Lost Planes of 1946 Freeman Field Open House

[Raptor05121]

Everyone remember that video that was posted a few months ago showing all those German airplanes at Freeman Field? Someone is looking for them now:

http://naziscienceliveson.devhub.com/blog/776655-nazi-secrets-wwii-planes-buried-under-seymour-ind-airport/

[Fencer51]

They been digging there for years, and have gotten some props and other things.  They need to look under the runway at Midway up in Chicago.

[Krusty]

If they've been burried underground for 60 years they're a mangled heap of metal at this point. While a historic oddity, you would no sooner dig up the bulldozed piles of P-38s and consider them a "treasure" like the article might suggest.

I seem to recall they organize these teams to dig kind of like a recurring paleontology dig might -- come back when you get the funding, dig in another place, etc.

Seems to be a long-standing activity here. Good to see they're at it, but IMO it's not going to be all that productive IF they find anything of substance. It would take untold millions to refabricate any mangled fuselage into a real plane and require private backing and all that goodness. Only a rare few in the world are funding that sort of thing these days.

[Chalenge]

All they have to do is find a few Jumo parts and it would be profitable.

[Rino]

     Not sure anyone would want Jumo parts as no one uses them anymore.  I think the 262 replicas are using GE Learjet engines now,
as they fit inside Jumo casings and are alot more reliable and fuel efficient.

[AHTbolt]

The article I read said finding planes would be great but the holy grail is the 100 boxcars full of spare parts.

[Chalenge]

     Not sure anyone would want Jumo parts as no one uses them anymore.  I think the 262 replicas are using GE Learjet engines now,
as they fit inside Jumo casings and are alot more reliable and fuel efficient.

No. Ironically the 262s are using Rolls Royce AE 3007 C2 engines from the Cessna Citation X line.

The reason Jumo parts are important is because there are examples of the 190D9 and Ju87 that are lacking just a few original parts. There is only one Jumo engine that I have found capable of running and they are going to put it on display and never fly it again (190D9).

[Wmaker]

There is only one Jumo engine that I have found capable of running and they are going to put it on display and never fly it again (190D9).

Paul Allen has a D-13/R11 which has an engine in running condition. Don't know any D-9s with engines currently in running condition.

[Bodhi]

If they've been burried underground for 60 years they're a mangled heap of metal at this point. While a historic oddity, you would no sooner dig up the bulldozed piles of P-38s and consider them a "treasure" like the article might suggest.

This is 10 of 10 Krusty's on the BS meter.

A couple of facts for you Krusty, just in case you want the truth instead of some BS you concoct in your head.  A few P-38's are undergoing 100% restoration not very far from you.  A couple just happened to be bulldozed into holes 60+ years ago.  They are absolute treasures and when recovered yielded many unknown facts and tremendous amounts of insight into previously unknown facts regarding unit usage and history.  While they are going to be expensive to restore, all fighter restorations are expensive to restore, whether they come out of a hole or a barn.  It's just a fact.  Those grounds could possibly yield artifacts worthy of restoration, or at the least, artifacts that display one of a kind examples that no longer exist.

Perhaps you should stick to making up stories about something else.

[Wmaker]

If they've been burried underground for 60 years they're a mangled heap of metal at this point. While a historic oddity, you would no sooner dig up the bulldozed piles of P-38s and consider them a "treasure" like the article might suggest.

Here's a Jumo J211 from a Finnish Air Force Ju-88 which crashed in a flat spin into a lake:

Junkers Ju-88 A-4 - Liperi, Finland by s.niemelainen, on Flickr

The plane itself largely disintigrated upon impact. But I'd say the engine alone made it worth the recovery effort that was made before the aircraft's bombs were exploded under water to make them harmless. There were a lot of smaller bits of metal which were considered too small fragments to be any museum value and they were cast into badges to raise funds to support Finnsish veterans:

Junkers JU-88 JK-254 Mitali by s.niemelainen, on Flickr

Rather useless, huh?

[Babalonian]

It really depends, not all dirt/water is the same.  Sometimes we get lucky and it lands in a very nice spot and in an ideal condition to begin with.  Sometimes it's rather violent, and the soil conditions extremely harsh.  There are some regions here in SoCal that were prehistoricly underwater in the ocean, and they are now many miles from the nearest shoreline.  However the soil is so saltine that with the help of 50-years of southern-california rainfall a V-12 engine lawndarted into it will disintigrate into half.

Without some soils reports, you have no idea what condition they're in, but with one you got a pretty positive idea.  In regards to the infamous P-38s bulldozered into ditches at the end of hte war, we'd need to go down the list of location by location, but given they're probabley all sub-tropic volcanic or coral islands in the south pacific - odds aren't good that there is even some metal worth scrap.

Just saying, and trying to educate both sides on this arguement.

[Widewing]

The Freeman Field Recovery Team has a facebook page.. They've recovered a lot of artifacts........

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Freeman-Field-Recovery-Team/100776559984890

[Chalenge]

Paul Allen has a D-13/R11 which has an engine in running condition. Don't know any D-9s with engines currently in running condition.

Yeah "capable of running" but missing the starter assembly and a few other things (details unknown).

[Wmaker]

Yeah "capable of running" but missing the starter assembly and a few other things (details unknown).

Heh, so what's the Dora (D-9 which you speak of) in running condition?

[lyric1]

Heh, so what's the Dora (D-9 which you speak of) in running condition?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y5LBUVS1T8