KC-97 Stratofreighter found this weekend

[michael barnette]

We were out diving a mark from a fisherman in 365' of water northeast of Cape Canaveral that turned out to be a Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter that was lost in March 1960 (based on follow-up research). Here is the video for those that might be interested:

https://youtu.be/5uOXPgiIkbA

Cheers,
Mike

[cooper9411]

Thanks for the link Mike. Very interesting.

[wendovertom]

Great video! Makes me wonder if the cockpit damage was impact with the bottom or surface? I get the sense you are not a shark fan?

Tom P.

[michael barnette]

I dig sharks, but these guys were not well behaved...

[DoraNineFan]

Great video! Makes me wonder if the cockpit damage was impact with the bottom or surface? I get the sense you are not a shark fan?

Tom P.

There's also a trawling net caught on the nose. So a boat could have been pulling on the corroded cockpit at some point.

[P51Mstg]

Michael:

I know you are a VERY accomplished diver..... Can you share with us the type of equipment you used to make the dive....?

Thanks

Mark H

[dirtysidedown430]

Looks like the fish like all the hiding spots. Was that grouper or mullet the bigger ones.

[michael barnette]

I am using a closed circuit rebreather that recycles your breathing gas, scrubs your expired CO2, and adds O2 that you metabolize. I am breathing trimix, which is a helium-based gas. Air is basically 21% O2 and 79% nitrogen...the trimix I am breathing was 9% oxygen, 55% helium, and the remainder nitrogen. The helium displaces nitrogen that is narcotic at depth and oxygen that is toxic at depth (excessive partial pressure). We also carry conventional SCUBA tanks as "bailout" gas in case the rebreather has issues during the dive. In this case a tank of 10% oxygen, 50% helium, and 40% nitrogen that can be breathed at depth, and a second bottle of 50% oxygen that can be breathed at 70 foot and shallower for decompression. We also have 100% oxygen that we breath at 20 feet and shallower.
We are using scooters that help tow us around with all that gear and get to depth faster than having to fin. It also helps if there is current so you don't over exert yourself.
Decompression is a factor of both time and depth. Because we didn't want the captain to bob around all day, we kept the bottom time to just under 18 minutes so our total run time including decompression was just about 2 hours. Anything more than that at this depth and your decompression goes exponential...every minute more racks up a stupid amount of decompression.
That's pretty much an overview of the show...

The very large fish is a Warsaw grouper...they get to over 600 pounds; this one was only about 200-250 pounds. The smaller fish with white spots are snowy grouper and the big schooling silvery fish swirling around are amberjack....

Cheers,
Mike

[Chris Brame]

This one?

(51-)363 (c/n 16430) crashed into Atlantic Ocean 100 mi off Orlando
FL Mar 30, 1960. 5 survivors rescued.

Wikipedia differs:

30 March 1960, off Cape Canaveral a Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter (USAF Serial Number 51-363 [Manufacturer's Serial Number 16430])ditched and sank. This particular aircraft was lost due to engine failure. The crash resulted in 3 fatalities of the 14 crew.

Chicago Tribune:

Did you find any remains of the tail?
Love the little captions on the sharks! Don't know why National Geographic doesn't do that...

[michael barnette]

Not sure why one would use an inland point of reference (Orlando) for an offshore incident, but it's the same thing.
I have found several other articles...seems the 5 survivors were the ones rescued by the USS SULLIVANS, but others were picked up by choppers. Other information indicates the aircraft stayed afloat for a while. We marked a couple other targets in close proximity (~200') of this section, so I suspect the tail tore off as one end/section flooded first and went under. Given the limited visibility and time at this depth, we were unable to do more than video this one section. Thankfully we ended up on the "good" section...LOL.

[Steve Nelson]

Absolutely breathtaking (pun intended!) Thanks for sharing.

Amazing how bright the Day-Glo paint around the cockpit still is after all these years.

The squashing of the lower fuselage and separated cockpit leads me to think the damage was caused by impact with the seabed. Judging by all the nets caught on her, she suffered a good bit more abuse over the years as well. Interesting to see the prop blades missing on #2, but the hub still intact.

The tail section looks like it separated pretty clean..I'm assuming that's a production joint. I thought that the civil Stratocruiser that ditched in the Atlantic a few years earlier broke at about the same spot, but photos show the break much further aft.

SN

[dirtysidedown430]

Those big fish bring very.good money. Ths

[michael barnette]

Given the aircraft reportedly stayed afloat on the surface for a while, I suspect when she started to really flood and go under, the tail or forward section ripped loose due to water weight rushing to one end; IMHO that makes sense the break is so clean along a bulkhead or rib line, and also would explain why the tail section is in close proximity (assumed). That is, they would have gone under about the same time, breaking loose at the surface, and sailing/planing away in the water column at different speeds/angles/directions.

[b29driver]

This is out of my KC-97L -1

[michael barnette]

Awesome - thanks!