Warbird Information Exchange

Here's a cool youtube video of a B-24 in Indonesia.

'33-'34 F*rd 17" rims?

B

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documenting restored B-17s and those undergoing restoration to flight:

Sorry, trying to do too many things at once! Fixed it...

Very interesting!

Sarcastically speaking.... It looks like it just needs a dust off and an oil change and it'll be good as new.



On a more serious note, there are so many videos of aircraft wrecks underwater all over the world. What are all the reasons for not recovering them? One day they will be gone and it would be a shame to have them waste away.

I'm interested to hear peoples knowledge on possible reasons why planes like this one haven't been recovered yet.

It's a tourist attraction, it's a reef (habitat), it's a monument, it's expensive to remove, it's not worth it? All possible reasons... anything else?

Obviously, this one is somewhat of a tourist attraction with scuba tours going to see it, but when you're in a tropical paradise with tons of coral reefs and beautiful beaches, does diving on a WWII plane wreck make the trip that much more exciting to the average person. I myself, would be very excited to dive on the plane, but do you think the average person would really remember it and appreciate it as much as you and me?

Wouldn't the airplane be better preserved on the land, so that all non-snorkel wearing people could appreciate it? On the land there could be proper signage for people to understand the significance of the airplane, etc, etc, instead of having a diving instructor tell you "what he heard" about the wreck.

Sure, an airplane like this could be brought up, and have extensive work done to it to make it flyable. A ridiculous amount of money it would take to do, but it's possible. Static display easier, and an "As is" display even easier.

My opinion is that it should be recovered and placed in a building/museum for preservation in Indonesia. This way more people would be able to see it at it will remain a local attraction.

As for restoration, I don't know enough about it's actual condition to understand the feasability of doing so, but I know from experience that anything is possible. For instance the Handley Page Hampden that my museum pulled out of the ocean in the 80's as a crumpled heap of metal, now sits on it's undercarriage and looks fantastic after years of dedicated work.

Let's hear what you all think.

Cheers,

David

Just my two cents...

I would take a guess that the main reason that such aircraft are not recovered is precisely what you said- money. To organize an expedition to the location, get the specialized equipment that you need (all mounted on barges and boats, mind you) to the location, use skilled divers to prepare the aircraft for lifting, and then the actual lift, transport and mere stabilization of the wreck would be enormously costly. Additionally, you have the problem that most such accessible wrecks are in relatively shallow waters, and have been sitting in salt water for over 60 years. They might not even survive the lift to the surface, as you would be depending on the structural integrity of the airframe to bear not only the weight of the aircraft, but of the marine growths on the airframe and the water inside the airframe.

In terms of making such an aircraft flyable, I would also guess that so much material would need to be replaced that you would essentially just be building a new aircraft and would discard most all of what you just "saved."

Again, and it's just my opinion, if someone had the cash, the best thing to do with such a wreck would be to figure out if it's a true combat veteran, raise it, clean and stabilize it, and trade it to a museum that has one of the ex-IAF B-24s. That way, a combat vet would be preserved and on display for the public, and a museum-bound aircraft that could be made flyable much more reasonably would be returned to the skies.

kevin

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FOUND the elusive DT-built B-24! Woo-hoo!!!

If the original plane was recovered, how much of it could be restored? In my opinion none of it, the restored result would be a completely remanufactured airplane. Therefore, why not just leave it there and make an exact replica? (I believe all of the engineering materials still exist) The cost will be the same.

Regards,

Art S.

PS. neat video by the way.

Pretty cost prohibitive... BUT... wouldn't it be cool to have it at a museum in a giant aquarium so people could see it as found?