P-38 washes up in Wales

[Hwkeye]

I searched the boards to see if this has been posted before but got no hits so I thought I would post this.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/15/wusplane115.xml

[Latrobe]

It was posted before (I think twice) and that's a P-38, not a P-39  .

[Hwkeye]

Yup ya got me on the typo!  (Fat fingers small keys I guess!)

As for the post, I tried a number of ways to search so that I didn't re-do an old topic.  I guess the search engine here isn't very robust.

[Elfie]

Every time I click that link it takes me to Yahoo mail. I had to copy/paste the link to get it to work correctly.

[GFShill]

Or you could do this:

WWII plane washes up in Wales after 65 years
By James Burleigh
Last Updated: 2:47am GMT 15/11/2007



Sixty five years after it crash-landed on a beach in Wales, an American P-38 fighter plane has emerged from the surf and sand where it lay buried - a World War II relic long forgotten by the US government and unknown to the British public.

The Lockheed "Lightning" fighter, with its distinctive twin-boom design, has suddenly reappeared due to unusual conditions which caused the sands to shift and erode.

It was first spotted by a family enjoying a day at the beach on July 31 and a team of US specialists were informed and flew over to survey the site.

advertisementSince the survey in October, the sands have again buried the plane and "whether and when it will reappear is anybody's guess."

Ric Gillespie, who heads the US specialists International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, known as TIGHAR, said: "It's sort of like 'Brigadoon,' the mythical Scottish village that appears and disappears. Although the Welsh aren't too happy about that analogy - they have some famous legends of their own."

Mr Gillespie's organisation learned of the plane's existence in September from a British air history enthusiast and sent a seven-member team to survey the site last month.

It plans to collaborate with British museum experts in recovering the nearly intact but fragile aircraft next spring. The Imperial War Museum Duxford and the Royal Air Force Museum are among the institutions expressing interest.

"The difficult part is to keep such a dramatic discovery secret. Looting of historic wrecks, aircraft or ships, is a major problem in Britain, as it is worldwide," Mr Gillespie said.

British aviation publications so far have been circumspect about disclosing the exact location, and local Welsh authorities have agreed to keep the plane under surveillance whenever it is exposed by the tides of the Irish Sea, he said.

Based on its serial number and other records, "the fighter is arguably the oldest P-38 in existence, and the oldest surviving 8th Air Force combat aircraft of any type. In that respect it's a major find, of exceptional interest to British and American aviation historians," Mr Gillespie said.

The twin-engine P-38, a radical design conceived by Lockheed design genius Clarence "Kelly" Johnson in the late 1930s, became one of the war's most successful fighter planes, serving in Europe and the Pacific.

Some 10,000 were built and about 32 complete or partial airframes are believed to still exist, perhaps 10 in flying condition.

The Wales Lightning, built in 1941, reached Britain in early 1942 and flew combat missions along the Dutch-Belgian coast.

Second Lt Robert F "Fred" Elliott, 24, of Rich Square, North Carolina, was on a gunnery practice mission on September 27, 1942, when a fuel supply error forced him to make an emergency landing on the nearest suitable place - the Welsh beach.

His belly landing in shallow water sheared off a wingtip, but Elliott escaped unhurt. Less than three months later, the veteran of more than 10 combat missions was shot down over Tunisia in North Africa. His plane and body were never found.

The discovery in Wales was stunning news for Robert Elliott, 64, of Blountville, Tennessee, the pilot's nephew and only surviving relative, who has spent nearly 30 years trying to learn more about his namesake's career and death.

All he knew of the Wales incident was a one-line entry saying Elliott had "ditched a P-38 and was uninjured," he said.

"From the time my uncle was shot down in December 1942 until 1978 we knew nothing. So this is just a monumental discovery, and a very emotional thing," said Mr Elliott, an engineering consultant.

 


Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium without licence. For the full copyright statement see Copyright
 

[DiabloTX]

"We can rebuild him.  We have the technology."

[Maverick]

At this time, I think the term "surviving" is a misnomer for this old bird. It's in shallow salt water and there may not be a way to retrieve it before it disintegrates.    I'd be certainly happy to be wrong about it. I'd like to see more of them "in the flesh" rather than just pictures.

[wrongwayric]

What the heck is a fuel supply error? Oh wait that's like me upping my ride thinking i had selected 100% and only took 50% then never checking my gauges. I'm thinking they meant to say fuel supply problem, not error?

[Xasthur]

One and the same, surely?

[Icefox]

Aren't they supposed to be trying to recover that sometime this year?

At least that's what it says in the article, there.

[Hwkeye]

That is very weird that the link is working like that!  It worked when I tested it in 'Preview'.  Thanks GFShill for pasting the article.    Oh well, this post will not gone down as one of my finer ones!

As for restoration of the Lightning, I have to agree with others that it will be a lost cause.  It's just interesting how time and tides will reveal all.