[Phantom Phan1200]

Fallen warriors of the pacific still remain.

http://www.largescaleplanes.com/arti...ckdiving2.html

[DADoser]

Thanks for posting that link. Interesting reading and pics.

[hworth18]

That was really cool.. I like seeing pics of planes and wrecks on the bottom of the ocean..

One question I have always thought about though.. Why can't some of these be reclaimed from the ocean and restored?? Aircraft have been restored from land with little more than a few fuselage/wing pieces, and why can't that be done with planes and tanks on the bottom of the ocean???

[ZS-VAN]

Very cool link Phantom Phan1200.

[STARMAN 352ND]

Hey thanks for posting that....That just made my lunch break great.
JP

Originally Posted by hworth18

One question I have always thought about though.. Why can't some of these be reclaimed from the ocean and restored?? Aircraft have been restored from land with little more than a few fuselage/wing pieces, and why can't that be done with planes and tanks on the bottom of the ocean???

Maybe it has to with the planes being in salt water...
JP

[timbo]

Originally Posted by hworth18

That was really cool.. I like seeing pics of planes and wrecks on the bottom of the ocean..

One question I have always thought about though.. Why can't some of these be reclaimed from the ocean and restored?? Aircraft have been restored from land with little more than a few fuselage/wing pieces, and why can't that be done with planes and tanks on the bottom of the ocean???

$$$$$

Are any of these considered war graves? It's illegal to disturb war grave sites in the UK

Also some pacific Island communities get a little annoyed by the removal as they see them (rightly or wrongly) as part of their herratage (Swap Ghost anyone!)

[hworth18]

Originally Posted by timbo

$$$$$

Are any of these considered war graves? It's illegal to disturb war grave sites in the UK

Don't know, but many planes were just "dumped" off carriers and abandoned or lost with the pilots surviving.. I just wondered if it has something to do with what JP said about salt water, probably being corrosive to aluminum, but I'd think some could still be restored to museum status, not necessarily flightworthy..

One thing i have considered is all the munitions and stuff sitting on the bottom of the ocean in sunk freighters, much of the tanks/planes theoretically could be salvaged, but with live ammo/shells, could also be dangerous..

[hworth18]

I also read on PacificGhosts forum that there is some talk about rasing wrecks as long as they aren't gravesites.. So maybe reclaiming some of these are possible for museums..

[Cruver Collecter]

When I was a teenager I spent two years living on Kwajalein. In 1972 my father was assigned as the Signal Officer for the Kwajalein Missile Range. Needless to say it was a fun two years. Kwaj is only about 3 miles long and probably only about half mile wide. Of that three miles of island, a good portion of it is the runway you fly in on. I bought the DVD Under Water Ghosts of the Pacific Air War and was surprised by some of the wrecks they did not cover. There were Japanese aircraft wrecks out there when I was a kid. I remember seeing under water shot of the tail section of a Mavis off of Ebeye. From where I lived it was a three minute walk to the beach and there was a Japanese Blockhouse between my house and where I went to school. Some of the Islands like Bigej still had anti aircraft mounts with amunition stacked neatly beside them. There was even a Japanese submarine cracked in half on the reef up towards Roi-Namur. Roi-Namur was cool in that it had several pillboxes and blockhouses you could still get into. There was even an underground hospital on Roi-Namur. There was another Atoll west of Kwaj called Wotje. It was unique in that it was one of the islands that had been bypassed. It was bombed, but never really occupied. It still had the remains of a Pagoda style command post, but made of concrete (similar structure was also found on Roi-Namur). The big thing was that the airfield was over grown and you could still come accross plane wrecks in the jungle. Like I said, it was a neat place to be a teen. I remember a couple of divers bring up the Japanese version of the Lewis gun off of wrecks ( Version with water jacket). Kwaj was a great place to live, no TV, No Cars, but Emmon Beach was open year round. Picture off of Republic of Marshall Islands site

[timbo]

Originally Posted by hworth18

Don't know, but many planes were just "dumped" off carriers and abandoned or lost with the pilots surviving.. I just wondered if it has something to do with what JP said about salt water, probably being corrosive to aluminum, but I'd think some could still be restored to museum status, not necessarily flightworthy..

One thing i have considered is all the munitions and stuff sitting on the bottom of the ocean in sunk freighters, much of the tanks/planes theoretically could be salvaged, but with live ammo/shells, could also be dangerous..

Looks like these were dumped at the end of the war - There is a link in the article to him diving on some SBD's and Wildcats where he gives that explanation.