Malcolm Said
<<<<<
Well I must admit I took that as meaning that as TIGHAR didn't have the facilities to process and stabilize recovered parts then recovery was no longer an objective. But there is nothing wrong with simply locating and allowing others who have the facilities to do the recovery - although these days with national governments becoming more heritage conscious then the waters become murkier (pardon the pun).
>>>>>>
TIGHAR certainly does not itself have the facilities at the moment to process and stabilize an aircraft any more than we own a ship capable of conducting deep water searches, but as we've seen in Niku VII, they can be obtained for the right price. We have done much research on the process that is required, consulting with the best experts on the subject worldwide that we can find, so we know what has to happen to prevent aircraft that have been in salt water for a long period from crumbling into bits once they're brought out of the salt water environment.
There are many museums willing to take possession of the P-38
once it has been recovered and conserved. This presents the problem of just who is going to recover and conserve the aircraft - something that could take a couple of years and cost millions of dollars - just so it can be donated to the right home. No museum is currently willing to pony up the money and risk having the conservation not work out as well as they'd like. While the P-38 is historic - an authentic 8th Airforce combat aircraft - it simply hasn't been compelling enough to attract the kind of donations needed like the pursuit of some other aircraft have.
You are suggesting that we "allow others who have the facilities do the recovery" however there is no one yet with the right expertise and facilities who has stepped forward with the cash, but who is also willing to have the aircraft end up in a museum in its conserved state. I'm not even sure that the private recovery world would be willing to spend what it will take, so in fact there may not be anyone who has the right facilities including expertise, technology, and cash to recover this aircraft and conserve it. There are plenty of folks who would be willing to salvage the P-38, take what parts they can use including the all important data plate, and rebuild a flying P-38 around the data plate, which they would then claim was the "authentic" and "original" WWII aircraft. Great for entertainment, bad for historic preservation. Would be easy enough for TIGHAR to salvage it and sell the parts, but the end result doesn't match up with the founding mission and goals of the organization.
Just to complicate things further, the aircraft lies in the intertidal zone that experiences tidal swings of several meters which would make recovery challenging, and it happens to sit on the border between two nature preserves, one marine and the other shoreward, each controlled by a different governmental entity, so there are many jurisdictions that would all have to be in alignment before anything could move forward. Oh, and the best place for conservation is in the US, but the Brits are a bit loath to let it leave their shores for fear it will never come back. Murky waters indeed.
The P-38 in particular will be a very complex recovery and conservation. Until all the moons are in alignment, it will probably stay where it is. Thankfully that happens to be out of sight except for the occasional odd circumstances that result in her revealing herself.
All of this is to illustrate that TIGHAR hasn't abandoned planning of aircraft recoveries, we just want to do it professionally, and for the right reasons.
Andrew