Curtiss Helldiver Found Near Decommissioned Navy Base

The wreckage of a Curtiss SB2C Helldiver has been discovered by loggers working in the woods near the Oregon coast, in an area near a Naval Air Station that was decommissioned in 1948.

File Photo

A wing, tail section, and other debris have been found spread across an area about 200 yards long, officials say. The airplane was found near what was NAS Tillamook. but Christian Gurling, curator at the Tillamook Air Museum, said there were many different air stations from which the flight could have originated.

The Associated Press reports that a logging company came across the wreckage on March 18th, and notified the U.S. Navy. A Navy team is working with local authorities at the scene. The Joint Prisoner of War/Missing In Action Accounting Command, which is based in Hawaii, is also involved. No evidence of unexploded ordinance has been discovered at the site.

The Tillamook station was built as an airfield for dirigibles that guarded the Pacific Coast, Gurling said, but later, other types of  aircraft were stationed there as well.

Investigators have yet to determine if there are any human remains at the crash site.

FMI: www.navy.mil