Wow the Corsair is Aging!

[Walter]

Well, you're allowed to call yourself an idiot -- with or without a reason.

 

[Wildcard]

That doesn't violate the TOS?
It was a good dive despite the current and the fact that another diver near by had just died.

 

[sea nmf]

Nice photo, Catherine!

 

[Cacia]

You used to have this shot of the Corsair as your Avatar didn't you?

no, but thanks for remembering! I just realized the guys at the DLNR must have bent her prop taking the chain off! That's why she looks tweaked.

DA Aquamaster and Dennis, thanks for the lesson on fighters.

In case you are interested in the local folklore..it goes like this,

The pilot was on a "training mission" or "scouting" for Japanese Bombers (thats why I got confused) and had engine trouble. One person's accounts said he lost oil pressure, other accounts that he ran out of fuel. He survived ditching the plane and supposedly resided on Maui for years. recently the DNLR decided she had historical value and removed the bouy anchor from her propellor, and now it is tweaked. Sharp eye leesa!

 

[Jcsgt]

Very nice shot!

 

[DA Aquamaster]

The local folklore makes sense. My understanding is that it was ditched in 1945. At that point an F4U-1A in Hawaii could have easily been involved in operational training by a squadron working up prior to deployment aboard ship. Given the state of the Imperial Japanese Navy after mid1943, Japanese bombers would not have been anywhere within 1000 miles of Oahu so any scouting mission would have been a training simulation.

The DNLR actions are a little strange. There are no mysteries about the design or equipment on the F4U and there are still a fair number of F4U's in flying condition thanks to their long service life in third world countries and their eventual sale to private owners who have restored them to excellent condition so they are not common but are also not exactly rare either. It's common to see one at an airshow.

So the historical value of this particular F4U lies in the ability of divers to easily visit it and make a personal connection with "history". Removing the bouy seems to be contrary to that concept, although with GPS accuracy at the level it is, it really won't make much difference.

 

[justleesa]

Thanks Catherine, here are a couple of pictures that Roger took of the Corsair, with a film camera, way back

I do see more space on the prop = more bent

 

[roakey]

Gawd I like B&W photography! Kudos to the photographers!
Roak