Where was the Clark Field P-38 pit? ...

[Mark Allen M]

If you look at a few of the aerial photos you should see where the actual dump was in 1946. Wonder if there's anything left? Most likely No!

[Cubs2jets]

Well, according to Google Earth (as best as I can get it)...

C2j

[Xray]

They are ultra prolific scrappers in that region, I would bet all but my life that most were dug up and scrapped long ago.

[eagle0025]

Even if anything was still there, which is extremely doubtful, it would be under a thick layer of ash from the 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption which devastated Clark Field and the surrounding areas. For what it's worth, I remember a story told to me many years ago from a friend of my father who was stationed in Panama during WWII. He told me how brand-new P-38s were sent to Panama very late in the war for defense of the Canal Zone. These aircraft saw little to no use by the time the war ended. Rather than send them back stateside, my father's friend said they just shoved them off a cliff into the jungle. Also, has anybody looked for the Boeing XB-15 which was reportedly cut up and buried in Panama?

[Richard W.]

As an aside, this might interest any of us who spent time there in the old days to see what they’re doing with the area now. Huge development projects.

https://youtu.be/I9xTckxRS2g

[Chris Brame]

Wasn't a dig done there in the last ten years or so, and all that was found was a lot of molten aluminum? Maybe some of the less meltable stuff is mixed in the mess but it might be easier to dig out Glacier Girl II (III, IV, V...) by now.

[Chris Brame]

Also, has anybody looked for the Boeing XB-15 which was reportedly cut up and buried in Panama?

Grandpappy's components went into a dump site that has been heavily built over since then, so I've heard here on the forum.

[bdk]

Can anyone overlay the old aerial photos over the present one to pinpoint the location? Looks like there is a concrete plant in the area and it isn't built up much.

[steve dickey]

Hey Mark, do you happen to know what issue of Warbirds International those first pictures are from?

[Mark Allen M]

July/August 1992

[F3A-1]

I was with a founder of the CAF in 1986 on an Asian air field and the base commander had been at Clark Field when they were doing a expansion. They dug through the buried P-38s. I was told they were just a ball of corrosion. That was 1986. I believed the base commander. I would look elsewhere.