USS Lexington (CV-2) wreck found .. 4 March 2018 [revised]

[dakoblue]

I don't think that the poor ole Devastator has been shown this much love in decades.

Here are the rest of the planes I believe went down with the Lex.

3978 F4F-3 VF-2
3979 F4F-3 VF-2
3981 F4F-3 VF-2
3982 F4F-3 VF-2
3986 F4F-3 VF-2
3987 F4F-3 VF-2
3993 F4F-3 VF-2
4003 F4F-3 VF-2
4005 F4F-3 VF-2

2104 SBD-2 VB-2 B-2
2113 SBD-2 VB-2 B-14
2115 SBD-2 VB-2 B-3
2116 SBD-2 VB-2 B-11
2121 SBD-2 VB-2 B-10
2127 SBD-2 VB-2 B-8
2143 SBD-2 VB-2 B-12
2157 SBD-2 VB-2 B-17
2163 SBD-2 VB-2 B-7
2176 SBD-2 VB-2 B-9
2186 SBD-2 VB-2 B-15
4655 SBD-3 VB-2 B-18

4534 SBD-3 VS-2
4537 SBD-3 VS-2
4641 SBD-3 VS-2

Sorry if they're hard to read. I took them from an excel spreadsheet & the columns don't display here the way I want them to.

Mac

Great list Jim. I've been looking at the Wildcat bunos from a couple of sources and there may actually be more Wildcats lost aboard Lex and 1 Yorktown bird that landed aboard due to fuel shortage (buno2531). My sources primarily have been the Joe Baugher buno lookup site and the book Volume I: U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps And U.S. Coast Guard Aircraft Lost During World War Ii - Listed By Ship Attached by Douglas E. Campbell PHD. There is some disparity between the lists as well. Here are some links.
http://www.joebaugher.com/navy_serials/ ... ries1.html
https://books.google.com/books?id=s1hIA ... on&f=false
Not too surprisingly, the aircraft buno 3986 (known to be F-13 assigned to Gayler, flown by O'hare on 4-10-42 for photoshoot.) is on all of the lists. I believe it is this Wildcat we see on the bottom painted as F-5.

cannot be

Lt. Edward H. “Butch” O’Hare in his Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat giving a thumbs up at Naval Air Station Kaneohe, Oahu, Hawaii. 10 April 1942. Note “Felix the Cat” insignia of Fighting Squadron Three (VF-3) and five Japanese flags representing the five enemy bombers he was credited with shooting down. Courtesy of The National Archives.

[Stan_W]

Can Be! The aircraft used for the still photoshoot was painted up for that purpose, and had 5 kill flags representing his record. It was aircraft F-3, visible in other photos from the same shoot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUTnxD5LpW4

In this video shot on 4-10-42 Butch flies formation with Thach in F-13 (buno3986) clearly showing 4 kill flags. The markings on this airplane, precisely match the F-5 on the seafloor. When you measure the markings from fixed points of reference on the airframe they are identical.Both aircraft show 3 older and 1 newer, brighter kill flag. The number on the sunken wildcat has clearly been painted over something else. The location of the overpaint precisely matched the location of the F-13.Noel Gayler was assigned to VF-2 and made XO on 4-12-42. Gayler's name is painted on the sunken wildcat, and he was known to be assigned F-13. Buno 3986 is listed in Navy records as having sunk with the Lexington. I believe O'hare borrowed Gayler's bird for the film flight, and sometime after that Gayler had it renumbered, probably due to his promotion to XO.
I think the preponderance of evidence ties this aircraft to 2 of our nations greatest aces.

P.S. sadly, new video of the wildcat posted on the R.V. Petrel FB page, shows the vertical stabilizer is broken off and missing.

[dakoblue]

Can Be! The aircraft used for the still photoshoot was painted up for that purpose, and had 5 kill flags representing his record. It was aircraft F-3, visible in other photos from the same shoot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUTnxD5LpW4

In this video shot on 4-10-42 Butch flies formation with Thach in F-13 (buno3986) clearly showing 4 kill flags. The markings on this airplane, precisely match the F-5 on the seafloor. When you measure the markings from fixed points of reference on the airframe they are identical.Both aircraft show 3 older and 1 newer, brighter kill flag. The number on the sunken wildcat has clearly been painted over something else. The location of the overpaint precisely matched the location of the F-13.Noel Gayler was assigned to VF-2 and made XO on 4-12-42. Gayler's name is painted on the sunken wildcat, and he was known to be assigned F-13. Buno 3986 is listed in Navy records as having sunk with the Lexington. I believe O'hare borrowed Gayler's bird for the film flight, and sometime after that Gayler had it renumbered, probably due to his promotion to XO.
I think the preponderance of evidence ties this aircraft to 2 of our nations greatest aces.

P.S. sadly, new video of the wildcat posted on the R.V. Petrel FB page, shows the vertical stabilizer is broken off and missing.

you could be very right ,what about bombing mark? ,so F-13 = F-5 and no more F-13 designation was used?
when was the bombing raid?

Last edited by dakoblue on Sat Mar 17, 2018 10:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Stan_W]

It's very difficult to make out as the old film isn't of the best quality and it lacks the contrast of the red/white kill flags. In the film and in higher resolution photos there appears to be an anomaly or smudge adjacent to the 2nd kill flag from the top. That may be the bomb mark. in both aircraft the lowest kill flag is clearly newer and brighter. I'm not sure what became of the other number. A number of VF-3 aircraft were cross decked to VF-2 along with a number of pilots. I can't find any good reference showing what designations were used by the original VF-2 birds or even what they looked like. While researching this I've realized there was quit a bit of variance in the markings of our aircraft, even within the same units.

Last edited by Stan_W on Sat Mar 17, 2018 10:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

[dakoblue]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKD7i6PgKa8

[Stan_W]

Great Find!!!!
I hadn't seen that one, clearly showing the aircraft from the right side.

[Mark Allen M]

F4F wildcat dive video on facebook. Unfortunately the top of the tail is missing so no BuNo to see.

https://www.facebook.com/rvpetrel/video ... 985673809/

[Stan_W]

Seriously bummed about that.

[Courier Sportster]

I doubt this means a thing, but I am not seeing the anticipated overpaint of 13 of the right wing. They just matched the paint real good!

[Taigh Ramey]

If you are comparing these aircraft as possibly being the same the dents and skin deformations present on the O'hare aircraft do not match the Gaylor aircraft recently found. Note the multiple dents on the skin under the O'hare stencil that came from the inside of the cockpit, presumably from maintenance, are not present in the current left side photo. What could have been a battle damage patch near the bottom of the same panel is not present either.

If you are comparing other aircraft please disregard with my apologies!

What is also interesting is the sheared rivets and skin lap damage from overloads on the fuselage on the aft side of the Gaylor stencil panel. It pulled apart a long ways and then came back and caught the skins on each other.

[dakoblue]

Did everybody notice that Gayler name is written after other name was overpainted?

[Stan_W]

The aircraft O'hare is sitting in in the top photo is F-3, different aircraft altogether. I think our seafloor aircraft is F-13 painted over to F-5

[Stan_W]

Did everybody notice that Gayler name is written after other name was overpainted?

Yes, and I can't help but wonder if Gayler's name was hidden for the O'hare PR flight, and re painted later as there is no evidence of any name during that flight from the photos or film, yet the rest of the markings precisely match.

[Mark Allen M]

Might have to start wearing this around now

[WIXerGreg]

By coincidence I ordered an SBD kit earlier in the week and opened it tonight to find it was a Lexington bird that flew on May 8. Surely the 12 on the wing of this plane makes it the same plane as my kit?