Ric, great comparison images. It's really amazing how one can make out an engine, wing, fuselage, cockpit windows, and tapering nose cone in the 1938 photo, but simply be fooled by illusion.
Ric -
I've been looking at the fotos you posted of the "airplane-shaped thing" and I think your arrow in the second image isn't pointing to the same feature that is seen in the first image. It's a bit too high in the frame. Line up the bushes (?) on the beach. It should be directly inland from the biggest bush in the darker area next to the beach (how's that for directions!) which would be a bit lower in the frame. But even then that's not where I see the original airplane-shaped thing, I see it a bit lower even, facing the original direction.
Ok enough already, i give up. I'm starting to see bunnies everywhere.
I noticed the same thing as Mr. Collins. Thought I'd call out where I think the "not an airplane" blurred object may actually lie in the overhead image.
It's hard to tell how inland the "not an airplane" object is from the shallow image angle. So I added a couple arrows pointing out where its location might be more likely. I am no expert at deriving the location based on the other image, and I did only use the posted low-res jpegs, but here goes:
1) Red arrow indicates original callout by Ric/Jeff Glickman.
2) Green arrow indicates possible actual location of the "looks like, but not an airplane" object, facing same direction, it seems, as in the other image.
3) Blue arrow indicates possible other location for the object, closer to shore. This is just me trying to "triangulate," in a sense, based on the other image.
Or it could lie somewhere in between the green and blue arrows.
In the last image attachment, the first thing I noticed, besides the possible trail, is the two large mounds with dark tops, as indicated by the white small arrows.
I never saw a "plane" until someone called it out. Mounds seemed very similar in size, shape, and shading, so thought it was interesting.