World War II Plane Found

Sure, it’s easy to lose an action figure or a watch or a pair of sunglasses in the sand at the beach. But how do you lose an airplane?

Once thought to be an unmanned drone, a plane discovered buried in shallow-water sand this summer in Wales has been identified as a missing P-38 “Lightning” fighter aircraft which crashed near the beach during World War II in 1942.

According to expert Ric Gillespie, it may be the oldest plane of its kind in existence. Made in 1941, it went to Great Britain in 1942. Twenty-four year old Robert Elliott was piloting the aircraft when it ran out of fuel. He ditched the plane in shallow water where shifting sands covered the wreckage. Erosion uncovered the once-forgotten plane this summer.

Gillespie, who serves as executive director of The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, visited the wreck this month and identified the plane by its serial number.

Click here to see a picture and read more about this exciting discovery.

9 Comments

  1. I wonder if my late father did the welding on the nose machine gun mounts on that plane or whether Norma Jean Baker (Maralyn Monroe) did the welding? Well if it was built in 1941 Dad probably did the welding. He hiked from downtown St. Cloud, MN to the St. Cloud VA Hospital (where he worked) during the start of the famous deadly Nov. 11, 1940 Armistice Day Blizzard. (If you want to read about it read “All Hell Broke Loose”.) Later that year he quit and moved to Los Angeles to work in the Lockheed aircraft factory for $0.85 an hour when Minimum wage was $0.25 an hour. He bought a Model T Ford from Kelly’s Kars (the “Kelly Blue Book” publisher). After Pearl Harbour (Dec. 7, 1941) he quit the Lockeed job and joined the Navy.

  2. lol old scout that would be cool if he did,

    any way how do u lose a plane i mean really!!! this is, like my fav smily 😈 :TWISTED:

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