Diving Kwajalein Atoll- The Wildcats
Вставка
- Опубліковано 21 жов 2024
- This video profiles the seven FM-2 Wildcat wrecks which have been found in the lagoon at Kwajalein Atoll, in the Marshall Islands. A brief background and history of the Wildcat, including the versions built by General Motors during World War II, is covered as well.
Also included in the video are two surviving Wildcats- the FM-2 at the Hickory Aviation Museum and the FM-2P at the Dakota Territory Air Museum.
Many thanks to these organizations which provided material and other assistance during the making of this video-
Hickory Aviation Museum- Hickory, NC
N.A.S. Glenview Museum- Glenview, IL
General Motors Heritage Center- Sterling Heights, MI
Dakota Territory Air Museum- Minot, ND
A and T Recovery, LLC- Chicago, IL
Berry Aviation- Kwajalein
And of course, many thanks to my fantastic friends/dive buddies- we had a lot of fun diving these wrecks while I was filming for this video!
My grandfather was in CASU(F)51 in Tinian, Guam, Ulithi, Auguar and Peleliu and possibly the Philippines. I wish I knew more. Thank you for this posting.
I spent a week at Kwajalein Atoll in late 1979. You would swear you were diving in a fresh water pool. Back then the fish seemed a LOT more plentiful. We did some snorkeling on Roi Namur side and were joined by a Magnificent and Curious Manta Ray... ..one of those life-long memories to check off the bucket list.
What an intriguing dive subject. 👍
Glad you enjoyed it, have a great 2023!
Interesting and informative. Well worth watching/learning. thank you!
Nice work. I would love to go back to Kwaj. Got to find a job there to get back.
Any charter or guide you recommend? I particularly want to dive the Corsair standing on its nose. I work with many of the WWII fighters that are still airworthy!q
Hi Mike,
There is no dive guide or charter here- Kwajalein Atoll is a restricted military installation, and the only people (besides the resident Marshallese who live here), are working for the US Army. You have to be on official US government travel orders to access the island. The only dive operations that come through here are the occasional live-aboard that stops at the Prinz Eugen wreck on the way to Bikini Atoll. But they don't dive any of the planes in the lagoon. Sorry for the bad news.
@@danfarnham6275 well that sucks. I actually embed with the military on various media assignments quite often tho, so perhaps the military will give me access to do that & produce a story about it. I’ll pursue that avenue. Thanks for the reply
What a cool little aircraft. Holding the line in the Pacific against the odds some 80 years ago.
Nice presentation! Thanks.
Glad you liked it! Have a great 2023!
Thank you for producing and sharing this fantastic production. You and your colleagues have put in an amazing amount of work to show these wonderful and historic Wildcats. Lovely to see the underwater wrecks at Kwajalein Atoll, but also sad to know that they will never fly again as there's really no point salvaging their remains as the salt water will have already made the metal unusable. Equally great to see the Wildcat salvaged from the freshwater of Lake Michigan and the beautiful restoration that's been done on her - is she a flyer or only a static restoration? Thanks for showing those of us who live thousands of miles from these aircraft the beauty and wonder of what remains. I am lucky enough to be able to see two airworthy Wildcat's at Duxford and an original static Martlett at Yeovilton, all within 2 hours drive, here in the UK. Thanks again for your wonderful film. Steve.
Hi Steve, thanks for the compliments on the video! I'm a bit envious that you get to see the Wildcats and Martet so easily- I have yet to see a dry one up close. As you can tell from the video, the ones I've been close to are all rather wet. Perhaps one day I'll see one up close, and hoping that one of them is the Hickory plane that is a Kwajalein veteran. :)
Randall Scott is an American artist who dives on crashed and shot down aircraft from the second world war. He photographs them, and then paints from the photos, in a totally unique and brilliant way. People may want to check his artwork out if they are interested in this video, as they are indirectly linked.
Thanks
Very interesting and informative 👍
Dan, love seeing your dive videos! Been a long time since I was in the water out there in the Marshall Islands.
Maybe you need to come back out this way and get some more water time. ;)
Hi Dan, Would it be okay to use a couple screenshots (with credit of course) from this video to use in a blog post?
Absolutely! And thank you for asking. If it's okay, could you please post the link to your blog, as I'd be interested to read it. Cheers! ~Dan
I worked there for 4 yrs; great place to raise a family...an R 2800 was my marker inbound when landing on Roi.had to be careful when one barbecue n not go too deep in the sand...ammo storage everywhere! Glob al lost the contract so we had to go state side...hav stuff from the Prinz Eugene...
My father in law was a Marine stationed on Kwajalein. He was attached to VMB-613. They had the PBJ-1Js. The version with a 75mm cannon in the nose. They dumped several of the PBJs into the lagoon prior to leaving. The information and pictures are on their website.
Hi Rick! I'm very familiar with VMB-613's website- two of my underwater photos of the PBJ's on the bottom of the lagoon are on the site. I corresponded with Robert Yanacek quite a bit some years back.
I'm planning a video that shows the PBJ wrecks, similar to the Wildcat video. I'll be doing some good profiling of VMB-613 as well, since all 11 PBJ's on the bottom of the lagoon are former -613 planes.
