Airplane Went Down In 1948, Both On Board Were Fatally Injured

A team of divers has discovered the wreckage of a vintage Ercoupe that went down in Ostego Lake in 1948, but it's not the first time the airplane has been located.

The divers were from the Biological Field Station Volunteer Divers Team at SUNY Oneota. The Associated Press reports that they discovered the airplane while looking at side-scan sonar images gathered during a 2012 survey of the lake bottom.

The discovery on September 22 was not the first time the airplane was found underwater. It reportedly went down in July 1948 shortly after takeoff from Cooperstown airfield. Both 24-year-old WWII veterans who were on board the airplane were fatally injured in the accident.

Their bodies were recovered from the wreckage after the accident. In 1964, local divers found the airplane and raised it from the bottom of the lake, but while it was being towed back to shore, it broke free and once again sank to the bottom.

It is not known if another salvage attempt will be made.

(Ercoupe pictured in file photo)

FMI: http://www.oneonta.edu/academics/biofld/leatherstocking.asp