Searching For A Helldiver

Scott Rose · **Posted:** Wed Oct 31, 2007 7:20 pm

Our own TimAPNY searches the mountains of Vermont for a Helldiver wreck site.

http://articles.warbirdsresourcegroup.o ... 4sb2c.html

AIRIC · **Posted:** Wed Oct 31, 2007 7:44 pm

Tim, That was an excellent read. Must have been fun and rewarding to find the site.

Eric

N3Njeff · **Posted:** Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:36 pm

Tim, diddent I send you the GPS numbers??????

Dad has the report and the pilots involved. I dont remember if there was a fire after the crash but the cockpit section was destroyed by the govt after recovery of the bodies. In the early 90's one of the 20mm was still there but a bit away from the wreck site, it was bent pretty good. It since then has been removed.

My father tried to take me up there in the late 80's but we got lost. We went to the wrong pond. I have not been up there since. Thanks for taking the pics.

BTW, the BUZZ number is 69 as so it says on the gear door:)

TimAPNY · **Posted:** Thu Nov 01, 2007 6:25 am

It was a fun hike, but a lot of stress to try and get those compass skills back and working.

Jeff, you gave me a bunch of very useful information (thanks very much for that) but I never got GPS Coordinates (I did not have a GPS so it might not have helped too much anyway). I looked for the 20mm but never found one but time was cut short on the site do to fading daylight. Maybe sometime I can get back up there to do a better search for things. It was a pretty neat site, as few people seem to have found it over the years.
Tim

Nathan · **Posted:** Thu Nov 01, 2007 7:12 am

Wow! Thats neat!

Thanks Tim and Scott. I would like to do the same thing someday but I will only look for USAF aircraft. Navy aircraft make me too depressed knowing we can't recover them.

N3Njeff · **Posted:** Thu Nov 01, 2007 8:59 pm

Tim,
you wont find the 20mm, its not there anymore. I went through the pics better last night from the hotel room. Those wing sections were alot bigger and more complete. The biggest part of the tail was from the back of the rear guns to the vertical, complete with star. From what I can see, the vertical and a majority of the star were gone.

Did I give you the e-mail of our Crash Aviation Historian of VT???? He has been responsible for the grave markers for the B-47 and the newly errected one for the Springfield B-29.

You been to the B-24???? Rumor has it that Collings has some parts on her from it!

TimAPNY · **Posted:** Thu Nov 01, 2007 9:02 pm

I thought the Star was removed... sad to see it being destroyed.

The B-24 is almost completely gone from what I can tell.

I don't know about the B-47, please tell me more (in PM if you want)

and I have not been to the B-

bax101 · **Posted:** Thu Nov 01, 2007 10:32 pm

the B-47 was that in VT as well? b/c i went to some wreck in Maine but i dont remember what it was. And the B-24 what happened to it was it picked apart by people or the weather?

TimAPNY · **Posted:** Fri Nov 02, 2007 5:55 am

bax101 wrote:

the B-47 was that in VT as well? b/c i went to some wreck in Maine but i dont remember what it was. And the B-24 what happened to it was it picked apart by people or the weather?

I know NY has a B-47 on Wright Mountain, I know of a B-52 in Maine but this other B-47 in VT is new to me

I heard from some people here o WIX that the B-24 was scrapped in the 50's (someone with a lot of time and energy because it is a long hike to the crashsite). When I hiked to it all that I could find was a large section of one of the wings. I heard the engines are a bit further down the sloop but I did not find them. Very sad because from I’ve read there might have been some nice wreckage left as one of the crew survived the crash.

Tim

TimAPNY · **Posted:** Fri Nov 02, 2007 9:08 pm

N3Njeff wrote:

Tim,
you wont find the 20mm, its not there anymore. I went through the pics better last night from the hotel room. Those wing sections were alot bigger and more complete. The biggest part of the tail was from the back of the rear guns to the vertical, complete with star. From what I can see, the vertical and a majority of the star were gone.

