Hunting for Warbirds in Florida

[Warbirder]

Hi - This is my first visit to a treasure hunting site. I can't understand why there's no mention of searching for Warbirds in Florida's swamps and lakes. During WW II Florida had 227 airfields dedicated to training pilots and aircrews to fly and to fight. I have documented more than 1,000 major accidents of Warbirds in Florida during the war. Many, many of the crashes were not recovered and sit there waiting to be discovered and recovered. I am now looking at two sites, one in water and one in a swamp. Both were two-engine bombers that were partially recovered at that time but the engines and large parts of the fuselage are still down there. The engines were Pratt & Whitney double Wasps weighing 2,000 pounds each. Are you thinking MD and magnetometer? Should be. Warbirder

 

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[army82]

Good luck sounds interesting. I live close to Ft. Goron Johnson on the Pan handle wonder if their is any lost Warbirds their.

 

[Warbirder]

Matter of fact, Army 82 there were several Warbird accidents within a 50-mile radius of you. Ft. Gordon Johnson was a staging area for practice assault landings and fighters from Dale Mabry Field in Tallahasse would act as the "defending force" during the beachhead landings at Carrabelle. Rather than take up too much bandwidth with details, go to my web site for a more complete picture. Warbirder.
www.geocities.com/bwidner1/

 

[Salvor6]

Hi Bob,
sorry I missed your last trip. Bill sent me pictures. I have my calendar marked for the June trip. You're wrong about one thing. There have been many posts on the 'shipwrecks' forum about sunken aircraft. My boat will be ready next week and Bill & I will hit the lakes in search of more planes.

-Pete

 

[diggummup]

Rather than take up too much bandwidth with details, go to my web site for a more complete picture. Warbirder.
www.geocities.com/bwidner1/

Thanks for the link.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Interesting. I added to my favorites.

 

[annamariaslim]

"One a day in Tampa Bay" described how many of the widow makers went into TB,B26 marauders I think.

 

[G.I.B.]

Rumor has it that there are a couple of birds sitting on the bottom of a lake near Bartow Airbase (central Florida). Local rumor, I first was told about them over 20 years ago, relates that they are in Lake Hancock which is the headwater of the Peace River. The lake is just west of the airport. There was another training field north of Hancock that was a cattle ranch for a long time and is now being turned into a sub-divisions.

I was told, over 20 years ago, that the cost of recovering the aircraft was just too excessive. I learned to fly out of Bartow in ’87 and can see why this is a great location for ditching/accidents.

Larry

 

[Warbirder]

Thanks all for your replies. To Larry, reply #7, the planes that were in Lake Hancock were P-51Bs. They were recovered years ago. See my report at: http://www.geocities.com/bwidner1/lkhanbobintrod.html/
However there was a third Mustang in the lake and I never found out what happened to it. The pilot force landed successfully (in a Mustang, no less!) in shallow water 800 yards from shore, removed his life vest, climbed out and began wading to shore. He drowned along the way. The report doesn't mention there are 2,700 gators in Lake Hancock. Might be a connection.

 

[Warbirder]

Larry - For unknown reason, the last link I sent you doesn't work. Let's try again: http://www.geocities.com/bwidner1/lkhanbobintrod.html
Bob

 

[Warbirder]

To Army 82 and others in the Panhandle - You asked if there are any lost Warbirds in your area. Alligator Point (15 mi E of Carrabelle) was a gunnery range during WW II. There was also an emergency landing strip there. In March, 1945 a P-40 from Dale Mabry AABase in Tally had to land there due to an engine fire while on a gunnery run. He crashed and exploded 200' short of the runway. The pilot was killed. There must be many pieces still there as the Army did not clean up wrecks in the wild very thoroughly. I can't find the strip on Google Earth but there are 3 houses right on the Point and somebody there probably knows where it was.
This is one of more than 50 crashes within 50-miles of you. Warbirder

 

[paddy.mick]

Hey, just so you know, more than the usual protections apply to warbirds- "Dept. of the Navy ship and aircraft wrecks are gov. property in the custody of the U.S.Navy. These seemingly abandoned properties remain government-owned until the Navy takes specific formal action to dispose of them." www.history.navy.mil
paddy

 

[Warbirder]

Paddy.mick - You are exactly right. Stay away from Navy Warbirds. My posts have been about Army Air Forces Warbirds. The US Air Force (successor to the Army Air Forces) abandoned rights to any plane that crashed before 1961. They say it's okay to search for and recover Warbirds and any dispute is between the property owner and the recoverer. Weapons found bring in the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. I found a .50cal wing gun at a Mustang crash site and donated it to a museum in Nashville. Don't know if they notified the ATF or not. The Navy never gives up ownership. They would rather see their birds return to dust before they would let any outsider claim them. This is true for ships as well. In summary, you can search for Navy Warbirds, just don't remove anything. Warbirder

 

[paddy.mick]

ah, that makes sense. I think what got me thinking about the Navy was some mention of sites in water(lakes, swamps, offshore) -which is mostly state owned with only a few exceptions. They're serious about their laws but the Navy even oversteps the state.
The new fed law, Sunken Military Craft Act, also covers the non-Navy ships or planes in any non-private waters (pretty much all but a few small lakes in Florida). And if in preserves, etc. then it just gets more involved.
Anyway, just a mention, and thanks for the read-real interesting.
paddy