Saturday, December 5, 2009

World War II Plane Recovered from Lake Michigan-- Part 2

Back on November 28th, I wrote about this plane. A follow up on it.

Nov. 30th Chicago Tribune.

The plane was in 250 feet of water off shore from Waukegan which is north of Chicago. It was close to where another WW II plane, a Douglas SBD Dauntless was raised last April.

Lt. Walter Elcock crashed it while training to land on a converted aircraft carrier January 5, 1945. He survived and is living in Atlanta. His 36-year-old grandson, Hunter Brawley was on hand to see the plane raised and afterwards sat in the cockpit and said it was quite an experience to sit where his grandfather had been on that fateful day.

Plans call for it to be displayed in a yet to be announced museum.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company is helping to fund the project. Company CEO Andy taylor is honoring his father, Navy pilot Jack Taylor.

This is the sixth naval aircraft carriet plane that had actually participated in combat that has been raised from Lake Michigan. Training planes were usually ones that had already been in action and had been retired from active duty.

A Bit of History, Recovered. --Cooter

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