P-38 Wrecks

[setter]

Hi Stuart

The aircraft - touched, washed down and cleaned - alas thats all - no free samples.

My erstwhile Collegue from New Zealand - the fountain of knowledge from the east Dave M has just provided the following illustration - WOW I wish I knew these existed 6 months ago!!!

Regards
John P

[airmanual]

Shoudn't we add the "Japanese Sandman II" to the list of unrecoevered survivors from PNG ?

Laurent

http://www.airpirates.com/images/NewGuinea/n.jpg

[stuart murdoch]

John,

Thks the info, at least I tried, can't wait to hear the results of the dig.

sorry but the image didn't download, so I have no idea what it is.

Stuart

[setter]

Hi Stuart

The images are of the P38s being shoved in the hole.

Try going to
http://community.webshots.com/user/setter125
then scroll down to "dump1" and you will find the image there.

The aircraft i saw pulled out had the horizontal stabilizer more damaged but was otherwise very similar to this pic and there are a few more trees there now and obviously most of this part of the gully is filled in now - that is why it is being dug up!!

Kindest regards
John P

[HarvardIV]

That's a lot P-38's, John. Maybe, someone could tell the guy getting them to put them up in Aero Trader?

[setter]

Hi Chris

I don't think it will be sold that way, but I can't say more as I don't know.

The numbers actually extracted will be interesting - I have again no real idea but it looks encouraging from this shot doesn't it - we'll see in the fullness of time.

Regards
John P

[stuart murdoch]

John,

Thks now I see what you mean, but if I remember the article correctly, this was not the only dump site.

The one I specifically remember they were being lifted by a crane, so who knows, maybe there's more of the little buggers out there?

Sure will put a dent in the value of P38's, if what is recovered is restorable at a resonable price.

Ah Well, dream on Murdoch, quite apart from not being able to afford one, I can bet they'd never let me fly it in Hong Kong, our CAD are a wee bit conservative to say the least.

Stuart

[george]

Warbirds International July/August 1992 issue has 5 pages of this scrapping, plus a picture of 100s of P-51s that were not to be scrapped (at the same field), and one picture of an Oscar on a pole there. Says a Mr. Harry Merrick took the pictures. Article is titled SCRAPPED!

[airmanual]

Just uploaded on webshots an aerial shot of Clarck in 1946. Gives a little idea of what was there at the time.

http://community.webshots.com/user/asiafan

Laurent

[george]

Rob - That is just incredible that we could see B-24s come out of there also. Great news.

Would the fact that the P-38s were buried upside down be good or bad overall, or make any difference in damage?

One thing that really stood out in the SCRAPPED article was that they said no attempt was made to remove any equipment from the P-38s.

From the pictures, it looks like they are on their gear before being flipped, but I don't see any gear after they are in the hole.

I remember a man from California wrote to one of the air mags a few years ago saying he was going to attempt to find these P-38s, and he had documentation that there were about 600 Lightnings buried there along with many other types. Any chance some Marauders are one of those types?

[setter]

Hi George

No B26 there but hold your fire for a little while - you never know what santa may bring......

Regards
John P

[george]

Well John, it sounds like you are saying Marauders just might be on the horizon (surfacing?) pretty soon. Am I warm?

[Rob S]

Let the Individuals involved get what they want and then have the most fantastic Warbird Auction ever(dig them all up and lay them out). It sure would be nice for a large find of these and other types to bring current prices down to a reasonable standard. Thoughts WIXERS???

[O.P.]

Let the Individuals involved get what they want and then have the most fantastic Warbird Auction ever(dig them all up and lay them out). It sure would be nice for a large find of these and other types to bring current prices down to a reasonable standard. Thoughts WIXERS???

I think that would be great. I don't think it would affect prices of flying warbirds though. It would hopefully put the prices of some projects within striking distance of most of us though. The other thing I was thinking is, with all of those planes/projects out there, there might be a kinda boom in manufacturing P-38 parts and replacements, overhauling engines and props for the planes, documentation, training....heck...if the numbers are in the hundreds, someones going to make a couple three, two seat trainers and set up a Stallion 51 kind of deal. New warbird businesses, and existing businesses being able to hire a couple more people.

The main thing is, that many projects and airplanes being out there, puts the airplanes closer to everyone. It would enable a lot more potential Warbird crazy folks like us, direct access to the aircraft. The guy who lives too far away from the museum, or the collector, of high profile warbirds, to ever really go see them, spend time with them, volunteer, ect, could find out that someone on his small airfield has a P-38 and likes talking about it and working on it with others. All of the small museums that never had a snowballs chance of getting a P-38-P-39-P40 in their collection, might have that chance now.

Like the Col said though, we'll have to wait and see what the final disposition of the find will be. The only thing, or thought that I can add to that is, there will be a final disposition, no matter how or in what fashion it occurs, all of those planes will eventually be out there, its only a matter of time.

[airnutz]

Yes OP, when you have numerous projects of the same-type...short run
production costs can be spread amongst many..to keep the prices down.
Also, Instead of making 1 or 2 handmades..you can justify tooling, which
is then "in-stock" for future parts-runs.