Corsairs can't swin or how to dipose of unwanted F4U

Stoney · **Posted:** Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:01 pm

A guy in chesapeake MD told me that he had 300 F6F's in his basement, he melted them.

Ploesti · **Joined:** Tue Aug 02, 2011 9:26 am **Posts:** 152

Hey air annual any info on your photo? Where, when etc. Any additional photos? Very interesting.

aerovin · **Posted:** Mon Feb 13, 2012 5:51 pm

bgp429 wrote:

Very depressing. Have tried to understand the sentiment towards aircraft after the war but can't get it, almost criminal.

So, just what does one do with 100,000 airplanes that nobody wants and are pretty much useless? I guess they could have shipped them back to the U.S. so they could be scrapped.

51fixer · **Posted:** Mon Feb 13, 2012 6:28 pm

bgp429 wrote:

Very depressing. Have tried to understand the sentiment towards aircraft after the war but can't get it, almost criminal. Could the picture be at Okinawa or Tokyo?

From Wikipedia

Shangri-La entered Tokyo Bay on 16 September, almost two weeks after the surrender ceremony onboard battleship Missouri, and remained there until 1 October. Departing Japan, she arrived at Okinawa on 4 October staying until the 6th, and then headed for the United States in company with Task Unit 38.1.1.

Some of the carriers off loaded A/C and used the space to haul back stuff and personnel when they returned to the states.
I've seen other pics of A/C being dumped off of barges.
Judging from the angle of the photos I would say the photographer wasn't on the deck of a carrier.

Cherrybomber13 · **Posted:** Mon Feb 13, 2012 8:28 pm

I got this in an email from the great Snow Ball Warrior himself...

The Squadron was VBF-85/VF-85.
The aircraft are FG-1D Aircraft 41 Bu#57853 and Aircraft 38 Bu#57629 assigned to VF-85 craned off and dumped.
The Corsair assigned to VBF-85/VF-85 were F4U-1c and FG-1D.

Ploesti · **Joined:** Tue Aug 02, 2011 9:26 am **Posts:** 152

Cherrybomber13 wrote:

I got this in an email from the great Snow Ball Warrior himself...

The Squadron was VBF-85/VF-85.
The aircraft are FG-1D Aircraft 41 Bu#57853 and Aircraft 38 Bu#57629 assigned to VF-85 craned off and dumped.
The Corsair assigned to VBF-85/VF-85 were F4U-1c and FG-1D.

Thanks for the info, from looking at the photo it seems they are being dumped in rather shallow water and in good shape. One must wonder what condition they could be in if still there.

Cherrybomber13 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 14, 2012 12:07 am

Hence why the exact location isn't being revealed... I'm waiting for my tickets from Delta and my dive tanks to get filled...

Ploesti · **Joined:** Tue Aug 02, 2011 9:26 am **Posts:** 152

best of luck on that excursion. :drink3:

airmanual · **Joined:** Thu Nov 04, 2004 6:32 am **Posts:** 240

Ploesti wrote:

Hey air annual any info on your photo? Where, when etc. Any additional photos? Very interesting.

Unfortunately no info for this photo. It's just a single photo that i bought on a very (in)famous auction website. I have heard and read a lot about dumping aircrafts at sea after close of WWII but this photo is actually the first one i saw about actual dumping. Just wanted to share it.

Laurent

seabee1526 · **Joined:** Fri Sep 26, 2008 6:18 pm **Posts:** 459

Long term stowage in Davey Jones' locker.

bgp429 · **Posted:** Wed Feb 15, 2012 12:37 am

Cherrybomber13 wrote:

Hence why the exact location isn't being revealed... I'm waiting for my tickets from Delta and my dive tanks to get filled...

My dive tanks too, would be totally cool.

Have studied WW2 and the overall world condition. My grandfather fled Germany to get away from Hitler. My father [who is around 90] has just started to talk about his time on a Victory ship. Guess unless you personally were there is would be impossible to understand.

Many suffered and we wanted to go on with the future. However, especially hard to comprehend crushing flying wings and other limited production aircraft for a few dollars of aluminum.

Matt_in_NC · **Posted:** Wed Feb 15, 2012 7:55 am

I remember an old Air & Space magazine from when I was a kid that had an aerial shot of Hellcats being "deep-sixed" in this fashion...with one small difference. There was just a brief blurb about the photograph, and it was implied that the pictured planes (which were on a small barge) met their fate by having personnel climb in, start the engines, and let the aircraft taxi over the side! Now it's been many years, but I seem to remember the shot picturing one Hellcat in the water and 2 or 3 others awaiting disposal with engines running! :roll:

A hell of a way to get rid of combat vets for sure! Even if these Corsairs are too corroded to restore, it appears that they are in shallow water. It sure would be neat to go diving and come across an FG-1D sitting on the bottom on its landing gear w/ the wings folded!

DoraNineFan · **Joined:** Fri Aug 12, 2005 3:37 pm **Posts:** 678

Stoney wrote:

Also, there are rumors of the same thing happening at bases in the states, ie burned and buryed.

Yes, I was disappointed to learn that the famous Clark Field P-38 dump in the Philippines was actually torched.

I had hoped this site would be a very interesting dig one day. (Though it still might.)

hang the expense · **Posted:** Thu Feb 16, 2012 12:47 am

I had seen the pics of the 38s dumped on their backs and thought the same thing.I had no idea that the birds were set on fire.darn.

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Corsairs can't swin or how to dipose of unwanted F4U

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