Date:         Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:47:09
From:         Ron Bright
Subject:      What's up with TIGHAR

For those that do not get the Smithsonian Air and Space Magazine, Ric
G of Tighar is working with a British Museum to recover and preserve
a rare P38F found recently under shifting sand on a Welsh beach. The
P38 crashed there in Sept 1942 when both engines quit.
Unfortunately the twin engine plane was not the Lockheed Electra NR
16020 when they swept away the sand!
I am sure that Ric will give us updates now and then.
Happy digging.
Ron Bright
======================================================================== 
Date:         Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:55:30
From:         Russ Matthews
Subject:      Re: What's up with TIGHAR

Ron Bright wrote:

<< I am sure that Ric will give us updates [on the Welsh P-38] now
and then.>>

Certainly.  And for all the background info and latest developments on
TIGHAR's "Maid of Harlech" Project just check the website
(www.TIGHAR.org)
or click on...

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=0&id=48471
======================================================================== 
Date:         Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:40:25
From:         Jim Preston
Subject:      Re: What's up with TIGHAR

Hey Pat, any word on whats going on with the Devastor Project??Any
T-shirts left?
Jimbo

**************************************

Lots going on with the Devastator Project; we have a team leaving
next week for another trip (mostly diplomatic, the gov't has changed
there and we need to establish new political connections) and we have
a pretty complete recovery plan and conservation plan, to be
finalized with the Naval Historical Center.

And yes, we have t-shirts. Many t-shirts of all descriptions. <G>.

Pat
======================================================================== 
Date:         Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:57:30
From:         Russ Matthews
Subject:      Re: What's up with TIGHAR

Jim Preston writes:

<< any word on whats going on with the Devastor Project? >>

Pat replies:

<< we have a team leaving next week for another trip >>

Hey Everybody--

I'm going to be one of the team members on this next visit to the Marshalls.
As Pat said, we're mainly going to be renewing our contacts and learning the
"lay of the land" in the wake of recent elections.  However, we will be
making some dives on the TBD wrecks to do a visual inspection and check on
their current condition.  I'm racking my brain for any questions that we
might be able to answer so long as we're all the way out at Jaluit -- and
want to invite those of you who are interested to make your own suggestions
on how we might best maximize this opportunity.

Thanks and LTM,
Russ
======================================================================== 
Date:         Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:25:29
From:         Jim Preston
Subject:      Re: What's up with TIGHAR

Russ, when I used to fly thru the Marshalls,(Kwaj & Majuro) we always
heard about various Japanese A/C on many of the uninhibited islands.
There used to be a B-24 off Majuro that could be seen. The Marshalls
were ruled by a family on Majuro. The kids all went to West Coast
Colleges, they would be in their 50-60 now. I always heard about alot
of Jap Junk they called it in the waters off Roi-Nameur(sic).
I flew thru there with the USAF in the 60's and Air Mic 77-80.
Jim Preston
======================================================================== 
Date:         Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:59:10
From:         Russ Matthews
Subject:      Re: What's up with TIGHAR?

Interesting stuff, Jim.  A lot of the islands out there had an abundance of
old war materiel well into the 60s and 70s.  Most has been carted off by
postwar scrap merchants and warbird collectors.  I'll ask our dive guides
about the B-24 -- I'm pretty sure it's broken up with only the wings
recognizable now.  We've done practice dives on a Grumman Duck in the lagoon
at Majuro -- and I've heard stories about the "parking lot" where a lot of
trucks, jeeps, and other vehicles were dumped on the bottom.  A lot of war
surplus was also disposed of at Kwajalein and I'm told makes for interesting
diving.

As for questions, I really intended that to mean questions relating to the
TBDs -- anything we may kick ourselves later for not checking while were
actually there.  Nothing is more frustrating than being several thousand
miles away and asking (for example) "was the rear machine gun stowed?" when
it could have been answered with just a glance at the time the plane was
right in front of your eyes!

LTM,
Russ
======================================================================== 
Date:         Sat, 16 Feb 2008 16:24:03
From:         Jim Preston
Subject:      Re: What's up with TIGHAR

There were  3-4 big earth movers, the $250,000 types off the east end
of Kwaj runway. The story goes that the drivers got them up to around
60 mph going down the runway and bailed out as the went in the water.
Thay are in about 30 ft of water. Can yor recovere anything from the
Prince Eugen?
Jim
======================================================================== 
Date:         Sun, 17 Feb 2008 16:34:37
From:         Matthew Victor
Subject:      Re: What's up with TIGHAR

> The story goes that the drivers got them up to around
> 60 mph going down the runway and bailed out as the went in the water.

