New Wreck : P38 Lightning (Solana Beach, CA -- 180 fsw)

[beldridg]

@California Diver and I have located another new airplane wreck in Southern California.

This time it is a P-38 Lightning off Del Mar / Solana Beach area in about 180 fsw. We also have a preliminary ID on the wreck. It is upside down but relatively intact given that it crashed almost 80 years ago. The whole story along with a ton of photos is available at the blog post below. I also built and published a fairly detailed photogrammetry model.

P-38 Lightning “Skip Bombing Mission” (Solana Beach, CA — 180 fsw)

About six months ago, Tyler sent me some bathymetry data of a possible target off Solana Beach and said “I’ve been looking at that target up there off Solana Beach. It’s in 180 lo…

wreckedinmyrevo.com

This is the third P-38 I have dove in Southern California. Here is a screenshot of the photogrammetry model:

Regards,

- brett

 

[broncobowsher]

This stuff reminds me I got to get back into California diving.

 

[beldridg]

Quick update. We were able to get a copy of the accident report and it reinforces our belief that we correctly identified the bureau number. Given the state of the wreck, we doubt that we will ever be 100% confident, but at this point, we have a high confidence level. Here is a post with all the details, including a copy of the accident report:

Solana Beach P-38 Update (Solana Beach — 180 fsw)

Original Post is here: P-38 Lightning “Skip Bombing Mission (Solana Beach, CA — 180 fsw) Based on the location and type of airplane and the fact that it was largely intact, we made an i…

wreckedinmyrevo.com

- brett

 

[Jared0425]

Quick update. We were able to get a copy of the accident report and it reinforces our belief that we correctly identified the bureau number. Given the state of the wreck, we doubt that we will ever be 100% confident, but at this point, we have a high confidence level. Here is a post with all the details, including a copy of the accident report:

Solana Beach P-38 Update (Solana Beach — 180 fsw)

Original Post is here: P-38 Lightning “Skip Bombing Mission (Solana Beach, CA — 180 fsw) Based on the location and type of airplane and the fact that it was largely intact, we made an i…

wreckedinmyrevo.com

- brett

In my experience, 100% confidence is a rare thing when identifying wrecks that match one another in loss description. I will double post here and the Great Lakes forum about a discovery we made this year and how it undid other IDs made in 1998 and 2021.

 

[beldridg]

In my experience, 100% confidence is a rare thing when identifying wrecks that match one another in loss description. I will double post here and the Great Lakes forum about a discovery we made this year and how it undid other IDs made in 1998 and 2021.

Yup, agreed. Until/unless you get get a Bureau ID or engine plate number or a tail number, etc. you can't be really sure.

We overturned a Corsair crash last year after I built a photogrammetry model and we realized that it had three blades and not four. The story in two posts are posted here:

Using 3D photogrammetry models to identify wrecks

Tyler recently “re-identified” the Corsair that we dove last October. While we cannot be 100% sure, we are pretty sure based on accident reports that the original team mis-identified it…

wreckedinmyrevo.com

The Case of the Mistaken Corsair

Background Back in October 2020, Tyler and I were diving on some unknown targets out of Dana Point on the Marissa (Lora had taken her on the proverbial “road trip”). On one of those div…

wreckedinmyrevo.com

Regards,

- brett