Warbird Information Exchange

WWII Airplane Debris Found In San Jose

AERO NEWS Mon, 20 Aug '07

Water Company Unearths SBD-5 Crash Site
A construction crew laying pipeline near the Pajaro River in north Monterey County, CA unearthed the remains of a World War II-era Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless (type shown below) in early July. The Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency collected and secured the artifacts, which were discovered in the middle of farmland.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, among the items recovered were a high school class ring, bullet casings, a can of Spam, landing gear, a burnt parachute, spent flares, and bone fragments from the pilot and co-pilot. The plane, which impacted terrain during a nighttime training mission more than 60 years ago, was an unsolved mystery until the crew stumbled on the site.
The water agency has begun the difficult process of tracking down the living family members of the two victims, Delbert C. Goodspeed, 21, and Robert Henry Paulsen, 22. The two men flew from a naval air base in the Central Valley for a training mission with the rest of their VB-18 squadron, but never returned.
Jack Green, a historian for the US Naval Historical Center in Washington, DC, told The Mercury News "something clearly went wrong. Toward dawn, it appeared that the plane just slowly banked to the left, which would indicate the pilot was probably unconscious."
Green says the men had been flying under clear moonlit skies, with the goal of learning maneuvers they would ultimately use in the Pacific Ocean aboard the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid.
The Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless, most famous for its torpedoing of four Japanese carriers during the Battle of Midway, was primarily designed to attack surface ships and land targets.
Training accidents occurred frequently during World War II, as pilots and aircraft were churned out at a high rate.
"Time was of the essence, as you know." Green told The Mercury News. "There were more airplane accidents from training, in fact, than there were in the war itself. Accidents were a fact of life back then."
The water agency is required by law to preserve all artifacts uncovered during excavations related to agency affairs. "We'd like to find the families and return the belongings," said Mary Bannister with the water agency, "But it's going to be tough."
Richard Hernandez, an archivist with the Pajaro Valley Historical Association in Watsonville, CA, told The Mercury News a shrine will be erected at the site of the crash.
Bannister approves. "These guys were heroes," she said. "In a lot of ways, they died for us and our freedom."
FMI: www.pvwma.dst.ca.us/

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http://silverplate1945.smugmug.com/AVIATION

You would think an aviation reporter would know a little more about his subject than the average media person. CO-PILOT? How do these guys get these jobs?

His name is Robert Paulsen.

/tyler durden

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It's good to hear these men can finally be laid to rest, although I was surprised to hear that the Douglas SBD Dauntless also carried torpedoes.

I never knew the SBD sunk 4 Japanese carriers with torpedoes I always though they used bombs but I didnt know about the co-pilot either I guess we can all learn something from the media

Thanks Mike

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IF YOU CAN FIND IT WE CAN FIX IT

clearly an educated idiot

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Don't touch my junk!!

wow, that is a poor story. But ya have to laugh.

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Shop the Airplane Bunker At
www.warbirdbunker.com

Why is the water company trying to track down the relatives? That's still clearly the Navy's men and aircraft.

the spam must be yummy by now.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Obergrafeter wrote:

"You would think an aviation reporter would know a little more about his subject than the average media person. CO-PILOT? How do these guys get these jobs?"

One would think that he was being just about as accurate as the poster who thinks (mistakenly ?) that the Pajaro River, which is, as the article points out, in Monterey County. San Jose , on the other hand, is in Santa Clara county and approx 40-50 miles North East.

Not to be critical, as EVERYONE makes a mistake now and then.

At least the reporter didn't call it a "Razorback"!

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Charles Neely

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"I knew the jig was up when I saw the P-51D-20-NA Mustang blue-nosed bastards from Bodney, and by the way the blue was more of a royal blue than an indigo and the inner landing gear interiors were NOT green, over Berlin."

Two friends of mine went to this site during the recovery of artifacts, and quite a bit of human remains were recovered, along with some personal items such as a ring that still had a finger bone going through it. There was also a large bone sticking through a piece of fuselage.

I imagine they'd like to deal with the remains....

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Roger Cain
www.sfahistory.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Stearman/


We must limit politicians to two terms:
one in office and one in jail.