Warbird Information Exchange

This is amazing.

I wonder if the aircraft on deck at the time were tied down and did they survive the plunge down?It looked like it was upright.I read that the Navy was going to try and recover that COD plane that that crashed last year in 18,000 feet of water.That would be good experience for recovering a few of these aircraft.

I am sure that Lexington is considered a war grave.
The U.S. Navy would never buy off on recovering anything from it.

That is amazing footage though, certainly.

Some screengrabs via the "The Aerospace Geek" Facebook page. The condition of these aircraft is really fascinating!

The Navy announced in December that they will be recovering a C-2 from over 16,000 feet, so definitely possible.


Didn't one of the U.S. carriers go down with only a single sailor killed? Or am I confusing it with the sinking of the HMS Ark Royal? I thought that was the case with the Lexington.

Does it count as a war grave if the bodies are removed before the ship sinks?

Could the Devastator in the video be the one in the famous picture of the aircraft being catapulted overboard by an explosion? It looks like the fuselage is broken in the same place.

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VF-3 was on board the Lex for Coral Sea, and Felix was their squadron emblem, seen clearly on the forward fuselage. Edit: looks to have been flown by Lieut. Noel A. M. Gayler

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Chicks Dig Warbirds.......right?

I wonder if the TBD’s (I count three of them) are far enough away from the main wreck to be considered independent wrecks, and thus, not war graves? Surely an exception can be made just this once?

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Why would the Navy go after these if they did not go after the seemingly easier to recover Florida, CA and Jaluit TBDs?

The condition of that Wildcat and those TBDs is just stunning! I know it’s wishful thinking but a recovery would be awesome, we can dream. Lol

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Wow - that Wildcat with Squadron and victory markings - that is amazing! I would think you could tie that plane to a specific pilot!

Tom P.

Tom - 5 posts up Mark gives the name.

As for the Lex- as it was technically scuttled (by 5 torpedoes from the USS Phelps) and not sunk, then there would be an argument against it being considered a war grave. However, I don't think anyone would want to salvage much more than a few small items and maybe one or two of the planes on the sea floor nearby.

As for why recover a TBD or the F4F - simple - they're actual early war aircraft in extremely good shape that would require only stabilization after recovery and then display as-is. No need to "restore" them, just display them.

This is certainly a convincing argument that there are more than likely many, many more deep sea aircraft and ships in the same condition. Lots of aircraft were 'scuttled' over the edge of carriers for the smallest of reasons during wartime. Fascinating!!

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Wiki already states that a total of 7 TBD's, 3 SBD's, and the single F4F have been located. All lie separate from the three, main, surviving sections of the ship.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Lexington_(CV-2)

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I’m seeing four TBDs in the pics. T4, T5, T8 and T9.

ALL took part in the attack on Shoho. T4 and T9 scored confirmed hits ...