World War II Airplanes - Recovering old warbirds

[darkormex]

I have a thing for World War II airplanes from all the participating nations. I especially like stories having to do with the finding and recovery of these old warbirds...If you find stories like this in your local or national news, please share.

WWII bomber recovered from Lake Michigan arrives at Air Zoo for restoration

[JerryB]

Hi darkomex

You would have a ball at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome. It has been almost 30 years since we have been in New York and, according to the internet, a lot has transpired there. They used to have "demonstrations" on weekends and one could take a flight in a restored bi-plane. Never did that. If I am going into the air I want something solid around me

Jerry B

[kacyds]

darkormex , The family and I went to the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida today. Its the world’s largest Naval Aviation museum and we werent able to see all of it today. The museum is located in a Naval Air Base in Pensacola and is free for all, civilians included. If you ever get a chance to come to this area, I highly recommend stopping by to visit it.

The reason I am telling you this able this plane is because  this plane  was salvaged out of Lake Michigan. I remembered this thread and decided to take some pictures. Enjoy....

[kacyds]

[kacyds]

[darkormex]

kacyds, nice! It is a rare plane too. This is the only in existence now that it is recovered. Wikipedia does a fine job regarding it's history..

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vought_SB2U_Vindicator

Here is a great photo of that same plane.

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Restored_SB2U_recovered_from_Lake_Michigan_001.jpg

I remember reading something...must have been a while ago...a book about the Pacific campaign,and how badly outmatched these planes were by the Japanese aircraft at the start of the war.

[darkormex]

Aug 1, 2018 19:34:52 GMT -5 kacyds said:

Love that Marines F4U hanging in the background too...

[kacyds]

darkormex, This place was amazing with the amount of planes there where restored, from early planes to recent. Wished I would have taken more pictures, but I didnt take any until I saw the above plane and thought of you.

[darkormex]

I have a ton of photos from our trip to New York City and our visit to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum Complex but it seemed like too many to post here. I will look for some of the WWII related aircraft and see if I can post a few when I get a chance.

[kacyds]

In New Orleans we have the National World War II Museum and they  have quite a few planes in there. We went there about 6 weeks ago, and again I didn't take any pictures. Next time we go, I will try to remember to get some pictures of the planes. We try to go at least once a year. Certain times of the year, Louisiana residents get in at a discount.

[Phil]

I actually worked on an old WWII torpedo bomber back in the early 1990s. It was a Lockheed PV-2. It was part of the Confederate Air Force (I thought they lost the war, but what do I know).
It was interesting to say the least, but the owner was a rich old drunk with more money than sense.
No pictures but it is currently a static display at the Abbeville Airport.

[crazyquilter]

A very interesting thread darkormex , I just wanted to thank you for posting the videos. I found the Treasure hunters find undiscovered shipwreck in Lake Michigan video very cool to watch. Not sure is that would make a good thread as I don't know how many members would be interested. But I will start a thread so I don't tie up this thread with a different subject.

[darkormex]

Western (Western Middle School) students help restore WWII aircraft retrieved from Lake Michigan

[zepherusbane]

Although I don't have any great photos to share, I do find this subject very interesting. I first got interested in planes and WWII planes especially when my Dad took me to the SAC museum in Nebraska as a child of 12 or so. I used to build lots of models of the planes from this era, I don't even recall whatever happened to most of them.

Now I just have a board on Pinterest to pin interesting military planes I come across. That board is at this link if you are interested, not just WWII though.