TIGHAR

 The Devastator Team

has returned to the U.S.  Now begins the process of compiling, organizing, and analyzing the hundreds of photos they took and the reams of data they collected.  Meanwhile, the interview they did with the editor of the Marshall Islands Journal in Majuro has resulted in a write-up that was picked up by many newspapers around the Pacific.

 The Devastator Team

has returned to the U.S.  Now begins the process of compiling, organizing, and analyzing the hundreds of photos they took and the reams of data they collected.  Meanwhile, the interview they did with the editor of the Marshall Islands Journal in Majuro has resulted in a write-up that was picked up by many newspapers around the Pacific.

Pictures from an Expedition

Here are the first photos received via satellite from the just-completed Devastator Project expedition to Majuro and Jaluit in the Marshall Islands. We’ll have many more once the team is home. 

The TIGHAR Team is back in Majuro –

– after a ten-hour return voyage from Jaluit on calm seas marred only by the occasional rain shower. They checked into the hotel about 5:00 P.M. yesterday evening and were glad to have hot showers and real food. Accommodations on Jaluit are pretty basic – cold showers and re-hydrated freeze-dried meals garnished with Spam.

Before embarking for Majuro, Russ reported via satphone that the final day of dive operation on the deep TBD featured the photographic documentation of coral growth and corrosion on the wings with the aid of an eight-yard length of PVC marked off in one-foot increments with black tape. The “yard stick” was laid out on each wing and photographed from above.

The team also made some new observations:

• There is a hole in the oil tank.  That’s actually a good thing. It removes the question of whether the recovery plan needs to contemplate the possibility of an oil spill.
• The map case is missing. That’s not surprising.  The plane would have carried maps that showed the position of the carrier USS Yorktown – not something you’d want falling into enemy hands.
• What had appeared to be a long hole in the underside of the fuselage is simply the recess for carrying a torpedo. The recess is covered by a fairing when no torpedo is present but the ditching apparently ripped away part of the fairing.

Another minor mystery concerning the shallow TBD may also be solved. The absence of a Radio Direction Finder (RDF) loop antenna where there should be one between the rear gunner position and the center cockpit has previously led to speculation that the loop had been looted. However, the team spotted, and photographed, a structure on the floor of the rear cockpit that may be the interior components of the loop.  It could be that the loop merely fell onto the floor and the thin aluminum shell has corroded away. A close look at the photos and some research should provide the answer.

Before leaving the site, the team reconnoitered nearby areas where the deep airplane could be moved to shallower water where work could be done preparatory to lifting the aircraft.

All in all, the dive operations on this expedition were entirely successful. The team collected the data and carried out the tests that give us the information we need to put together an informed recovery plan. No equipment got broken or lost and nobody got hurt. They made it look easy – and it’s not.

Back in Majuro there is still plenty to do before they board the airplane tomorrow for the long trip home. Yesterday’s Marshall Islands Journal had a good article about TIGHAR’s work to recover the TBD and another article about how the team delivered badly needed medical supplies to the Jaluit Health Center. Today they’ll be doing another interview with the paper.  Good, accurate press coverage of our work is vital to suppressing unfounded rumors and maintaining positive public relations.

Engineer Al Baycora, having now been to Jaluit, no doubt has new questions to answer about the logistical materials and assets available in Majuro.  Van Hunn, of course, has more meetings scheduled with government officials and friends.

Russ says he’ll try to find time to write up another report before they leave. Meanwhile, we do have a few photos the team has been able to transmit via satellite.  We’ll put them up here later today.

 The TIGHAR dive team

has concluded operations on the Jaluit Devastators and is en route back to Majuro.

A Report From Russ Matthews

Ric –

As Al has already stated, today was an exceptionally successful and productive one for the field team here in Jaluit. Peter was able to overcome the equalization problems that plagued his ears the first day and made his first descent on the deep TBD. Later, during the long surface interval, Al suited up for a dive on the shallow Devastator (and there was much rejoicing).

