P-MAN IX Update #18 Hello Everyone! 09 March It was a very calm day out here in Palau. Hot day, warm breezes and nothing new to report. Well, except what’s in the story. Lessons Learned
The day started as they all do. We went out looking for a Marine Corsair. We had one more shot at the smart man theorem. If we don’t find him today, we’re going to have to wait until next year. It was just the normal crew. No guest searchers. Derek still had the plan on how to search. We would get to the pump house which was a bit north of our previous search tracks. Then we would search south until we got to a clearing, shift a little west and go back whenst we came from. Then if we did not adequately cover the area, we would do another round trip. We didn’t see diddly. However, we have good evidence that this was a tree farming area and that Japanese soldiers had installations here. So if our target aircraft crashed here, then the crash site would have been visited. The pilot would have been buried and for some reason, we just can’t find him. We got out of the jungle and back to the van. It was only 15 minutes to Ngatpang dock so we had another seaside lunch. I forgot the chips so I was sent to my corner for 15 minutes. We discussed what to do next and searching without more intel did not make sense. So we decided to try and track down the man who started the tree farms out here in the early 1960s. We got to the man’s house but his wife said to call back tomorrow to make an appointment to see him. So it seems we’ll have to analyze the charts and reports again. Look at what we did in the field this year, and then draft a new search plan for next year. Then we went out to the Belau National Museum to chat with Tina.
We wanted to chat with her about Japanese schools on the big island prior to the war. She told us that there was a Japanese national who was researching this exact issue. It seems that enough time has passed since those years that the sensitivities of the people have receded and they are now speaking of those experiences. The Japanese set up parallel school systems in Palau. One was for the Japanese children and the other for Palauans and other islanders. The schools were separate, but definitely not equal. You know when this researcher will be back on the island? You got it, the day the entire team leaves. We will leave this for next year as well. Now we were into the late afternoon. Not enough time to go back to Babelthuap to search, and too much time to just sit around. We got a little work done around the house and then headed out to dinner. A lovely time at Teppan Tai.
And to set up a party. One thing this team has is an appreciation of not only the men and women who served in America’s past conflicts, but of the men and women who serve in the U.S. Armed Forces today. We’re going to host the entire JPAC team for a Mexican fiesta night on Sunday. We wanted to talk with Margie and Dave to iron out all the details. And we wanted to taste test the margaritas one more time to ensure they were just right for our guests. I could have sworn I ordered a medium sized margarita with no extra anythings added. I got the humongo glass with a shooter to boot. The waitress couldn’t have been wrong and it would have been rude of me to contradict her. So, I handled it. The party is set up. The guests will be there. And then later that night, I’ll be heading out. So I only have 2 more days in Palau. Tomorrow, we’ll be diving with the two JPAC anthropologists on the B24. We may have found it a few years ago, but the Republic of Palau owns it and the U.S. Navy controls it so long as a dive team is working the site. Using all the right channels, Eric and Rich coordinated a visit for us to the site. However, for that story, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow.
10 March And it’s come so fast. We woke up early today in order to be out the door by about 0800. We’re meeting JPAC anthropologists Eric Emery and Rich Wills at Neco Marine and we’ll all ride out together to the B-24. Joe Maldangesang is really the guide on this trip. He is a Palauan national treasure and was named by the Historical Preservation Office to be the guide today. He also had to pick a boatman who had already been to the site. The HPO wants to protect the B-24 from salvage and souvenir hunters. By restricting who goes out there, they can limit the number of people who know where it is. Plus, there still is a Presidential decree making this site protected by the Palauan Government. The reason they are doing this is that eight U.S. Army Air Force members went down with this airplane. And that is why JPAC is investing so much time out here. They want to bring home the crew. We got out to the barge, Eric and Rich grabbed some of their gear and over the side we went. We were very familiar with the site as we had dived it two years in a row. The airplane sits on a coral head. The front half of the airplane is on the west slope of the coral head and on the other side rests the tail and aft fuselage. The two major sections sit in about 45 and 60 feet of water respectively. We dropped in on the nose first. It was amazing the difference since we were last there. We were expecting to see mangled metal as the JPAC team searches for remains. Quite the opposite. This is a more interesting dive now, then when we first saw the aircraft all covered in coral. As the coral reef recedes, and more of the airplane is exposed, there is more to see. With all the silt