P-MAN VIII Update #27
12 March 2006

This morning we picked up an elderly gentleman whom we interviewed last year. He's the one who told us that in 1944, he removed the machine gun from an aircraft in shallow water in Aimeliik - ostensibly to get some parts for his air rifle (turns out none of the parts from an Avenger's .50-cal machine gun were usable on his air rifle...).

Singeo came with us for a boat ride to Aimeliik.
© Reid Joyce 2006

He had agreed a few weeks ago to accompany us to the area where the wreckage had been (he believes that his mechanical exploit occurred in late 1944). We've suspected that the aircraft he was talking about was the same one from which we found a wing in the mangroves last year, but taking him there was the only way to really confirm this.

Before we headed out, we reviewed some of our recently acquired Japanese maps with him, to see if he could shed any light on the problem we've been having with bridge names, and to tell us if he remembers the school near T-Dock where a U.S. airman was said to have gotten his parachute tangled.

Joe (R) reviews our translated Japanese map with Singeo. © Reid Joyce 2006

He couldn't help with the bridge names, but did remember the school near T-Dock. He said it was torn down (he couldn't remember when) and that the site is now the location of a supermarket.

We headed over to Aimeliik in the boat, and to no one's surprise he guided us to the very cove where we found the Avenger wing in the mangroves last year.

He points to roughly where he found the wreckage.
© Reid Joyce 2006

He said that the area was nearly devoid of mangroves in 1944, and that some of the wreckage could easily be approached on foot at low tide, when the water depth in the cove was on the order of two feet. But it was not protected by the trees then, so when American airplanes flew by as he worked to extract the machine gun, he hid under the wing. He said one wing stuck out of the water, and that he thinks he remembers seeing an engine. He also mentioned that a salvage company, Micro Metal, salvaged a lot of crashed airplanes in the area, but he doesn't know if they got any parts of this one.

What we think we know about this area includes:

1. Last year we were taken to the location of a left Avenger wing in the mangroves in this location.
2. We were taken there by two hunters who are quite familiar with this relatively small mangrove area, and who didn't know of any other wreckage in the immediate area.
3. The two hunters did recall that another individual tried to remove some other wreckage from this area using a small boat some years ago, but he said the wreckage fell off the boat before he could get it out of the mangroves. They didn't know whether he returned later to finish the job - or whether anyone else had tried to salvage it.
4. We spent an afternoon last year crawling through this mangrove area, starting at the wing and moving back in the direction that Singeo pointed out, without finding anything.

We've decided that if we come back here next year, it will be at a time when the slack tide is very low, and we'll sweep the area with the metal detector.

After dropping Singeo back at home, we went into town to explore the area around the old school near T-Dock. Right out in front of the new supermarket, which was built on the site of the old school, is a huge old Palauan mango tree. We speculated that this might be the tree into which an American aviator parachuted.

Pat checks out Candidate Tree #1.
© Reid Joyce 2006

But then we looked down the street on the same side, and realized that there is an extensive collection of old concrete foundations, and quite a few more BIG trees.

A bunch more candidate trees. © Reid Joyce 2006

We spoke to a man who presently lives in a house adjacent to the supermarket. He reported that the foundations in the open area were not part of the school - the school really was in the spot presently occupied by the market. And he said that there had been quite a few large trees in the area, so it seems likely that someone parachuting into here would have had a hard time avoiding snagging one. The report that we've read suggests that the aviator landed in the tree, and was buried "nearby." It's not clear if he was alive when he hit the tree.

We continued to explore the immediate area, but the encroachment of commercial and residential establishments makes it highly unlikely that a makeshift grave site, if it exists in this area, will ever be found.

- Reid