E14Y1 'Glen' wrecks identified at Kwajalein Atoll...

[kwajwreckdiver]

Hi everyone!

I thought you might be interested in an underwater project I've been working on out here at Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands, over the past month.

One of the Japanese WWII shipwrecks in the lagoon, the Akibasan Maru, holds a number of aircraft parts that have been recently ID'd as E14Y1's. Those plane parts have been known to be there for years- I have a book published in '92 that has one picture of the wings in cargo hold 1. So, I was not the one to "discover" or "find" these parts. I merely took pictures of parts that have been known to be there for years.

But until recently, when I began diving the wreck and taking pictures of the remains, the identity of the wrecks wasn't known. I began posting my dive shots on a site called J-aircraft.com, and that's when the identifications began to happen.

This is an interesting discovery, for two main reasons-

1) there are no other 'Glen' wrecks known to exist anywhere in the world at this point

2) Two attacks were carried out against the U.S. mainland (in Oregon State) during WWII- in both cases, the plane used was a submarine-based 'Glen'.

If you're interested in reading up on this, here's the links to the discussions over at J-aircraft.com. These are in order of appearance, as I completed succesive dives of the remains-

http://www.j-aircraft.org/smf/index.php?topic=5494.0

http://www.j-aircraft.org/smf/index.php?topic=5547.0

http://www.j-aircraft.org/smf/index.php?topic=5548.0

http://www.j-aircraft.org/smf/index.php?topic=5549.0

http://www.j-aircraft.org/smf/index.php?topic=5594.0

http://www.j-aircraft.org/smf/index.php?topic=5637.0

If you're on dial-up, it'll take a couple minutes to load some of those threads, as some are image-heavy with dive shots and reference material. Since I myself am on dial-up (which is all we have on Kwajalein for public internet access), I kept the file sizes and resolutions down on the posted pics, so it wouldn't take too long to load.

So, I hope you like the pics and discussions.

Cheers all!

Dan Farnham
Kwajalein Atoll

[Warbird Kid]

News to me! Fantastic stuff!

Now who's gonna recover them?

[daveymac82c]

Hey Dan,

Thanks for posting those links. Those are some really facinating pictures.

I Google Earth'ed the Marshall Islands. Wow... you live there? How amazing that must be. Are there any floatplane jobs there?

As well, what are the regulations like in the Marshall Islands on recovering artifacts like the "Glen"? I think that an airplane like that could be restored to be a very interesting display. It would certainly make help tell the history of the submarine born airplanes of the Japanese.

Also, I'm very curious about that German battle ship that's sunken around there too. It seems like a long ways away from home for a German ship.

Cheers,

David

[noizeedave]

davey, and others,
Here's an overview photo of the Atoll....



Okay well, 1 of the Islands that make up the Atoll.

[kwajwreckdiver]

Hi again everyone,

David- unfortunately, no floatplane jobs that I know of. I wish...you'd have a blast out here!

With regards to the German battle cruiser, I'll send you a PM with a link to an article I did on diving that wreck, and the history behind the ship.

There's all kinds of regs about recovering wrecks- there's rules in place about removing anything from any wreck...in short, it's not allowed. To recover a wreck requires that you ask permission from the RMI (Republic of the Marshall Islands), AND in the case of the 'Glen' wrecks, you'd also need permission to access Kwajalein Atoll. That's because this is a restricted U.S. Army base. Not to say it can't be done, but there's a lot of red tape involved.

noizeedave- that shot you put up is Kwajalein island. Just to put it in perspective, the island is about 3 1/2 miles long end to end, and at it's widest is about 3/4 of a mile wide. Kwajalein island is the main island of the atoll which bears its name.

Cheers all,

Dan

[Stoney]

Kwajdiver
When I lived on Kwaj (71-72) you couldn't dive the Prince because two guys died on it. Have you seen the 500# bomb by the bathtub? A friend of mine found a Corsair tailhook on Roi. Is the Japanese sub still on the reef up by Roi?

[kwajwreckdiver]

Hi Stoney,

I've heard about the guys who died on the Eugen. Very sad. I haven't seen the 500# bomb, but I'm rather careful about swimming under the wreck anywhere. I've done 11 dives on it in the 2 1/2 years I've been here, and I've seen parts that have fallen off since I've been here.

The sub is still on the reef I believe...I haven't seen it yet, I think it's about 14 miles south of Roi, on the east reef.

I'm good friends with the island archeologist here, and I help occasionally with the cleanup of aviation artifacts found at the atoll. Last year, I cleaned up and made a display of a F6F Hellcat tailhook that had been found up by Roi. I can't remember if it was found on the island, or in the lagoon. Interesting to know a Corsair tailhook was found as well.

Cheers guys!

Dan

[Stoney]

Dan
I flew Caribous and C-54s out there, so I got to see all the islands. I don't dive, but the bomb is inside a frieghter off Ebie next to a bathtub:) Also went to Enwetok(sp) and Magaro(sp). Is booze still cheap at the 10-10?

[Curtis Block]

The only use I've gotten out of my gear lately is replacing zincs down at the marina. Not much fun, but good money.

I've got a big itch to get back out to the Pacific islands. I sure could use a a good wreck dive, and warm water, good visibility, and sun.....

If you need any help out there and can get me onto Kwajalein, let me know. I may just drop everything and join you.

Keep up the good work, dive safe, and keep the photos coming.

[warbird1]

Are the islands of Bikini, Rongelap and Enewetak still considered "hot" from the nuclear tests after W.W.II? Does anyone dive on those spots?

[PbyCat-Guy]

Didn't Col. Morgan's (Memphis Belle) B-29 "Dauntless Dotty" disappear while trying to land at kwaj? I understand that some of the crew that was taking her home, survived the ditching/crash. Hope they find 'er.

[Django]

I was thinking there was one in the NASM, but that is a Serien (the only one).

Neat photos. Feel free to post more of your dive photos of this and other sites, on this board!

[kwajwreckdiver]

Thanks everyone for the compliments on the dive shots. Glad you like them, and more to come as time goes on.

Stoney- the booze is still fairly cheap at the 10-10. Probably not as cheap as when you were here, but comparatively, still cheap. Which is nice, as I do like my rum and cokes after a good dive.

Curtis- if you can't get a job out here, I can always sponsor you to come in for three or four weeks, and you can dive until you pass out and can't take it anymore. LOL!

warbird1- I don't know about Rongelap or Eniwetok, but Bikini has a dive operation going. You can go out there for a week and spend that time diving on the "nuclear fleet". I'm going later this summer. For more info on that, check out www.bikiniatoll.com, and look under "Dive Tourism".

PbyCat-Guy- the 'Dauntless Dotty' didn't crash attempting to land, it was actually only seconds after takeoff. They went in off the south end of the island, off what we call "Glass Beach", on the ocean side. There's been some searches, but so far nothing. The searches continue, though. I'll be sure and keep everyone here updated. There were indeed survivors.

Django- more dive pics coming as time goes on. In the meantime, just to keep you occupied for a bit, here's some links for you in case you haven't seen these yet...

This first link is to a gallery of mine over at www.j-aircraft.com-

http://www.j-aircraft.com/relics/relics.htm

These next three links are to dive articles I've written some of the plane wrecks I've dived on. More of these to come!

http://www.largescaleplanes.com/article ... iving.html

http://www.largescaleplanes.com/article ... ving2.html

http://www.largescaleplanes.com/article ... ving3.html

Cheers!

Dan

[Curtis Block]

Careful what you ask for, you just might get it.