Evaluation and Assessment of Significance
Archaeological Site: 8BY1817 (Aircraft Crash)
Final Report, April 24, 2017, page 8.
NRHP Assessment of Eligibility

8BY1817 contains material from T-33A Shooting Star Serial Number 49-9995A, a jet trainer aircraft manufactured in 1949 and 1950 at the Lockheed Aircraft factory at Burbank, California. This aircraft was delivered to the USAF on April 12, 1950 and was destroyed in an accident on Tyndall AFB September 14, 1955. Less than 5% of the aircraft remains on the surface of the site in fragmented condition.25

8BY1817 has been disturbed by wreck salvage, deforestation, firebreak construction, and mowing through the years, and may have been subject to some looting. The aircraft remains on site retain no structural integrity and exist as a collection of disassociated parts. The site fails to convey significance. TIGHAR offers the following opinions and recommendations for NRHP eligibility.

  • Criterion A: While the site is generally associated with military training activities of the Cold War as a broad pattern of history, it does not convey this significance due to lack of integrity because 95% of the aircraft is not on site. Thus, 8BY1817 is recommended not eligible under Criterion A of the NRHP.
  • Criterion B: During the research conducted resulting in this report, no person significant in the history of the local area, Florida or the United States is known to have been associated with the aircraft remains or site. While we honor the sacrifice of Lieutenants Cox and Hong-Moo and acknowledge the importance of these airmen to their families and the surviving veterans of the 3625th CCRTRAW, these USAF officers are not considered significant in local, regional, or national history according to NRHP criteria. Therefore, 8BY1817 is recommended not eligible under Criterion B.
  • Criterion C: The site contains less than 5% of the structural material from T-33A-1-LO #49-9995A. Numerous examples of this aircraft type survive, many of which are still in use or on exhibition within controlled museum environments. One notable extant example is a T-33A documented as having served at Tyndall AFB with the 325th Fighter Weapons Wing presently on display, and in good, intact condition, at the USAF Armament Museum in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. The small amount of wreckage on 8BY1817 and its poor condition cannot convey distinctive characteristics of this aircraft type. Thus, the site is recommended not eligible under Criterion C.
  • Criterion D: The site is not likely to yield additional information important in history due to a lack of material culture. Thus, 8BY1817 is recommended not eligible under Criterion D.

Recommendation

As the site is recommended not eligible for the NRHP, and is not likely to yield additional useful data, TIGHAR believes 8BY1817 warrants no further investigation. Tyndall AFB may wish to consider contacting the families of Lieutenants Cox and Hong-Moo to ascertain their thoughts, if any, on future management of the site.

Figure 24. T-33A with 95th Fighter/Interceptor Training Squadron, Tyndall AFB 1980.26

Figure 25. T-33A Shooting Star schematic drawings.27


26

“T-33A Shooting Star of 95th FITS in flight 1980,” https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:T-33A_Shooting_Star_of_95th_FITS_in_flight_1980.jpg (Accessed March 26, 2017).

27

Davis, P/F-80 Shooting Star in Action, 42.
Abstract & Introduction Previous Investigations and Preliminary Findings Site Specific Aviation Historical Context Site Specific Aviation Historical Context 2 Artifact Analysis
Artifact Analysis 2 Archival Research NRHP Assessment of Eligibility & Recommendation Bibliography  

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