The morning was spent with Van and myself each taking a wing (I went left, he went right) and documenting the lagoon bottom where legs and footpads supporting the lifting frame will someday rest while the lifting straps are attached. Peter made a complete circuit of the aircraft, familiarizing himself first hand with the wreck he has so long and exhaustively studied through photos and video. In the meantime, Brian shot some 80 new images of the plane and the work.

Ten minutes of bottom time flew by all too quickly and the team made the long ascent to the surface, followed by an even longer period of  “off gassing” the nitrogen absorbed into their bloodstream at 120 feet. The hours were put to good use, downloading and reviewing the fresh photos, comparing them to those collected on previous expeditions, and planning the next series of tasks.

The mission for the afternoon involved Van and myself testing the procedure for positioning a lifting sling under the left wing, while Peter focused on closer examination of the more significant damage to the plane (primarily a prominent “tear” outboard of the right wing fold point and a large piece of skin peeled back along the bottom of the fuselage under the radioman/gunners position that has been noted on all three known Devastator wrecks).  Brian, as before, documented important aspects of the wreck and the team (adding another 60 photos or more to our growing collection).

We’ve learned a tremendous amount about the deep plane, its relationship to the surrounding environment, and what challenges (and possible solutions) lie ahead.

Some of the most interesting and surprising things we’ve noted so far include:

• We are in some ways, luckier than we thought in the way the plane came to rest on the bottom. Much more of it is clear than we previously thought. Part of it is due to the Devastator’s unique construction (the oil cooler and main gear wheels protrude beneath the fuselage and help prop it up.) In addition, the nose landed on a small coral outcropping that should permit lifting straps to be passed beneath the engine with relative ease.
• The left side bomb aimer’s door has vanished (presumably torn away in the ditching) and the mount for the Norden bombsight is pushed up and back into the compartment (perhaps from the sudden inrush of water through the missing door).
• There is no sign of the torpedo director. I do not believe that it was looted, as there is no damage visible and the gunsight is undisturbed. At this point I would speculate that the director was not installed for the Jaluit mission as the plane was set up in level bombing configuration.
• Corrosion rates do NOT appear to have accelerated recently. New data gathered today on previously measured sections shows little or no change.
• Similarly, coral growth does NOT appear to have altered significantly (neither hastened nor abated). Review of earlier videotape by the whole team lead to the opinion that what I took for coral was actually a form of marine vegetation.
• For some reason, the “marine vegetation” that previously obscured the right wing fold point has vanished (perhaps a seasonal cycle, but most likely not attributed to coral dying off) As a result, we are now afforded a much better look at the area – and the true extent of the significant “tearing” on the upper wing surface forward of the inboard edge of the aileron (again, this feature has not grown, we are just now able to see much more of what was once hidden from view). What’s more, Peter’s trained eye immediately detected that this damage was not caused by corrosion, but by “mechanical” means. Some unknown force pushed up through the aluminum skin, tearing and bending it upwards (yet the bottom surface of the wing remains unaffected). For the moment, this feature remains a mystery!
• Peter surfaced from the second dive of the day to report that the bottom of the airplane is “gone.” To be more precise, he examined the fuselage forward of the “hanging piece” and saw a void extending at least one body length into the darkness towards the nose. Subsequent review of archival materials showed that he may have been looking into the recessed compartment designed to accept the aft end of the Mark XIII aerial torpedo. Our current speculation is that during a ditching, water hits this area with enough force to peel back the vulnerable lower aft portion of the fuselage skin. Peter will attempt to re-examine the spot tomorrow with a more powerful flashlight and fix its position accurately in relation to the radioman/gunners station.
• A flashlight dropped on the final dive of our 2008 expedition, thought to have been lost for good, has been found! The culprit appears not to have been another diver (as we first suspected), but rather a trick of the current or a hungry and disappointed fish. The light was found by the sharp, experienced eyes of guide Brian Kirk, resting on the sea bottom aft of the left inboard trailing edge (and not in the flotation bag stowage bay where it landed, still shining, nearly 16 months earlier). Four spare AAA size batteries were scrounged together by the team and an impromptu experiment was conducted at the kitchen table after dinner this evening. Amazingly, the flashlight was found to be bone dry and, with fresh batteries installed, actually shone brightly!

