| P-MAN VIII Update #19 Over the past couple of years we've been trying to gather information that would lead us to the crash site of a TBM Avenger that crashed on the morning of 15 September, the first day of the invasion of Peleliu. During a couple of searches that the BentProp team made at the College Park, Maryland research facility of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), we focused on still photos from 15 September and found a couple of still photographs taken from a ship standing offshore during the invasion, showing a nearly vertical fireball streaking toward the ground. The caption of at least one of the photos indicated that it was an American plane being shot down. We believed that it was the one we're seeking. This aircraft had a crew of three, none of whom were seen to get out of the stricken aircraft as it went down, and all of whom are listed as MIA today. Last year, while culling NARA's large collection of film from Palau during WWII for possible use in a documentary about BentProp, Dan O'Brien found a 7-second segment showing exactly the same fireball. The problem with the still photos had been that the island's shoreline and terrain were obscured by smoke during the attack, so we couldn't get oriented to the island and project where the fireball impacted the ground. But the film that Dan found was taken from another aircraft, and it was possible to determine fairly precisely where the fireball struck the ground. Pat and Dan then worked for many hours, using a collection of maps and still aerial photos of Peleliu to try to plot the precise location of the crash site. It appeared to be right at the edge of some pretty nasty mangrove swamp on the east side of the airfield - the side of the island opposite from the beaches where our troops were landing on Peleliu's D-Day. That meant that it would likely have been days until any Americans made it over there to even take a look. And the nearly vertical impact meant that the wreckage would probably be concentrated in a very small area, and difficult to identify. Essentially, it seems unlikely that either American invaders or Japanese defenders would have had the time or resources to investigate the crash site for several days, and at least possible that by the time such resources were available, the fact that the aircraft had crashed there might have been lost in the pressure of the battle. Pat combined all available information and proposed a triangular area less than 200 meters on a side within which he felt the wreckage should lie. Using OziExplorer, our mapping software, he created three GPS waypoints that defined the triangle. We decided to spend our time searching within an area centered on that triangle but roughly twice its size. In terms of the way we guessed the site should appear, one possibility was that it landed in the swamp instead of on solid ground, and that everything would have spent the past 62 years under several feet of black, oozy mud, out of which mangrove trees would have grown, possibly completely engulfing the wreckage in their roots. And guarded by some large salt-water crocodiles that live in the swamp all along that area, according to local hunters. But if it impacted solid ground at the edge of the swamp, there would be a concentration of parts within a very small radius lying on (and perhaps partially embedded in) the hard, rocky coral surface. They'd show considerable evidence of fire, and a lot of impact compression. Some lighter parts might have separated from the aircraft on the way down and fluttered away like falling leaves, to land some distance from the main site. But based on what we saw in that 7-second movie clip, we felt that the vast majority of parts would be in one spot, probably centered on the heaviest part of the aircraft - its engine - which is usually the first thing to arrive at the scene of a vertical crash. So we went back to Peleliu. And we decided to search an area up to twice the size of the one that Pat and Dan had eyeballed from the film and translated to the map. And we found it. Within 5 minutes of walking into the jungle at the south end of the expanded triangle, Mike and Dan found themselves standing in front of ... a bent prop! Hamilton-Standard prop, that is, connected to a Pratt & Whitney R-2600 radial engine. Which is lying on top of an Avenger main landing gear assembly. The other main landing gear assembly is about 5 feet away.
Within a radius of about 50 feet, there's also a left wing, a tailwheel, lots of wiring and control cabling like you'd find in the radio operator's compartment...and all totally consistent with an Avenger. It's important to note that surrounding the former military airfield on Peleliu there are several "boneyards," or piles of aircraft parts, large and small, frequently of mixed aircraft types - and often with a mixture of Japanese and American aircraft wreckage. But this site contains nothing to suggest that it's more than one aircraft. Only one Avenger. Within a very small radius. Many of the parts show signs of intense fire. And severe compression from striking the ground at a high speed. Within 5 feet of the engine there were several pieces of still-connected-to-each-other canopy frame, with bits of plexiglas still attached. There's a pitot tube. And an aileron trim tab. And a lot more - all Avenger. Only Avenger.
We noticed that the propeller "spinner," which is partially intact, has a roughly 4-inch-wide yellow stripe around the base, close to the prop hub.
While we we've been exploring the jungle, Flip Colmer has been hard at work in Michigan running down leads, such as the significance of the stripe around the prop spinner. So far, he's turned up some photographic and anecdotal evidence that the marking on the prop spinner may be consistent with the squadron from which we believe this aircraft was lost. Although we haven't yet found any parts with the telltale "Bureau Number" on them, the circumstantial evidence to date overwhelmingly suggests that this is the aircraft we've been seeking. Since the three airmen who went down with this aircraft are still considered missing, we believe that this site should be treated as the likely grave site of those three airmen. We've notified JPAC. They're very interested. We hope they'll consider sending an evaluation team to explore the feasibility of committing a mission to this site, and we hope that the Palauan authorities will consider closing the site to tourists until JPAC has a chance to evaluate it. In the meantime, since we believe that this is an MIA site, we held a brief flag ceremony with three American flags held by BentProp members, and one Palauan flag held by Joe Maldangesang and Tangie Hesus. If we're ever able to contact families of the men who died here, we'll deliver the flags to the families.
This is the kind of find that makes what we do worthwhile, and that clearly justifies the many man-weeks of research that we do during the year back home. - Reid |
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