Those make nice stories..alas that is all they could be. These types of
equipment would never have gotten to 30 mph.And governors to limit engine rpm.
But it sure "feels" nice to envision and great fun to tell. Though they
may well have been allowed to saunter off into the water!
matthew
======================================================================== 
Date:         Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:09:08
From:         Rick Jones
Subject:      An old puzzle

Tighar Tracks Vol 17 #8 Nov 2001 pictures what is thought to be a man-made
feature: a figure laid out in white coral on a bed of gray coral near the seven
site.  It is shaped like the letter "G", or possibly a "6".

http://www.tighar.org/TTracks/2001Vol_17/1708.pdf

Perhaps new eyes can see other possibilities of what this may be.  My wishful
eyes see an ear and a "heart"  (looking at it sideways).
LTM
Rick J

****************************

The guys took a close look at it this summer, sorry -- it's nothin'.

Pat
======================================================================== 
Date:         Wed, 20 Feb 2008 08:25:51
From:         Tom King
Subject:      Re: An old puzzle

> The guys took a close look at it this summer, sorry -- it's nothin'.

Sorry, but that's not quite accurate.  Ric bashed through the brush
and found the location -- at least we're about 87.9% sure it's the
location -- where the "G" (or whatever) was, and found that a bush
had grown over it and effectively destroyed it, or at least rendered
it invisible by making the very light-colored coral that had made it
up no longer light-colored.  What's peculiar is that the coral that
had made it up was also -- as Ric discussed in reference to another
question long ago -- not only distinct in color but in form, as
though someone had quite deliberately collected a specific type of
coral and placed it in the form we observed, and this year this TYPE
of coral wasn't visible either -- at least not when I looked at it.
Which leaves me still wondering whether Ric was really in the right
place, though I can't see an alternative when I examine the KAP
imagery of the area.  Anyhow, assuming the location IS right and
we're not nuts (long assumption), it's not that the thing is
"nothin'," just that it ain't there no more.

LTM (who likes the ear and heart interpretation, but wonders about
the liver)
======================================================================== 
Date:         Wed, 20 Feb 2008 10:18:06
From:         Rick Jones
Subject:      Re: An old puzzle

Could the colonists who buried and retrieved the skull have left a marker of
the location?  Most "Europeans" would  probably have carved their initials in a
tree--Tom would know how a native would "identify" a skull or name such as
Earhart (if they were aware it may have been her).  Could the underlying
depression found here indicate it had be dug and refilled?.  Would the Ground
Penetrating Radar originally planned for Niku V have been helpful at the Seven
Site?
LTM, who really digs this stuff.
Rick J
======================================================================== 
Date:         Wed, 20 Feb 2008 10:35:40
From:         Tom King
Subject:      Re: An old puzzle

For Rick J

<<Could the colonists who buried and retrieved the skull have left a
marker of the location?>>

They COULD have, but there's no evidence that they did.  Though
there's a small hole in the vicinity, it's just like lots of other
holes in the area, which we think are from tree planting.  The "G" is
a pretty good distance away from the fire features and other stuff
that resembles what Gallagher describes about the site where the
bones were found.

<<Most "Europeans" would  probably have carved their
initials in a tree>>

In all probability, so would most I Kiribati and Tuvaluans.  We've
seen them do so, and there's a tree at the Aukaraime Shoe Site that's
got several names carved on it (No, not Amelia, Fred, or for that
matter any name associated with anybody we know of who's been on the
island, but they're all I Kiribati).

<<Tom would know how a native would "identify" a skull or name such as
Earhart (if they were aware it may have been her). >>

SURE he would.  We've kicked that idea around, and shown pictures of
the feature to people who might "know" a whole lot better than I, and
nobody's come up with anything.

<<Could the underlying
depression found here indicate it had be dug and refilled?.>>

It COULD, but so could any of the other little holes we've seen.  The
fact that this one is so much like so many others, and appears to be
part of a linear pattern of holes across the whole area, makes it
look a lot more to me like a planting hole.  For planting trees, not
heads.

<<Would
the Ground
Penetrating Radar originally planned for Niku V have been helpful at
the Seven Site?>>

Could be, and if we ever get a GPR rig there, I'd certainly want to
run it over the "G" feature location, though I'm still dubious about
how well GPR will work at the Seven Site -- there are just too many
natural void spaces (I think).

But I don't mean to be discouraging; these are all ideas worth
thinking about.  I'm just not sure what (other than GPR if it were
feasible) to do about them.

LTM (who knows her children's limitations)

Tom