Warbird Information Exchange

Here is my research on what went into Lake Michigan off the two inland training carriers:

The Navy used various aircraft types for training on these two vessels and, from the ship's logs and accident reports, it is known that a total of one hundred and forty-two aircraft were lost from 1942 through to 1945 costing the lives of eight pilots. The number and types of planes that sank to the bottom of Lake Michigan are as follows: forty-one Grumman/General Motors TBF/TBM Avengers, one Vought F4U Corsair, thirty-eight Douglas Dauntless Dive-Bombers, four Grumman F6F Hellcats, one Vought SB2U Vindicator, thirty-seven Grumman/General Motors F4F/FM Wildcats, seventeen North American Aviation SNJ's and three TDN experimental drones. Many of the types were older aircraft that had served in the North African and Pacific Campaigns. The USN managed to salvage, six of the crashed airframes from shallow water before the end of the war. The remaining one hundred and thirty-six aircraft sat in a semi-preserved state for decades in a deep, fresh-water repository measuring three hundred and seven miles long by one hundred and eighteen miles wide. The lake's average depth is 279'. Within the past several years, approximately thirty airframes have been recovered by salvagers for the Navy. Most were found to be in good condition with tires inflated, parachutes preserved, leather seats maintained and engine crankcases full of oil. A sizeable portion of Lake Michigan's lost fleet of historic aircraft remains to be located and harvested. However, the USN still exercises control and ownership of these aircraft as they are considered to be, even after all these years, US Government property.

Cheers,

Tom Walsh.