Wreckage of USS Lexington Located in Coral Sea including aircraft

[Navy Bird]

Is it just me, or does this look like the "5" has been repainted at some point, and perhaps the previous number was different? Pure speculation, but this might have happened when the VF-3 machines came over to VF-2. Do we know what Gayler's number was when he was with VF-3?

 

 

Those "stripes" on the fuselage side where the paint has worn off are interesting. They appear to be under the kill markings and Felix.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[kev67]

I did not know that there are no Devastators left as museum pieces go, they were all destroyed or broken up at the end of WW2, there is one that crashed landed in the sea of California before the outbreak of the war I think, but the US Navy refuses to have it salvaged 

[noelh]

He'd be better off considering something like a C47 or a Beech 18 or similar. Maybe a seaplane. A Grumman. 

Me? I dream of a PBY. Now that would fun.

[AeroNautique]

2 hours ago, noelh said:

He'd be better off considering something like a C47 or a Beech 18 or similar. Maybe a seaplane. A Grumman. 

Me? I dream of a PBY. Now that would fun.

He wanted something relevant to the Battle...I didn't want to be the know-it-all that pointed out the flaw with the Avenger idea. A Beech 18 is plausible, at least it has more than one engine!

Edited March 8, 2018 by Launchpad

[noelh]

3 hours ago, Launchpad said:

He wanted something relevant to the Battle...I didn't want to be the know-it-all that pointed out the flaw with the Avenger idea. A Beech 18 is plausible, at least it has more than one engine!

As a pilot more than one engine is good. More than two is better.

[Jure Miljevic]

Hello, Launchpad

As for a relevance, this one is the closest one can get:

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/f4fregistry/f4f-86680.htm

And now your friend could have her painted in very authentic colour scheme and markings. In case of engine trouble few hundred miles away from land things get interesting, though. Still, most of potential passengers would be blissfully unaware of that. Cheers

Jure

[AeroNautique]

Hah!

 

I'd never have believed it if I hadn't seen that link...a Wildcat that carries passengers! Thanks Jure, I think I'll email that to him, it's about as close as he'll get to authenticity and should have lower running costs than an Avenger...but I still believe he hasn't seriously thought about the regulatory and maintenance considerations. Having said that, if anyone has the time and money to do it....he can. I've offered to fly whatever he purchases if he does go ahead with this, but I'd sure as hell be wearing a life-jacket. As an intersting aside, a friend of mine flies a Wildcat for Paul Allen (and other exotic types) as his retirement gig.

 

That aside, I look forward to seeing the conclusion of this Lexington expedition and the images they capture...I'm hoping they'll look for a few other wrecks in that area whilst they're about too, there would be enough material to produce some interesting books along the lines of what Dr. Ballard published following his expeditions...his book about Guadalcanal and Iron Bottom Sound was fascintating.

[tonyot]

On 06/03/2018 at 6:08 PM, noelh said:

Saw that. There was also a Gayler. But also Albert O Vorse Jr.  It could equally be the name of the Plane Captain. Whoever it was had four kills. I'm sure the truth will out when the experts set to work.

Reading US Navy research into these aircraft,....it is Gayler,.... they tallied his kills and also the bomb marking and it could only be him apparently.

[noelh]

Can you reference it? Not that I doubt it. I'm thinking Gayler is more my current preferred pilot. I was wrong about Volse.

Edited March 10, 2018 by noelh
U

[noelh]

I realise that Vorse flew 2- F-5,VF-2

The picture is of 3 -5 VF-3 Gayler's bird.

Edited March 12, 2018 by noelh

[Antoine]

While with VF-3, Gayler F4F-3 was F-13 (BuNo 3986), but for exemple he flew Thach F-1 (3976) on 20/02/42.

[tonyot]

I found the article this Wildcat being Gayler`s aircraft on Facebook, I will see if I can find it again. They said that he and some of the Wildcat`s were re allocated, hence the retention of the Felix insignia even though the unit designation has been changed,..... but they are not sure if he flew the aircraft with the new unit?

 

Cheers

        Tony

 

Edit,..... found it,...here it is;

http://worldwarwings.com/wildcat-just-found-uss-lexington-wreck-important-think/?a=mr&var=felix wildcat-ww2&utm_campaign=felix wildcat&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=original-ww2-mr&utm_content=fighters

Edited March 11, 2018 by tonyot

[Navy Bird]

A bit of text here, but this is worth reading. This is a post from the Hyperscale forums by Brandon Wood concerning the identity of the Wildcat and its pilot.

 

http://www.network54.com/Forum/149674/thread/1520540277/last-1520700777/(View+All+Messages+In+This+Thread)

 

Cheers,

Bill

[JWM]

Incredible photos! How well they are preserved, I am really surprised or even astonished! In shallow waters destruction goes apparently far much faster. The colours, even on fabric rudder of Devastator... It is amazing. Thank you for sharing.

 I've jumped on this only by chance, I very seldomly go to this section of BM. Perhaps better site for this thread would be in WW II aviation section...

Thanks again for sharing

J-W