This was in Sunday's Knoxville, TN News-Sentinel:
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/state/artic ... 49,00.html
Pieces of wreckage from WWII aircraft pulled from Duck River
By BRIAN MOSELY, Shelbyville Times-Gazette
September 10, 2006
NORMANDY, Tenn. - Enormous sections of a World War II aircraft that has rested on the bottom of the Duck River in Normandy for more than 60 years were uncovered and measured by Air Force and Navy personnel.
But after Thursday's examination of the vintage wreckage, there are more questions than answers over exactly what type of warplane is sitting on the riverbed.
Normandy Mayor Larry Nee first brought attention to the mystery plane in March of last year. At the time there were only two pieces of the craft visible, both of them on the shoreline.
The first section of the fuselage that was noticeable last year is embedded in the banks of the river under the bridge build by TVA in 1971. The piece was exposed after a flood in 1995 washed soil away from the 15-foot section.
But more of the buried piece was being dug up Thursday.
Another section that was tangled in limbs some 100 yards up river was removed from the area last year.
But now, three large sections of an aircraft fuselage have been revealed, along with brackets and pieces of cable recovered from the bottom of the river, which may help historians identify the plane.
U.S. Navy Cmdr. Frank Moulds, who is stationed at Arnold Engineering Development Center, heard about the crash site in Normandy and took the opportunity to come out and take a look at it.
He researched what few records there were of the time period and discovered there were as many as 50 military crash sites scattered all over Bedford, Coffee and Franklin counties.
It's the commander's theory that the plane resting on the river bottom is a B-25 Mitchell Bomber that went down in 1943. The problem is that when investigators of the time looked into the crashes, they weren't very specific about where the planes fell.
"Back during the war, they weren't careful about it. It says the B-25 crashed 6 1/2 miles northwest of William-Northern Field, but it leaves you to figure out where it exactly happened. They didn't use latitude or longitude to pinpoint it."
That's why he and Air Force aircraft maintenance personnel from AEDC were working to clean off years of mud and muck to see if there is anything that could identify the craft.
"We're looking for windows that a B-25 might have had, components that might help identify it," Moulds said.
"We're finding too much metal for a B-25. ... (I)t had a wingspan of over 67 feet and 55 feet long."
But other components discovered at least show the manufacturers' name: Boeing, along with serial numbers. Some parts made by different companies were used on various aircraft, and it is at least one piece of the puzzle.
The main task Thursday was to take measurements of the pieces on the river bottom and find a characteristic to compare to World War II aircraft on display in museums.
Air Force personnel took to the river and began scrubbing and measuring the fuselage, with one section extending 37 feet long. Underwater photos were taken as well, and several pieces were brought up from the Duck River.
According to Nee, the aircraft came down one summer day in 1943 onto the farm of the late Martin Glodo as he and some German POWs were working the fields.
Glodo told Nee that when the plane went down, it pushed up a lot of dirt in the field. According to the story, the military came out to the crash site, removed the engines and then pushed the rest of the aircraft into the Duck River and buried it. The fate of the pilot is unknown.
Nee said Thursday that it is likely that some of the plane still could be buried under stone laid down by TVA in later years when the bridge was constructed.
After about two hours of work, Moulds admitted that there was much more aircraft in the river than was first believed.
"There seems to be more aircraft components that we have for our theories," the Navy commander said. "We've got 93 feet of airplane ... it's definitely an aircraft. Every component we have found is easily identifiable ... but the type of aircraft, we still don't know."
Moulds says that the next step is to let aircraft museums examine the pieces recovered to help determine what kind of plane they belonged to.
Dave G.
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He hinted that it may be postwar components.
Please don't let it be another C-119!
