WWII plane uncovered on beach in Wales

[CommunityEditor]

Sixty-five years after it ran out of gas and crash-landed on a beach in Wales, an American P-38 fighter plane has emerged from the surf and sand where it lay buried — a World War II relic long forgotten by the U.S. government and unknown to the British public.

During those decades, beach strollers, sunbathers and swimmers were often within a few yards of the aircraft, utterly unaware of its existence just under the sand. Only this past summer did it suddenly reappear because of unusual conditions that caused the sands to shift and erode.

The startling revelation of the Lockheed “Lightning” fighter, with its distinctive twin-boom design, has stirred considerable interest in British aviation circles and among officials of the country’s aircraft museums, ready to reclaim yet another artifact from history’s greatest armed conflict.

Ric Gillespie, who heads a Wilmington, Del.-based nonprofit group dedicated to preserving historic aircraft, finds romance as well as historic significance in the discovery. “It’s sort of like ‘Brigadoon,’ the mythical Scottish village that appears and disappears,” he said. “Although the Welsh aren’t too happy about that analogy — they have some famous legends of their own.”

“The difficult part is to keep such a dramatic discovery secret. Looting of historic wrecks, aircraft or ships, is a major problem, in Britain as it is worldwide,” Gillespie said.

David Morris, curator of aircraft at Britain’s Fleet Air Arm Museum, called the P-38 “indeed a rare bird” that represents “an important link between British and American forces and that part of history labeled WWII. ... Few P-38s exist anywhere in the world today, and this is probably the only chance to recover one in as complete condition on British soil.”

British aviation publications so far have been circumspect about disclosing the exact location, and local Welsh authorities have agreed to keep the plane under surveillance whenever it is exposed by the tides of the Irish Sea, he said.

Based on its serial number and other records, “the fighter is arguably the oldest P-38 in existence and the oldest surviving 8th Air Force combat aircraft of any type. In that respect, it’s a major find, of exceptional interest to British and American aviation historians,” Gillespie said.

Officially, the U.S. Air Force considers any aircraft lost before Nov. 19, 1961 — when a fire destroyed many records — as “formally abandoned,” and it has an interest in such cases only if human remains are involved.

Second Lt. Robert F. “Fred” Elliott, 24, of Rich Square, N.C., was on a gunnery practice mission on Sept. 27, 1942, when a fuel supply error forced him to make an emergency landing on the nearest suitable place — the Welsh beach.

His belly landing in shallow water sheared off a wingtip, but Elliott escaped unhurt. Less than three months later, the veteran of more than 10 combat missions was shot down over Tunisia, in North Africa. His plane and body were never found.

The discovery in Wales was stunning news for Robert Elliott, 64, of Blountville, Tenn., the pilot’s nephew and only surviving relative, who has spent nearly 30 years trying to learn more about his namesake’s career and death. All he knew of the Wales incident was a one-line entry saying Elliott had “ditched a P-38 and was uninjured,” he said.

As the disabled P-38 could not be flown out, “American officers had the guns removed, and the records say the aircraft was salvaged, but it wasn’t,” Gillespie said. “It was gradually covered with sand, and there it sat for 65 years. With censorship in force and British beaches closed to the public during the war, nobody knew it was there.”

It was first spotted by a family enjoying a day at the beach July 31. British authorities said it probably was an unmanned drone used for aerial target practice from the 1950s, but a local aviation enthusiast recognized it from a newspaper photo as a Lockheed P-38.

That person notified TIGHAR, which “quickly and quietly” organized a team to visit the site. Because of the threat of looting, “we saw it as an aviation preservation emergency,” Gillespie said.

He said that since the survey in October, the sands have again buried the plane, and “whether and when it will reappear is anybody’s guess.”



Article: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/20...ostp38_071114/

WWII fighter found on Welsh coast --

[Tim for Zeitgeist]

Wow what a find. It is a rare bird indeed. It stands with the one pulled from a glacier a number of years ago.
This one tcould be the only the only other truly original P-38 in existence and indeed must be saved at all costs. .
I have been interested in this stuff all my life and even found the Paul E. Garver Restoration Facility better than the Smithsonian itself. Thanks for the article!

Tim Winckler For zeitgeist