On that note- did your father-in-law have any photos from his time with the squadron? I'd love to discuss this further with you.
@@danfarnham6275 Hi Dan. Thanks for replying. I don't believe Mike(my father in law) had any photos that I know of but I just happened to remember a briefcase he had devoted to VMB-613. Reunions and stuff. I will see if I can locate it. Mike was an armorer on those aircraft. He related stories about the 75mm gun. Hard to believe that the Marines had a flying tank. As a funny side note, when I met my wife I got the Marine indoctrination at all times. What could I say, I was only a Vietnam era ARMY reservist attached to the 82nd Airborne. My dad on the other hand spent 4 years aboard the CVE-1 USS Long Island. He was quartermaster (on the bridge) So I had both relating stories about the South Pacific. My dad taught me about aircraft aboard carriers so the Wildcats are very familiar to me. Did you know they have a restored F4F on display at O'Hare airport. The Long Island transported aircraft to bases all over the Pacific. They were the carrier that launched the first Marine squadrons on Guadalcanal. Dad said something about P-38s and P-47's on the deck heading for New Guinea. Something other that F4Fs, TBMs, and SBDs. In a way I have tried to keep up with WWII Naval and Marine aviation. Looking forward to more of your videos. RK
@@rickklein7792 would it be okay if we move this conversation to email? If so, please feel free to email me at kwajwreckdiver@gmail.com. Lots of details to discuss and I have some VMB-613 info you might be interested in. Hope we can chat via email!
@@danfarnham6275 Roger that Dan. I have some info I have obtained from a small locker belonging to my FIL. I'll send some scans along shortly. RK
Absolutely wonderful!!
Kwajalein has also been used during the Cold War as the destination for ICBM missile tests launched from Vandenberg AFB. The lagoon made a perfect bullseye.
It still is being used as such. :)
I had heard diving in the kwaj lagoon was unsafe due to elevated bacteria from the inhabited islets and a lack of natural water circulation.
Not entirely true. In close to Ebeye is an area you need to be careful in, but that's about it.
Dan, great production, first class! Are still building models in your spare time? Just found this.
Hi Tim! Glad you like the video! I haven't built any models in about 12 years or so, I don't really have the time, or display space or work space in my quarters. But I still get cool kits from time to time to add to the stash. One day I'll be back into the hobby again in a serious way! :)
Very interesting 👍
Thanks for the visit
Unfortunately Glenview NAS has been closed due to the BRAC Acts.
I saw one of the F4F's that was restored from Lake Michigan at the EAA Fly In it had only 9 hours on it. The pilot that crashed it was there also. He finished his training and obviously survived the war.
Did you get a chance to talk to the pilot? As you're well aware we are losing our WWII vets faster and in more numbers as they get up there in age. Any chance to talk to them and record their stories is a chance that cannot be missed if at all possible.
@@danfarnham6275 Just to say hello to him, there was quite a crowd at that moment.
I have talked to quite a few WWII veterans and pilots and crew. I used to go to the Fly In every year from 87 to 95-ish.
I'm a veteran myself and also worked at a veterans home and have talked to many.
One of the most interesting was a vet from the USS Curtis during the last nuclear bomb test at Bikini atoll. He swears they were 16 miles from the atoll which was as far as he could see from his watch position. History says the Curtis was 21 miles away. Much later on he piloted a smaller craft with reporters on board as close as he could get, "to that boiling mess without losing buoyancy". He had six different types of cancer but still lived to almost 90.
Learned to fly at Linden Airport. Later became a USMC Naval Aviator. The GM plant is long gone now.
I grew up there and my dad worked on Roi Namur The remains of the war were my playground and my dad was always mad when I brought home live ammo and had to call the bomb squad a couple times when I found a pile of grenades and mortar rounds
Yeah, I can only imagine the freaking out when you showed up at the house carrying grenades and mortar rounds...LOL!
@@danfarnham6275 That pile of grenades was about a hundred feet offshore in about fifteen feet of water so I didn't take them home. We were catching fish for the aquarium and I pointed them to my dad But I did bring home a mortar in my little red wagon one day along with other rusty metal I still have some of those bullets sixty years later
Did you go and visit The Prinz Eugen
@@brinkee7674 several times. My parents would dive around while I snorkeled or played on the beach on Carlson
I grew up around the remains of Buckingham Army Airfield which was a gunnery school during WW2. A lot of pits were bulldozed and all kinds of equipment pushed in and buried. A friend found a belt with 50 cal rounds. As a kid we found buckets of 30 and 50 cal bullets. I still have some.
Looks like restorable airframes just rotting away
Too many years of immersion in warm saltwater unfortunately.
My dad was a world war 2 vet and when coming home from his service in Japan, he told me that off the coast of Japan he watched as a freighter dumped in the bay brand new P- 51 mustangs. He thought this was such a waste.
Wild cat was defently the greatest carrier based fighter of the war.
The cosair may have been a better plane, but not great on carriers.
I thought this was a diving video
It is. With history mixed in to give context to the wrecks.
Typical government waste.
Man you did your homework with this video, great stuff!!
Thanks!