This is the place where the majority of the warbird (aircraft that have survived military service) discussions will take place. Specialized forums may be added in the new future
Sun Feb 12, 2012 2:39 pm

Laurent
Sun Feb 12, 2012 2:44 pm
WTF!!!!! Explain please. Where and why did this happen? Painful photo.
Sun Feb 12, 2012 3:08 pm
Wouldn't you love to go diving there!
Sun Feb 12, 2012 3:41 pm
The Navy did that to a lot of planes after the war, just shove them off the carrier deck
Sun Feb 12, 2012 3:57 pm
Stoney wrote:The Navy did that to a lot of planes after the war, just shove them off the carrier deck

But "shove off" is such an archaic and insensitive phrase.
The NHHC would like to clarify that this photograph reveals vintage Naval aircraft being carefully submitted to long-term preservation for later generations to appreciate and admire. At no time should the viewer misinterpret this act of preservation as abandonment of US Naval property. Thank you.
Last edited by
Dan K on Sun Feb 12, 2012 4:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Sun Feb 12, 2012 3:58 pm
Stoney wrote:The Navy did that to a lot of planes after the war, just shove them off the carrier deck

Any idea where this happened? Looks South Pacific'ish, and also looks not too deep if that island / land mass in the background indicates anything depth wise.
Sun Feb 12, 2012 4:32 pm
Not sure of that location - but there are plenty of reports of hundreds being dumped offshore of Sydney after the war...see diving club newsletter link below
http://www.urgdiveclub.org.au/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=lyobhk067pU%3D&tabid=59&mid=391or simply type in "Corsairs dumped in sea Australia" and there are a couple of fascinating reports including pics of remains bought up by fishermen One called Plane Sailing is one of the better ones (it's a downloadable document)
Sun Feb 12, 2012 6:30 pm
The NHHC would like to clarify that this photograph reveals vintage Naval aircraft being carefully submitted to long-term preservation for later generations to appreciate and admire. At no time should the viewer misinterpret this act of preservation as abandonment of US Naval property. Thank you.
Ok now that is funny.
Sun Feb 12, 2012 6:42 pm
Ugly as it appears, I'll bet that the Commonwealth was complying with a stipulation in the Leand-Lease agreement that items loaned to the Commonwealth to fight the war either be returned to the posession of the U.S. Government, or be disposed of to cancel the debt on that property and, obviously the U.S. had no interest in, nor funds for transporting that property back to U.S. soil. We did the same thing by burning or bulldozing under wrecks and excess aircraft and other vehicles in both the Pacific and in Europe after all the fun stopped. and, it looks like that is exactly what the Navy was doing, dumping excess equipment, just a part of business.
Mon Feb 13, 2012 12:34 am
Also, there are rumors of the same thing happening at bases in the states, ie burned and buryed.
Mon Feb 13, 2012 7:41 am
Not sure if this will help ID a location, but the "Z" tailcode belonged to the Shangri-La (CV-38) air group in 1945.
What a stomach-turning pic that is to us, 70 years hence... the notion of "unwanted Corsairs" seems so ludicrous as to be laughable. Also, Dan K, the NHC has gotten much better over the past couple of years since a long-needed leadership change, but that was still hilarious. Well played.

Lynn
Mon Feb 13, 2012 11:12 am
What a shame.
Mon Feb 13, 2012 1:37 pm
Very depressing. Have tried to understand the sentiment towards aircraft after the war but can't get it, almost criminal. Could the picture be at Okinawa or Tokyo?
From Wikipedia
Shangri-La entered Tokyo Bay on 16 September, almost two weeks after the surrender ceremony onboard battleship Missouri, and remained there until 1 October. Departing Japan, she arrived at Okinawa on 4 October staying until the 6th, and then headed for the United States in company with Task Unit 38.1.1.
Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:45 pm
Remember that in 1944 the WD told GRUMMAN to lay people off and cut back on production of F6F's because there were so many sitting around stateside with no place to go, GRUMMAN did a force reduction and those still @ Bethpage working busted their humps and produced more aircraft than the number done the month BEFORE the layoffs.
I'm sure that VOUGHT and REPUBLIC had the same issues and why, if there are so many brand new airplanes sitting around gathering moss would the WD expend the time and money to drag a bunch of wracked, worn out, bullet riddled questionable 'junkers' half way around the world just so they could be melted down in the States?
A guy I worked with Moons ago Boeing told me his last assignment in the USAAF was picking up and ferrying brand new P-51's from Dallas to Okahoma where he had just enough time to get his gear out of the cockpit because they were already draining the fluids and the bulldozers and a guy with a torch were rolling up to wrap a chain around the engine so the forklift behind it could scoop up the airframe for the smelters some with 3 or 3.5 total airframe hours.
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