This images shows it near the door of the USS White Sands.
Start with Image 7.
"Full Stall Landing" -- TBF-1C Avenger (Pt Loma -- 150 fsw)
- Thread starter beldridg
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This images shows it near the door of the USS White Sands.
Start with Image 7.
OP
This images shows it near the door of the USS White Sands.
Start with Image 7.
Warbird Information Exchange • View topic - Weathered, Worn, Waterlogged and Patched Up ...
warbirdinformationexchange.org
My guess is that it is this one:
Incident Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat 66237, 12 Jan 1944
Ditched in Pacific Ocean near San diego . Recovered by USN Oct 9, 1970. Reported in 1974 at Pima County Air Air Museum, Tucson, AZ. Later on display at National Museum of Naval Aviation, ...
aviation-safety.net
- brett
OP
This images shows it near the door of the USS White Sands.
Start with Image 7.
Warbird Information Exchange • View topic - Weathered, Worn, Waterlogged and Patched Up ...
PS - It is definitely BuNo 66237 currently at the National Museum of Naval Aviation. Check out this link:
Pacific Wrecks - F6F-3 Hellcat Bureau Number 66237
On January 12, 1944 took off piloted by Ensign Robert F. Thomas on a training flight and ditched off San Diego. On October 8, 1970 salvaged by the U.S. Navy and displayed at National Museum Of Naval Aviation.
It even mentions the "Z11" marking.
- brett
broncobowsher
Contributor
I am amazed that the plane came up so clean after 25 years in the ocean (1944-1970).
There was a lot of corrosion but not as much as you would expect in shallow water. I'm pretty sure it was in very deep water and the Scuba divers in the images were just inspecting and readjusting the rigging before floating it into the White Sands.
I remember it didn't smell like dead fish after more than a day out of the water. That is a further indication there was very little growth, even deep inside.
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