WW2 P-38 Lightning found on beach in Wales

[Archae]

Good news for WW2 aircraft buffs!

Sixty-five years after an American P-38 fighter plane ran out of gas and crash-landed on a beach in Wales, the long-forgotten World War II relic has emerged from the surf and sand where it lay buried.

Beach strollers, sunbathers and swimmers often frolicked within a few yards of the aircraft, unaware of its existence until last summer, when unusual weather caused the sand to shift and erode.

The revelation of the Lockheed "Lightning" fighter, with its distinctive twin-boom design, has stirred interest in British aviation circles and among officials of the country's aircraft museums, ready to reclaim another artifact from history's greatest armed conflict.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=3865512

[Fire Walk With Me]

1. Excellent story. Thanks for posting it!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My dear Archae...

Fascinating story!

I love it when stuff like this comes to light....and in this case, literally!

Thank you!

:hug:

[Oeditpus Rex]

3. Larger photo:

The aircraft is a P-38-1-LO, s/n 41-7677



The pilot, 2ndLt. Robert F. Elliott, of the 49th FS, 14th FG, VIII Fighter Command:





At 14:00 on September 27, 1942 Lt. Elliott departed base in 41-7677 on a tow target mission — that is, towing a "sleeve" target for his squadron mates to shoot at. As was standard procedure in the P-38, he took off using the reserve fuel tanks but he forgot to switch to the main tanks fifteen minutes after takeoff as called for in the Pilot's Flight Operating Instructions. Fifty-five minutes into the mission, the left engine lost power. Lt. Elliot misidentified the problem as propeller trouble, "feathered" the prop (rotated the blades edgewise to the airflow to prevent wind-milling), and returned to the airfield intending to land. Coming up over the field at 1,000 feet, he dropped the tow target then flew out over the ocean, turned around, and began his landing approach. When he was two miles out and at 800 feet, the right engine quit. Unable to glide to the runway, he turned for the shore but did not quite reach the beach, landing in about two feet of water.

http://www.tighar.org/Projects/P38/welshlightning.htm



I love researching stuff like this. :D

[Fire Walk With Me]

4. Have you read "Shadow Divers"?

It's a brilliant story about some divers who locate, research, and break the mystery of a U-Boat found just off the US coast, when there were no records of it being anywhere near there. An engrossing read about people who demand the truth and go about finding it.

[Oeditpus Rex]

5. Nuh-uh

But I do have a National Geographic video, "Pearl Harbor: Legacy of Attack," that includes the search by a crew headed by Dr. Robert Ballard (the guy who found the Titanic) for the miniature Japanese submarine that was sunk a few hours before the attack by the destroyer USS Ward.

They didn't find it. :(