Mystery Debris Field #4:
Mystery Solved, we think...
BentProp teams had previously located and identified two of the three B-24s shot down over Koror. On January 26, 2004, after an 8-year search, we finally located the third. We found most of the fuselage and the right wing, plus two of the four propellers, lying within a few feet of each other. The left wing had separated from the aircraft when it was hit by AAA fire as it passed over Koror.The "mystery propeller" lies along the flight path of this B-24, and is fairly close to the rest of the aircraft. We now believe that it is from one of the two engines that were on the left wing (the rest of which has not yet been located). For now, we'll leave the original mystery description here for you to read.
My wife, Susan, and I were taken to this propeller, sitting upright on a coral head. When I first saw it, the hub was exposed and identified it as a Hamilton Standard propeller. Although H-S made propellers of different sizes, in Palau, the two important sizes had diameters of approximately 11 feet (eg, B-24) and 13 feet (eg, Corsair, hellcats and Avengers). Unfortunately a) not enough was exposed to measure the entire blade length, b) since 1994, a boat struck the prop and bent it further and c) substantial coral growth has further covered the blade that is exposed. This propeller is an enigma. We have not been able to find an aircraft anywhere near it.
1. Prop 4-3: making our way to the bend blade – in shallow water.
2. Prop 4-2: Evidence that the white markings are not paint — that's a bird...
Video clips:
We haven't been able to identify this object's origin, but we're hoping that some BentProp visitor will download and view one of the following video clips, have a great blast of recollection, and e-mail us with a really good guess about what it is! The files listed below are basically the same clip, presented in several different media and levels of resolution. If you have a broadband connection, definitely download one of the better-quality files (I like the Real Media format the best). If you have a slow dial-up internet connection, go for one of the smaller files. They've got less resolution, but you can still get a pretty good idea of the nature of this object. If you think you know what it is, please drop us a note via e-mail. We'll get back to you right away!
Some of the clips listed here must be viewed using the free download of RealOne player. Others require the free Apple QuickTime viewer. And some require the free Windows Media Player. All of these viewers are easy to download and use - just click the links in this paragraph to check out the viewers. If you have trouble viewing clips from within your browser, you can also right-click on any link below and download and save the file to your own computer for viewing outside the browser.
Larger files (better quality):
Smaller files (lower quality, but faster downloads):