Time to cut this off, Ric. There’s lots to do tomorrow and precious little time to do it in. Please edit this as you see fit (I’m much too tired to do it now myself) and use as much or as little as you see fit in the News Blog.

The team is doing a great job, and I feel like we will return with an incredible amount of useful and crucial information needed to complete the comprehensive recovery and conservation plan.

Best,

Russ

Russ Matthews reports:

“We arrived in Majuro this morning [Friday in Majuro time, Thursday our time] after an uneventful flight from Honolulu. Van was there to greet us and we hit the ground running.”

Running is right. The team immediately began inspecting vessels based in the port of Majuro as potential recovery support ships.

The next day (Saturday in Majuro) was another busy and productive day. Russ reports:

“Van was on the go meeting with government officials and a seemingly endless stream of friends. I spent the day with Al and Peter. We got all the components we needed for ‘MacGyvering’ a system to assist us in quickly locating and examining the sling points on each wing.

“In the afternoon we hooked up with Brian Kirk (our local guide and dive boat captain) to inspect the potential framing material and talked our way onto the dock where USS Safeguard tied up in 2006.

“At various points during the day we crossed paths with Van and fell into an impromptu planning session. We studied the video we shot in 2004 and I’m actually quite encouraged about the potential for getting good sling placement under he wings (let’s hope things haven’t changed much in the last five years).

“We shove off for Jaluit at 7:00am tomorrow morning.”

The voyage to Jaluit involves crossing over one hundred miles of open ocean in Brian’s 38 foot boat. It will take them between ten and twelve hours. Tomorrow (Sunday for us, Monday for them) they plan to dive the shallow TBD.

The next satphone report is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon our time.

An email from Russ this morning

From the ramp at Honolulu International:

“Just a note to confirm that all three of us are on the airplane and waiting to depart.” If all goes as scheduled, Russ, Al and Pete will be on the ground in Majuro shortly. Van will be there to meet them. He checked in with TIGHAR Central this afternoon (which was early morning tomorrow for him) via satellite phone. He has had a number of very successful discussions with various government officials, including a lengthy private meeting with Litokwa Tomeing, President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The President expressed his strong support for TIGHAR’s recovery of the Jaluit TBD and expressed his desire to help in any way he can.

TIGHAR Devastator Team Members

Russ, Al, and Pete depart Wednesday for the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). Traveling from California, New York, and Texas they’ll join up in Honolulu for the Thursday morning flight to the capital, Majuro. Crossing the International Dateline they’ll arrive on Friday which will still be Thursday for us. They’ll join up with Van who has been there since Monday our time (confused yet?) meeting with RMI and American embassy officials.

 A TIGHAR field team

is departing for the Marshall Islands next week. We’ll be following their adventures with daily updates here on the new TIGHAR News Blog. Watch this space.

This will be the fourth time TIGHAR divers have visited the two Douglas TBD-1 “Devastators” that have rested on the bottom of Jaluit lagoon since ditching there on February 1, 1942. For the full story click on To Save a Devastator in the project list on the right-hand side of this page.

The mission this time is to gather logistical information that will enable us to complete the planning for the recovery and transportation of TBD-1 Bu.No. 1515 (aka The Deep Airplane) now targeted to take place in 2011 during the Centennial of Naval Aviation. The Devastator is ultimately destined to join the collection of historic aircraft at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, FL.

The TIGHAR team for this expedition will be:

Russell E. Matthews

Russ is TIGHAR’s Director, Historic Aircraft Recoveries

Col. Van T. Hunn USAF (ret)

Van is TIGHAR’s Director, International Relations - Pacific Region

Alim Baycora, P.E.

Al is TIGHAR’s Director, Recovery Engineering

Peter D. Fix

Pete is Assistant Director at Texas A&M University’s Center for Maritime Archaeology & Conservation (CMAC)

All are divers. Russ, Van and Pete have been to Jaluit before. This will be Al’s first visit to the beautiful Marshall Islands.

We’ll have email updates once the team arrives in the capital, Majuro, on June 5. When they move on to Jaluit we’ll have only reports via satellite phone but we’ll relay the news to you here in daily updates.