OK, I was going to keep out of this because I’m way over my head but this has become a really interesting thread. So, I’m willing to take one for the team of people like me who don’t know the difference between an AN455-3 rivet and a thumbtack, and dare to ask a few general, not-in-the-weeds questions:
From what Mark Pearce has found, at this point we should consider PBYs as possible sources of the ‘right’ kind of aluminum, with the ‘right’ kind of rivets and rivet holes?… If so, then one of the PBYs that
Tighar lists as having crashed or destroyed by bombing on Canton should at this point be considered a possible the source of 2-2-v-1?…
Should we consider, based on what is seen of the PBM wreck on Howland, that that type of plane, e.g. the PBM tha Tighar lists as having ‘hit reef while taxiing’ is a possible source of 2-2-v-1?…
I’m also wondering about
the PV-1 that Jeff Carter asked about at reply #46 on this thread. It certainly looks like a good candidate to me, as without-weight as that assessment is. Perhaps someone with knowledge of a surviving example or a wreck
(possible contact) would have an informed opinion? Or maybe some nice Forum reader has $19.95 to spend on a
PV-1 maintenance manual to see what it has to say about skins and rivets?
Its probably a long shot, but I’m even wondering if a crashed P-39 on Canton is a possible donor? And, even if not,
according to this interesting account of Canton Island during WWII the P39D that crashed in November 1942 was involved in a two plane crash:
“
Pacific airfields were mostly named for the first man killed on them. When the night patrol returned at dawn, they were under orders to buzz the field at 3 feet off the deck. 2nd Lt. John H. Topham died buzzing it in a spectacular two plane crash: it became Topham Field.”
What was the other plane involved in the crash? It doesn’t show up on the Tighar list of Canton plane crashes?
Finally, there is much here
on Canton as an an airbase during WWII indicating that it was a fairly significant airbase. One thing I read here is that bombers based at Canton stopped at Baker on prior to proceeding to their targets; I point this out because of earlier discussions here about possible modes of transport of objects to Canton from other islands. (again, I don’t know why anyone would carry wrecked plane parts between islands, but this does indicate a potential ‘pipeline’ for transport of wreck parts Baker and Canton…