914Driver said:
You almost can't help admiring this. It's doomed to failure, but it's gor the potential for a truly spectacular, if fatal, end.
BenB said:In reply to johndej :
Plus Ens. Dale Peterson's F4F-3 Wildcat. He shot down a Betty and helped Butch O'Hare with another during the fight where O'Hare shot down 5 Bettys.
And SEVEN TBDs!!!
Hopefully, the Navy will let them salvage at least some of these aircraft.
Here's Lexington's TBD T-8 in April 42.
NickD said:
.....!!!!
It's like some sort of Art Deco thing, mix of Spitfire and 024. I like, I like.
Knurled. said:NickD said:.....!!!!
It's like some sort of Art Deco thing, mix of Spitfire and 024. I like, I like.
Mom? Dad?
In reply to PMRacing :
It was from a hilarious Jalopnik article in which Torch supposedly found a concept photo of a Grumman LLV-platform based roadster, with a made-up backstory of how Grumman was pretty proud of themselves and decided to launch an entire line of LLV-based vehicles, starting with a roadster
Will said:FlightService said:BenB said:In reply to johndej :
Plus Ens. Dale Peterson's F4F-3 Wildcat. He shot down a Betty and helped Butch O'Hare with another during the fight where O'Hare shot down 5 Bettys.
And SEVEN TBDs!!!
Hopefully, the Navy will let them salvage at least some of these aircraft.
can they stop them? International waters, abandoned, not even close to the national boundary.
Smartass answer: Um, yeah. They see your salvage vessel and raise you this:
Serious answer: The US Navy insists all aircraft wrecks on land or under the sea are still its property. They'd probably sue anyone who salvaged one of these aircraft (not even sure that's possible in 10,000 feet of water) without permission. Currently, there are no Devastators above sea level, and you can bet that the Navy wants one for the museum in Pensacola.
Extremely relevant court case: http://www.cnn.com/US/9907/09/sunken.plane.dispute/
An update on the same case: http://blackshadowaviation.blogspot.com/2011/05/doug-champlin-and-tbd-1-bu-no-0350.html
I worked for Pat Epps at Epps Aviation he was a key figure in digging the P-38s out of the Greenland ice cap. there is a way to keep the aircraft
It is a Navy thing. They claim all of their items. The reason they let people have F4Fs and Bearcats is there are (relatively) numerous. Until Lady Lex was found, there were only 3 TBDs known to exist. The Navy will call dibs on all of them until their restoration quota is fulfilled. Once its written off, the Air Force doesn't care who does what with what's left.
You'll need to log in to post.