Raise WW2 airplane from water or preserve?

[midnight Target]

Brits don't belong in Corsairs.

Clean those bones out of those fine planes.

[Eagler]

make both sides happy - get the planes and put the bones in the glovebox .. have your plane and your grave.

[LePaul]

Originally posted by mjolnir
Damn, I'm glad somebody finally had the common sense to say this.  I spent every summer of my childhood swimming in Sebago Lake.  There certainly aren't any marks around it of a war that I've ever found.  To be honest, I can't even really figure out why two British pilots were in Maine to begin with.  You'd have thought they had more pressing matters on their side of the pond to tend to.  This 'war grave' logic escapes me here.  If they'd been driving a car in Maine at the time and gone off the road into the lake and drowned, would that still be a war grave?

The good news is that Sebago is a relatively clean lake, so the planes shouldn't have suffered too much damage from the water.  It's also the deepest lake in Maine, around 450 feet or so.  I doubt they've been disturbed by much in the last 50 years.

Where in Maine are you from, mjolnir?

Bangor, here

[Furball]

Originally posted by midnight Target
Brits don't belong in Corsairs.

Clean those bones out of those fine planes.

we taught you how to fly the g'dam things! you were scared to fly em until we showed you how

and creamo, incase you hadn't noticed, i was being sarcastic about raising the arizona.  I was just making the point that if its ok to raise the corsairs then why not the ship.

[Martlet]

Originally posted by LePaul
Where in Maine are you from, mjolnir?

Bangor, here

People still live in Bangor?  I grew up in Washington.  Knox County.

[LePaul]

Yup, Bangor's grown too,

[davidpt40]

I dont think bones even last 50 years underwater.  There is most likely nothing left of those pilots.

[LePaul]

Originally posted by davidpt40
I dont think bones even last 50 years underwater.  There is most likely nothing left of those pilots.

That's a good questions...whenever they have these documenataries with remote/robot subs with cameras, I wonder if they would find any sort of human remains after all this time

[SOB]

Dead guys don't give a sh*t.  Raise the aircraft.


SOB

[Toad]

When they raised the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley they found bones and skulls and eventually accounted for all 9 crewmembers. The Hunley sunk in 1864.

There's some reason why these aircraft weren't raised at the time of the crash that most probably has it's roots in "wartime expediency". I seriously doubt anyone at the time said "let's leave them there as a 'war grave'."

I'd raise the aircraft and give the remains military burial. That precedent is clearly established.

Probably run the idea by any surviving family members first as a courtesy, but I seriously doubt they'd oppose their ancestors getting a full military burial with honors in their homeland. That's what would have been done during the war had the crash occured in an easily reached area.

[Athena3]

I don't usually give long opinions on these things, but since I'm from Maine too, I will in this case.

I think the salvage company should have contacted the family before looking at legal issues or getting involved in a fight with either goverment.   As a couple of you have pointed out, has anyone even contacted the families involved?  Since they know their names, it shouldn't be too hard to find any surviving family.  

If I were the salvage company, I would have approached the family first so that I had their wishes weighing in on my side in court.  Plus it would just look a little less...well...moneygrubbing is the word that comes to mind.  All sites of this nature should be handled in a respectful way, especially where more than one government is involved.  I wonder if the outcome would have been the same if a 'nonprofit' war memorial committee or museum had wanted to raise the planes and pilots instead of a 'for profit' company.

Also there's this 'war grave' concept.  To me, it would be more inspiring to see the planes these guys flew in a museum and learn about their stories, maybe some of their lives, as opposed to just leaving it alone and letting them and their contributions be forgotten.  At least that's how I would feel if they were my relatives.  

In my opinion, the family wishes of the deceased pilots comes first, then the planes.

LePaul, Mjolnir is from originally Standish, about 5 miles from Sabego Lake.  I'm originally from Ellsworth, just down the road from you.  We meant to write you ages ago, (we had a maine question for you) but never got a chance to.