Local Gwynedd Historical Council Planning Restoration

A Lockheed-P38 Lightning has been found after washing up on a beach in Wales, England after being submerged in sand for more than 60 years, according to the BBC. The Lockheed P-38 was designed in 1937. According to the US Air Force, 9,923 P-38s were built by 1945, but only 27 of the aircraft survive.

Gwynedd Council's maritime department is to protect the site of the plane while its restoration is arranged. The council is not revealing the precise location of the wreckage in the interest of public safety and to protect the aircraft.

Barry Davies, a maritime officer for the council, said he has known about the wreckage near Harlech for several weeks, and says this is probably the first time since crashing that it has been seen. Davies said the plane was found by a member of the public who was walking on the beach.

The plane is visible at certain stages of the tide and Davies has visited the site himself and seen the wings. "It still has a lot of high octane fuel onboard, so it's important that the public doesn't go near it."

Locals attribute a "draw down of the beach level" for its recent exposure.

According to the BBC report, experts from the US have been over to examine the wreckage but no decision has been made about how it will be recovered from the sand.

He said: "At the moment it's going to be a difficult and expensive process to salvage it because of its location." Another Lockheed P-38, forced to land in Greenland in bad weather during World War II, became buried under ice there.

FMI: http://www.warbirdalley.com/p38.htm