Plane To Be Recovered From Lake Michigan

A WWII era Dauntless Dive Bomber (file photo, below) will be recovered from the bottom of Lake Michigan June 19th, and eventually restored for display at the Pacific Aviation Museum on Ford Island in Hawaii, its original home.

According to multiple media reports, the SBD Dauntless, piloted by John Lendo, experienced carburetor ice on a training flight in 1944 and ditched in the Lake. Lendo survived, but the airplane sank in 500 feet of water. Ken DeHoff, the museum's executive director, said "This one was apparently covered with a lot of fishing nets, which really helped to keep the mussels off of it, so it's really supposedly in pristine condition."

More than 17,000 pilots trained for carrier operations at Lake Michigan, using paddlewheel steamers converted to makeshift training carriers. The location made them safe from German U-Boat attacks. The Chicago Tribune reports that as many as 300 aircraft found their way to the bottom of Lake Michigan during the war. Many had been involved in training accidents. 39 have been recovered so far.

The recovery and restoration, which is expected to cost $300,000, is being finance by former McDonalds Chairman and CEO Fred Turner.  McDonalds Corporation will also contribute to the effort.

The Dauntless, which was developed in the 1930's, was a mainstay of the Navy's front-line combat fleet during WWII, playing a vital role in the Battle of Midway. The airplane to be recovered later this month flew off the USS Enterprise stationed in Honolulu before becoming a training aircraft in Chicago. But it's only one of the historic planes the Pacific Aviation Museum hopes to recover from Lake Michigan. "We know that there are combat-experienced (F6F) Hellcat and (F4U) Corsair aircraft that have historic value that are on the floor of Lake Michigan, and we hope we can continue to go through this process," DeHoff said.

FMI: www.pacificaviationmuseum.org