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Yup, that seems to
be the case. Sometime in the '50s a P-38 Lightning that was owned by a local
aerial mapping company crashed into the river cutbanks. I'd known about it for
years and even knew the general area where it was, but the few locals
that knew anything about it said that the bank had slid in the years since
and that very little of what had remained after the post crash fire was still
visible.
Well, we recently bought a place that I knew was very close to the area where
the wreck was supposed to have happened, so we went looking. A few years back
the city has routed the road ditches to drain the spring run-off down through
the ravine that crosses our property and this run-off water has begun to erode
the mud, uncovering parts of the wreck on our land! As can be seen in the pics,
there is not much left, however the story has it that only one of the engines
was ever recovered from the wreck as the other one was buried. The propeller
blade that can be seen is still solidly attached to something and there is
possible evidence of an engine below it in the mud, such as a scat tube and
baffle material. This would have been a Rolls Royce Merlin V-12, so while
restoration to operational status is beyond question it would be interesting to
excavate it and clean it up for display simply to preserve a unique piece of
local aviation history.
The wreck is located a mere 250' from my house but approx 200' down in a deep
ravine which will make any excavation very difficult. The first pic shows a few
numbers that I found on a metal band beneath the prop. The second shows the
visible portion of the prop. 3rd pic shows a control surface of some kind -
possibly an elevator? 4th pic possibly may be one of the tailcones embedded
in the bank. 5th pic is an aerial photo of my place with terrain contours
showing location of the prop in relation to my house. I'd like to find out more
about the history of this particular aircraft so I'm hoping the numbers stamped
in the metal band can be traced to provide me with more of this
info.
There is an interesting story as to how the plane wreck happened (yes Rusty, it
involves beer), however I've only heard the story and would like to find a few
more facts before I relay it. The library has the local newspaper from that time
on microfilm, but I imagine that will a be a long process to find it, so I
won't have time for it for awhile. (besides, I'll have to pay my fine for
overdue books :-)
Todd Bartrim
RV9Endurance
13B Turbo Rotary
C-FSTB
"The world will always have a place for those that bring hard work and
determination to the things they do."
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