Fighter plane from World War II found

Pretty Cool. P-40 found in Desert 70 years after crash

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upshot/fighter-plane-world-war-ii-found-194133295.html

Wow! great condition, too! (I was amazed by that video of people walking around on it.) I hope somebody makes that one flightworthy again.

Surprisingly complete. I wondered at first what happened to the nose cone and prop, seems that it was laying off to the side.

How come the tail and rear stabilizer control surfaces have no covering? Were they covered with fabric originally?

Many planes designed in the late 30's and early 40's even though they were built of aluminum still used cloth to cover the control surfaces, the P40 was one of those planes.

I read that the plane is going to a museum in England, perhaps just as it was found? Seems only fitting since the pilot died of exposure after crash landing there.

I saw the article on cnn.com, and that's an amazing find. It gives new definition to the term "hiding in plain sight." Saddest part is the pilot's fate. I guess they found some evidence that he set up shelter, but sounds like he wouldn't have been carrying any real provisions.

Looks like some of the guys in the video were trying to strip it so I'll be interested in how complete it actually is when they can remove it.

30 or so yrs ago it wouldn't be much news, by todays standards... awesome

Curmudgeon wrote: Surprisingly complete. I wondered at first what happened to the nose cone and prop, seems that it was laying off to the side.....

The condition of the prop (all bent up) indicates the plane hit with power (the plane wasn't out of gas). It must have hit a large rock of something to break the nose case (prop runs off of a reduction gear).

It looks like the gear was up (folded up to the rear) which was probably a good idea considering the soft sand.

Kind of an aviation barn find.

The Sahara is a really big place. The plane is absolutely tiny in comparison, so I guess it's not that surprising. It took what, three weeks? to find an A10 that went down in the Rockies several years ago and that was pretty close to Vail. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_D._Button

If it went in under power, I wonder what the cause of the crash was? Like aircooled says, the gear being up says he purposely set it down and figured he couldn't get it airborne again. That must have been a really lonely way to go.

David S. Wallens wrote: I saw the article on cnn.com, and that's an amazing find. It gives new definition to the term "hiding in plain sight." Saddest part is the pilot's fate. I guess they found some evidence that he set up shelter, but sounds like he wouldn't have been carrying any real provisions.

x2. The report I read also said that the pilot pulled the radio & battery out, you can just imagine the guy trying to get the damn thing to work. The middle of the desert would be a hard way to go.

I'm surprised the sand hadn't buried it. Thought the dunes slowly "moved" with the wind. Perhaps it was buried for years and became uncovered recently?

That's very possible.

Look how rocky it is there, I'm not sure if that means that there were no dunes or if it means the winds shifted and moved a dune.

Given the bare aluminum on the left side of the plane, it has seen some heavy winds.

Yeah, that's a real GRM-y way to sandblast something: leave it in the desert for 70 years.

jimbbski wrote: Many planes designed in the late 30's and early 40's even though they were built of aluminum still used cloth to cover the control surfaces, the P40 was one of those planes. I read that the plane is going to a museum in England, perhaps just as it was found? Seems only fitting since the pilot died of exposure after crash landing there.

Most WWII combat aircraft had the control surfaces covered in fabric to lessen battle damage and for ease of repair.

A little wax, a little time ......

914Driver wrote: A little wax, a little time ......

and that will buff out.

I wonder who gets the salvage claim? The oil guys who found it? Previous owners?

Great Britain may still own it.

It might be a lend / lease plane also, so the US might own it. (Curtiss build plane)

David S. Wallens wrote: I saw the article on cnn.com, and that's an amazing find. It gives new definition to the term "hiding in Plane sight." Saddest part is the pilot's fate. I guess they found some evidence that he set up shelter, but sounds like he wouldn't have been carrying any real provisions.

FTFY

Seriously though.. that would be a fun find. Aside from the fabric and the paint, it almost looks like you could fix it and fly it