Hi Gang.. my name is Bill de Creeft and upon joining the Forum it was suggested I post my reply to him on here as a quick way to introduce myself, so...I'll be 81 in May so I'm not proficient with forums but i have great interest in the project so this gets me started. As a five year old child in Santa Barbara I went down to the beach with my mother and she told me that big ship out there was the Lexington and that it was "leaving to go look for Amelia Earhart" and I've been fascinated ever since!
Retired from almost 50 years and 20,000 plus of flying floatplanes in Alaska (Goose, Beaver and Otter ,etc.)... see
www.alaskaseaplanes.com ...As a company we put 16,000 hours on the beaver and I sat in the Otter for 24 years.
If you go to this site you'll see me flying the 1929 Travel Air Transport Monoplane I owned for 40 years and restored in 2002...look along the left side and click on 'floatplanes' for a nice video of it flying over the glaciers...
I finally sold the T-Air and got a couple of annuities, paid my bills and retired (that is success in the aviation business (!?!)...
I recently sent Jeff Glickman some pictures of radial engins that had been weathered in the surf for years just for any help they might be but not "through channels'' because I hadn't joined...So here i am: I hope they got there and will be some help !
I see some stuff that interests me...as we all do ...maybe hub, rods and a tuning fork shape that looks like a landing gear fork (I used to have a Twin Beech)...in the underwater pics so I'm awaiting further developments.maybe saw some koroseal from around the brake lines or engine hoses
I am sure the assumptions on the forum are correct, but, like you all, would like to see it check out...
I have found lost people and dragged in relics and dealt with salt water operations for many years...I have no money these days but am greatly interested and will help any way I can...I "fly the beach" at about 300 feet all the time on google and "hi def noaa radar" (iphone) and i think we would have found those people back then...about the time the nessie pic was taken.
I am hooked on this whole deal !!
Bill de Creeft
Homer, Alaska