ranger's office.
This restriction is necessary to protect sensitive cultural resources while the park formulates a recreational diving management plan to protect the submerged B-29 aircraft [see link]. This restriction chall be in effect from January 22, 2004, through January 21, 2005."

Has anything come out publicly extending the restriction? If not, what would be the risk of diving it any way?

I wanna dive it while its winter/shallow(er).

 

[mike_s]

The Glomar Explorer is an ugly boat with an interesting history floating in the mothball fleet near Benicia. Figured a historical reference to this CIA effort fit in this thread.

RJ

An interesting note about that ship, I think the CIA contracted with Howard Hughes to provide the recovery ship. They have video footage of the recovery and the "at sea" burial of the 6 Russian crew members. I think this footage has been declassified now as it's been 25 years (by default).

 

[SoCalAngel]

According to the NPS Website, "...The portion of the Lower Overton Arm of Lake Mead, from a northern boundary at approximately Latitude N. 36° 15' to a southern boundary at approximately Latitude N. 36° 10', and from the western shoreline to the eastern shoreline, to be closed to SCUBA and all forms of underwater diving unless a permit has been issued by the Chief Ranger's office.
This restriction is necessary to protect sensitive cultural resources while the park formulates a recreational diving management plan to protect the submerged B-29 aircraft [see link]. This restriction chall be in effect from January 22, 2004, through January 21, 2005."

Has anything come out publicly extending the restriction? If not, what would be the risk of diving it any way?

I wanna dive it while its winter/shallow(er).

When r we going?

 

[nothanx2]

would anyone be willing to give details about the corsair off san diego? like condition etc. not necesarily where it is. i heard the phantom is pretty well destroyed, but hey, could be wrong. thanks!


eric

 

[IDS_Bill]

According to the NPS Website, "...The portion of the Lower Overton Arm of Lake Mead, from a northern boundary at approximately Latitude N. 36° 15' to a southern boundary at approximately Latitude N. 36° 10', and from the western shoreline to the eastern shoreline, to be closed to SCUBA and all forms of underwater diving unless a permit has been issued by the Chief Ranger's office.
This restriction is necessary to protect sensitive cultural resources while the park formulates a recreational diving management plan to protect the submerged B-29 aircraft [see link]. This restriction chall be in effect from January 22, 2004, through January 21, 2005."

Has anything come out publicly extending the restriction? If not, what would be the risk of diving it any way?

I wanna dive it while its winter/shallow(er).

That information is a little outdated. We have been talking with the NPS about their progress and it seems that the NPS is in some kind of litigation over the site - my guess is with the guy who originally found the plane. They have to get that worked out before they institute a policy on the site. We submitted a proposal to the NPS about our shop helping out with the birrage of divers that they will face. There are some issues that they have to keep in mind -

- Preservation of the site
- Diver training to perform such dives and verification of said credentials
- Logostics
- Safety - including support and safety divers

Some things to keep in mind - this will be a decompression dive so divers will most likely be required to show technical/extended range/decompression training. My guess and reccomendation would be that whenever they open it up, recreational divers will unfortunately be unable to dive the site. At 150-180 ffw, it will be a pretty inhospitable environment, but well worth the investment of time and money for the training.

Hope this information helps,

Bill

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

There is an F-4 at Rock Divers, quarry, near Huntsville, AL. Along with alotta space-junk.

http://www.suprbugman.com/albums/album12/JoshTJamesDean.thumb.jpg
Fun stuff.

There is a WWII Corsair airplane about 10 miles out of Gulf Shores, AL in about 70-80' of water. Brings in alotta triggerfish for some reason

There is also a Corsair II(A-7) offshore from Pensacola. Haven't dove it, but I've seen it in pictures - its upside down in over 100' of water if I remember correctly.

 

[Flamebug818]

nah i heard it was a b-29 in good condition it was testing some sort of primative infared seeker head or something if i ever got teck certed id love to dive that

 

[cyklon_300]

The aircraft carried instrumentation for 'light transmissivity testing'...

http://data2.itc.nps.gov/submerged/dispproj.cfm?alphacode=LAME