lake erie aircraft wrecks.... both u.s. & canadian side.

[tom d. friedman]

1st time i've heard of the erie pby!!! got a ball park location on it??

[cooper9411]

It went down and supposedly it went down right around Gross Ile. The report says unrecovered. Good thing is, it went down with no one on board

[CoastieJohn]

Can't remember where I seen it but there are a couple of picks of a crashed PBY right at the mouth of the Detroit River getting pulled out with a crane. I've come across it a couple of different times. I'll see if I can find it online. Now that I think about it...it had alot of pics showing crashes and wrecks in the Michigan area.

[CoastieJohn]

Can't remember where I seen it but there are a couple of picks of a crashed PBY right at the mouth of the Detroit River getting pulled out with a crane. I've come across it a couple of different times. I'll see if I can find it online. Now that I think about it...it had alot of pics showing crashes and wrecks in the Michigan area.

Ok....found the site. It is the Naval Air Station Grosse Ile Virtual Museum. They have numerous pics of crashes and rescues. Attached is the link to the crash page along with links to the PBY crash I was thinking about.

http://nasgi.net/crash.htm

http://nasgi.net/sanger025.htm






Here is another PBY...this one not recovered.

Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina
Bureau Number: 34003 (VP-ML-55) nosed over and sank in landing accident
5 miles south of Grosse Island NAS, MI 6/17/1948.
Plane never recovered.

Last edited by CoastieJohn on Wed Jan 11, 2012 6:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[CoastieJohn]

Also...someone was asking about Dean Delong's crash.

http://nasgi.net/crash01.htm

Goodyear FG-1D Corsair
Bureau Number: 92008
Date of Accident: August 5th 1950
Pilot Name: 1st Lieutenant Dean O. Delong (USMCR)
Rescue Pilot Aircraft: PBY,Rescue Pilot Name: Mike Erard
Wingman in Corsair Squadron: Whitey Potter
Flight Leader in Corsair Squadron: Whitaker
Corsair Squadron preparing for Korean Conflict

[cooper9411]

I was talking about the one that went down 5 miles south of Gross Ile, but like I said there were many that went down in that area.

[CoastieJohn]

Ya...at the time I didn't know if they were one and the same. I just recalled the pics of it being hoisted out.

I've flown down the Detroit River and western Lake Erie area quite a bit in a CG helo. I never thought to look for any of these downed aircraft.

[cooper9411]

I've never heard anything about the PBY being salvaged. Last I knew it was left where it went down, but I guess anybody could have got it by now. Of course if it was not salvaged, it was probably severely damaged as there was different dumping grounds throughout that area of Lake Erie

[cooper9411]

[SpouseofSon]

"About 15 years ago a co-worker of mine told me about Dean DeLong, who used to work with him while he was an engineer at Ford. Dean had told him that while in the Navy he had ditched his plane (type was not mentioned) in Lake Erie. Dean had also said that years later his son had located the plane and dived on it. No specific date or location was mentioned. After hearing this, I tracked down one of Dean's sons (Dean had passed away by then) who claimed he had never heard the story, but was going to ask his siblings. I never heard back from him, but for years I have wanted to verify this story."

Here's an update to the above posting.

Dean's plane was not found. However, his son, Don, did make attempts to locate the plane through maps and dives.

The search continues.....

[cooper9411]

There are rumors of people searching for the DeLong Corsair. Not sure what they plan on doing with it if/when they find it. Navy still claims "ownership" to all aircraft that's ever been in their inventory.

[SpouseofSon]

There are rumors of people searching for the DeLong Corsair. Not sure what they plan on doing with it if/when they find it. Navy still claims "ownership" to all aircraft that's ever been in their inventory.

Dean's son simply wanted to see the plane his dad flew -- a link to his dad and Dean's flying history.

[camshaw]

even if recovered, he bailed out probably over 1000 foot of elevation or more, it would be a mangled twisted up pile of mush would be my guess?

[cooper9411]

even if recovered, he bailed out probably over 1000 foot of elevation or more, it would be a mangled twisted up pile of mush would be my guess?

In the report filed by the pilot, it states he completed a controlled ditching after the engine quit. The aircraft at the time of ditching was intact. Now it would be lucky to be intact considering the dredging that has taken place over the years!

[camshaw]

ok, thats awesome news!...I must have read a misleading report or got something crossed....has anybody recently been searching for it cooper? sounds like a great option!