taken out, there’s more to see inside the aircraft. None of us took underwater cameras down as we did not want to document the dismantling of this warbird. Big mistake. After a few minutes, we circled the coral head counterclockwise so we could inspect the tail section. As it was in the past, it’s a pretty dramatic approach. As you swim along the base of the coral head, the distinctive tail of the B-24 looms out of the silty water. The back half of the aircraft is also improved as a dive site. What were once just dark undefined shapes in the fuselage now have become racks and bracings. You can tell how big this airplane once was. When the recovery operation is finished, JPAC will determine whether or not to return to this site. When they close this case, Palau will have a wonderful opportunity to have another great dive site. Our hope is that all the divers who ever visit this place treat it with respect. There will be folks who take things from this site. That’s really a shame as it will diminish the site for all future divers. So if you’re reading this, and if you ever get to Palau, and if you ever get to dive the B-24, make sure all your dive buddies treat this place with reverence. I know you will as you wouldn’t be on this email list if you did not have that quality in you. Three years ago, there was a single lion fish living at the top of the aft fuselage section. This year, he/she has a mate. Now there are two lion fish up there. Beautiful to look at. But please don’t touch. Another reason to have a camera with you at all times. I was looking into the fuselage from the side and DOB comes up to me with his underwater writing board. “Where’s Bob?” I thought I had seen him come with us around the coral head. But DOB was right. He wasn’t in site right now. Bob is an accomplished Air Force PJ. He’s been to Navy Dive School. He’s in tip top physical condition. What could possibly have happened to him? So I looked back to DOB and told him we’d wait five minutes (enough time to ensure if he was in trouble, he’d be in deep kimchi by then) and then he and I would swim back the way we came looking for him. Five minutes came and went and there was no Bob in sight. So we told our guides what we were doing and headed back. It was pleasant swimming along with only a single buddy with me. We looked the west site over and there was no Bob. Up for a safety stop, then to the surface. We checked the boat and there was no Bob. Then everyone surfaced and Bob was the last one back. Turns out, just by coincidence, every time DOB and I looked around, Bob was at our backs so we never saw him. We’re sure glad he wasn’t lying on the bottom somewhere. It’s was his turn to buy beer. We dropped Eric off at a dock near his hotel. He has work to do. Rich, on the other hand, had brought aboard his side scanning sonar and was willing to look at a new red shift site near the Corsair we found in the mangroves. Maybe this was a new airplane, or maybe this was part of the Corsair we found. Although it is about a kilometer away, stranger things have happened in war. We drove up north and Rich explained the different tasks that had to be done to successfully use this device. We also had to warm up his gear and get the sonar device ready: the fish.
I swear I’m not making this up. They have to test the fish to see if it works and the way to do that is to run your fingers down the sides of the fish.
We dropped the fish (the actual pod that houses the sonar that is towed in the water) in after we got on site. Bob was the line handler. DOB had the takeup reel. Joe had directional control of the boat. Rich ran the boxes and that left Derek, Pat and Me to watch the screen, and make lunch.
We ran between 2 and 3 knots back and forth and back and forth. We would let line out so the fish would ride closer to the bottom and haul it back up when the sea floor rose. And do you know what we found? A couple of interesting hits that are probably coral or rock outcroppings. Not enough interest to drop down on. And this area is not conducive to search patterns by a group of sport divers. The depth can be as much as 150 feet in this area with average depth around 100. Plus the currents in this channel are supposed to be pretty stiff. So, unless we saw the image of an airplane on Rich’s scope, we probably were not going to go down this afternoon. So we didn’t. However, about half way through our searches, we saw a boat in distress. I’m not sure if they got water in their gas, or ran out of gas, but I think they were happy to have us stop our searches and drag them into shore.
We got done looking at the final area of interest and headed back. Rich has some gee whiz program that will stitch all our runs into a picture that makes more sense. He’ll analyze it all and if a dive is warranted, well, that’s why he has Navy Divers here. Back to the barge to drop off some of his equipment and then back to Neco Marine. A quick round of sashimi and beer and then we headed home. Out to dinner to a sushi place. The food was good and we got home early. For once. So we watched a family movie: Venus. Now I’m here, typing away. I’ll throw some pictures in and make a promise that I’ll try to get an update out about tomorrow’s festivities before I leave. But, you know me and you know the odds of that happening. Derek Abbey has volunteered to take over reporting duties for the last couple of days. So until the next report, and there will be one, have a great day. Blue SKies, Flip |