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Wreckage of USS Lexington Located in Coral Sea including aircraft


Navy Bird

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Has this been posted yet?

 

 

Paul Allen has found Lady Lex. More aircraft pix on the Hyperscale thread. The F4F has four kill markings. But why does it have the Felix the Cat emblem? I don't recall VF-3 being on-board Lexington. Unless I'm wrong...

 

38830864420_dd8bb022b2_b

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

 

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On 06/03/2018 at 08:55, Navy Bird said:

 

The F4F has four kill markings. But why does it have the Felix the Cat emblem? I don't recall VF-3 being on-board Lexington. Unless I'm wrong...

 

 

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

 

 

According to the website linked below, VF-3 did indeed have F4F-3s aboard Lexington when she sank:

 

http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/Airgroups/CV-2.html

 

Cheers,
Mark

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21 minutes ago, mhaselden said:

 

According to the website linked below, VF-3 did indeed have F4F-3s aboard Lexington when she sank:

 

http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/Airgroups/CV-2.html

 

Cheers,
Mark

 

Those dates seem mixed up at the end of that chart. How do you interpret it? I've seen other order of battle web pages that don't mention VF-3, such as these two:

 

http://www.navweaps.com/index_oob/OOB_WWII_Pacific/OOB_WWII_Coral_Sea.php

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Coral_Sea_order_of_battle

 

Cheers,

Bill

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11 minutes ago, Navy Bird said:

 

Those dates seem mixed up at the end of that chart. How do you interpret it? I've seen other order of battle web pages that don't mention VF-3, such as these two:

 

http://www.navweaps.com/index_oob/OOB_WWII_Pacific/OOB_WWII_Coral_Sea.php

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Coral_Sea_order_of_battle

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

Yeah, there's something weird going on.  I found another book reference which stated that a number of VF-3 machines were transferred to VF-2 immediately prior to Coral Sea.  Perhaps this was one of those airframes and never had its VF-3 identity replaced? 

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I don't recognise the overlay so don't know what type of ROV it is but I'm guessing it's an American Company so the depth'll be in feet?

The Arado I found in a Fjord in Norway (yes, I'm such a Brag!) didn't look in as good condition as this Grumman, lovely find.

 

Duncan B

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1 hour ago, Duncan B said:

I don't recognise the overlay so don't know what type of ROV it is but I'm guessing it's an American Company so the depth'll be in feet?

The Arado I found in a Fjord in Norway (yes, I'm such a Brag!) didn't look in as good condition as this Grumman, lovely find.

 

Duncan B

Paul Allen clarified on his Facebook page when someone asked the depth. He said it was 3000m / 2 miles deep.

 

The preservation of these aeroplanes is stunning.

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As the finder, isn’t Paul Allen able ‘claim ownership’ of the wreck (if it’s in international waters) much like Robert Ballard regretted not doing with Titanic? That way there is an extra layer of safeguarding, in addition to it being designated as a war grave?

 

Personally and as much as I would like to see the planes preserved, I think they should stay where they are because it’s all part of the overall wreck site. By all means take as many photos/videos as can be managed, but leave them untouched.

 

Trevor

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10 hours ago, mhaselden said:

 

Yeah, there's something weird going on.  I found another book reference which stated that a number of VF-3 machines were transferred to VF-2 immediately prior to Coral Sea.  Perhaps this was one of those airframes and never had its VF-3 identity replaced? 

I researched this some minutes ago yes some F4Fs landed on Lexington after it was damaged due to lack of fuel. I think the F4F was flown by Lt Albert O Vorse. 

I stand to corrected but that's definitely why they were onboard. Link:

https://books.google.ie/books?id=pouHCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT163&lpg=PT163&dq=albert+o+Vorse&source=bl&ots=Inx5iY2Tod&sig=Ab3yN8e84mfPyiyyfTpRvevk8Zc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjXgYHs49fZAhUFWsAKHQhNBPcQ6AEwEXoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q=albert o Vorse&f=false

Edited by noelh
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22 minutes ago, noelh said:

I researched this some minutes ago yes some VF3 F4Fs landed on Lexington after it was damaged due to lack of fuel. I think the F4F was flown by Lt Albert O Vorse. 

I stand to corrected but that's definitely why they were onboard.

 

But where did it come from? VF-3 isn't listed as part of the Yorktown's air group either. Thanks for finding the pilot of 2-F-5, but that Felix logo has me intrigued.

 

More photos - Devastators!

 

28616465_10160063302075174_8580539240028427820_o

 

28616910_10160063301965174_7551816061440807046_o

 

Cheers,

Bill

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1 minute ago, Navy Bird said:

 

But where did it come from? VF-3 isn't listed as part of the Yorktown's air group either. Thanks for finding the pilot of 2-F-5, but that Felix logo has me intrigued.

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

As noted in an earlier post VF-2 took ownership of a number of ex-VF-3 F4F-3s.  The most likely explanation is that F-5 is one of those airframes and that it hadn't been its markings updated at the time Lexington was sunk.

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1 minute ago, mhaselden said:

 

As noted in an earlier post VF-2 took ownership of a number of ex-VF-3 F4F-3s.  The most likely explanation is that F-5 is one of those airframes and that it hadn't been its markings updated at the time Lexington was sunk.

 

Correct - Noel posted this link in the maritime chat section:

 

https://books.google.ie/books?id=pouHCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT163&lpg=PT163&dq=albert+o+Vorse&source=bl&ots=Inx5iY2Tod&sig=Ab3yN8e84mfPyiyyfTpRvevk8Zc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjXgYHs49fZAhUFWsAKHQhNBPcQ6AEwEXoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q=albert o Vorse&f=false

 

Cheers,

Bill

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Just now, mhaselden said:

Amazing pics of those Devastators.  The condition of these airframes is truly remarkable.

 

Truly. I see T-4, T-5, and T-9. I guess I shouldn't have painted the wing fold areas with zinc chromate green!   :)

 

Cheers,

Bill

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47 minutes ago, mhaselden said:

 

As noted in an earlier post VF-2 took ownership of a number of ex-VF-3 F4F-3s.  The most likely explanation is that F-5 is one of those airframes and that it hadn't been its markings updated at the time Lexington was sunk.

Also if this F4F is fact the one flown by Vorse as I linked to earlier. He was in fact a VF3 pilot lent to VF2. Indeed he later returned to VF3 after the carrier was sunk. It would make sense that his personal aircraft would retain the original badge? Just a thought.

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1 minute ago, noelh said:

Also if this F4F is fact the one flown by Vorse as I linked to earlier. He was in fact a VF3 pilot lent to VF2. Indeed he later returned to VF3 after the carrier was sunk. It would make sense that his personal aircraft would retain the original badge? Just a thought.

 

The problem is that pilots didn't always fly "their personal" aircraft...if such a thing existed.  Given the sortie generation challenges on an aircraft carrier, I suspect pilots would simply fly whichever airframe was available. 

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