Jesse Brown's Corsair wreck?

[John Dupre]

Jesse Brown was one of the first African American pilots in the Marine Corps. He was hit by ground fire and crashed his Corsair in North Korea. His wing man Thomas Hudner deliberately force landed near him and tried with the help of a helicopter crew to extricate Brown from the wreck. They were unsuccessful and Brown died in the wreckage which was later bombed to prevent its recovery by the NKPA. Hudner was awarded the MOH.

There have been pictures of Corsair wrecks in Museums in North Korea. Are any of them Brown's or Hudner's aircraft? Are there any images, satellite or otherwise of the wreck site available?

[Owen Miller]

Hudner & Brown were USN, not USMC.

I have not seen any photos identified as
their specific aircraft on that mission.

[RMAllnutt]

I sincerely doubt it, as the Marines Napalmed the site after the failed rescue mission. A very sad tale. Ironically, if Hudner hadn't crash landed his corsair to help save Brown, Brown might actually have been recovered (the rescue helicopter dumped the crash recovery tools on the carrier before leaving, because they now had to pick up two pilots... the tools could have helped them extricate Brown, who was trapped in his aircraft). It doesn't discount the extraordinary bravery or self sacrifice of Hudner though, whom I regard as a true hero.

Richard

[DanteC]

I think these might be the photos you're talking about...



These are Hudner and Brown's Corsairs


I guess the first photo is possibly one of their A/C, but I would doubt the second is...You can make out '20' on the fuselage infront of the star and bar.

[Owen Miller]

Fascinating...........context please Dante, context...

Thanks,
Owen

[bdk]

Those photos have been posted on the WIX before. They are in a NK museum.

[DanteC]

Yes, I cannot find the previous thread in which this topic was discussed, but I saw those photos a while back on Airliners.net. There are several other US wrecks in the NK museum.

The photo I referenced for Brown and Hudner's Corsairs is a decal sheet made by cutting edge. The review can be found here:
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/Rev1/601-700/Rev629_CED48268/rev629.htm
I guess that doesn't mean those particular aircraft are the ones piloted by Brown and Hudner that day

[bdk]

Looks like on the first Corsair the engine power section is located "inside" the engine mount rather than in front of it where it was supposed to be!

[m50a1ontos]

Looks like on the first Corsair the engine power section is located "inside" the engine mount rather than in front of it where it was supposed to be!

Would a high angle impact with water do that? It does look a rather smooshed in along the leading edges.

[Steve Nelson]

Looks to me like they just attached the prop against an engineless wreck. The prop must have been wrenched off in the crash, as it looks like some of the gearbox is still attached.

SN

[Warbird Kid]

Would it be worthy or moral to restore these 2 if you were given the chance?

[bdk]

Would a high angle impact with water do that? It does look a rather smooshed in along the leading edges.

I think it would look more like an accordian if it did that. I think they just stuck some stuff in there so it looks more complete. I doubt that the average North Korean citizen has much warbird information at their disposal to recognize what they are looking at...