//Rant-on//
This really got me thinking today... It shows how a site that is remote and not publicized is still being destroyed. YES Destroyed. These sites are "being protected" by the NHC / Navy for future generations against people whom might use the parts to build a static or flying example. Yet the real threat is the folks that stumble on these sites and decide the "need" a part to take home. These parts end up in the trash within a year or two. They are lost forever! These valuable parts are being lost and these sites are being stripped clean by hikers with no respect for history, the aircraft or the aircrew that lost their lives there.
I’d love to see some of the older pictures of this site posted to prove that this is happening. I think some Bureaucrat needs to take action and change policy and get these rare aircraft saved before they end up in a landfill piece by piece.
There is a reason I did not give pond, road, mountain names in the article, that is because I know lots of folks (none-WIX members) might read this and go looking for the site and rape it with no respect or purpose. I have hiked to several crash sites this year and I have not taken one itsy bitsy piece home with me, because I want others to have the same experience as I do. While most of the sites I’ve visited are not worth recovering I think sites like this Helldiver could hold some very valuable parts for someone who restores them. I know I’d rather see those parts on a display aircraft than a workshop wall or in a landfill. The more sites I go to the more I see how venerable they are. I hope these sites might be open to professionals that might take a few choice parts to befit future generations. Lets save them, Heck I’d love the Navy Aviation Museum to have a Helldiver on display! I’m sure everyone here would agree.
//Rant –off//

Jeff the rant is not at you in any way! Please don't take it that way.

Tim

N3Njeff · **Posted:** Sat Nov 03, 2007 8:28 pm

None taken tim,

I will see if dad still has the pics that were taken of the SB2C-4 back in the late 80's. My father who has visited many crash sites while working for the state aviation dept and a historian. He was the one that got the gear door off the mountain. I had it in my room as a kid on display along with some parts off the B-24 ( I did take those). These were all cared for and donated to a local military museum 3 yrs ago. Personally I wish i found WIX earlier cause that gear door would have made it to mike's project and then maybe he would not have needed all that tracing paper to make a print of the CAF SB2C's

N3Njeff · **Posted:** Sat Nov 03, 2007 8:33 pm

TimAPNY wrote:

bax101 wrote:

the B-47 was that in VT as well? b/c i went to some wreck in Maine but i dont remember what it was. And the B-24 what happened to it was it picked apart by people or the weather?

I know NY has a B-47 on Wright Mountain, I know of a B-52 in Maine but this other B-47 in VT is new to me

I heard from some people here o WIX that the B-24 was scrapped in the 50's (someone with a lot of time and energy because it is a long hike to the crashsite). When I hiked to it all that I could find was a large section of one of the wings. I heard the engines are a bit further down the sloop but I did not find them. Very sad because from I’ve read there might have been some nice wreckage left as one of the crew survived the crash.

Tim

B-47 in Enosburg, VT
B-52 in Barre, VT

Yes, the B-24 had some removed for scrap but it was just mainly the tail section that was removed. There is a large picked over portion on the Long trail. I think its the right wing and gear area. But there are bigger pieces that are complete and that no body knows about but the people that know about them

TimAPNY · **Posted:** Sun Nov 04, 2007 6:54 pm

N3Njeff wrote:

TimAPNY wrote:

bax101 wrote:

the B-47 was that in VT as well? b/c i went to some wreck in Maine but i dont remember what it was. And the B-24 what happened to it was it picked apart by people or the weather?

I know NY has a B-47 on Wright Mountain, I know of a B-52 in Maine but this other B-47 in VT is new to me

I heard from some people here o WIX that the B-24 was scrapped in the 50's (someone with a lot of time and energy because it is a long hike to the crashsite). When I hiked to it all that I could find was a large section of one of the wings. I heard the engines are a bit further down the sloop but I did not find them. Very sad because from I’ve read there might have been some nice wreckage left as one of the crew survived the crash.

Tim

B-47 in Enosburg, VT
B-52 in Barre, VT

Yes, the B-24 had some removed for scrap but it was just mainly the tail section that was removed. There is a large picked over portion on the Long trail. I think its the right wing and gear area. But there are bigger pieces that are complete and that no body knows about but the people that know about them

Words like that make me want to go up and do a search with my GPS!

I'd love to find more of it, my camera died on the way up and I got no pictures of the wing section. The wing section with the gear is just off the Peak Bypass near where it joins the long trail. I did not look to hard for more parts because I was spent from the hike to that part (I took the long Trail to the top and doubled back on the Bypass trail. I would like to get some more pictures of the wing and what ever is left.

Tim

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