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How would/could you distinguish this from any of the hundreds or maybe thousands of planes that went down during WW2 in the Pacific? Assuming it's even a plane

How would/could you distinguish this from any of the hundreds or maybe thousands of planes that went down during WW2 in the Pacific? Assuming it's even a plane.

jandrese 3y ago
I think the author is excited because he found the plane in roughly the area he expected to find it if she was thrown off course by an instrumentation fault that occurs when crossing the international date line. Also, it was about the right shape. Also, it wasn't near the fighting in WWII, and the shape doesn't match that of WWII carrier aircraft. I'll be more excited when they get out there with a deep sea probe and take some photographs.
rconti 3y ago
From the source linked in another comment: (edit, ugh, I hate HN formatting, can never get it right even after all these years) ---- One piece of good news for Romeo’s search is that there are probably very few other planes anywhere near Howland. An airstrip was built on Howland in the 1930s in anticipation of commercial trans-Pacific flights, but Earhart was going to be the first to actually use it. During the war it was bombed by the Japanese to prevent its use, and that’s the extent of its aviation history. None of the WWII air-sea battles were fought in the vicinity, and it’s much too remote for general aviation planes to ever go near. ---- https://briandunning.substack.com/p/i-remain-very-guarded-about-the-new https://briandunning.substack.com/p/i-remain-very-guarded-ab...
- wolverine876 3y ago
  Who is Brian Dunning and what do they know about the subject?
- NikkiA 3y ago
  He's wrong because that is an area that the USN actively did carrier training in from 1945 to today, and lots of planes ended up in the ocean after missing a landing, a take-off failure, or just because the pilot had to bail for whatever reason. Heck, during the evacuation of Hanoi they were pushing perfectly good jets into the ocean just to clear enough room for helicopters and the odd cessna, but that would have been further west. https://theaviationgeekclub.com/that-time-a-south-vietnamese-o-1-bird-dog-landed-aboard-uss-midway/ https://theaviationgeekclub.com/that-time-a-south-vietnamese...
  - iudqnolq 3y ago
    Not sure why you're bringing up the evacuation of Hanoi. Further west is a hell of an understatement. Howland Island is closer to San Francisco than Vietnam. It's thousands of miles from that anecdote.

How would/could you distinguish this from any of the hundreds or maybe thousands of planes that went down during WW2 in the Pacific? Assuming it's even a plane.

jandrese 3y ago

I think the author is excited because he found the plane in roughly the area he expected to find it if she was thrown off course by an instrumentation fault that occurs when crossing the international date line. Also, it was about the right shape. Also, it wasn't near the fighting in WWII, and the shape doesn't match that of WWII carrier aircraft. I'll be more excited when they get out there with a deep sea probe and take some photographs.

rconti 3y ago

From the source linked in another comment: (edit, ugh, I hate HN formatting, can never get it right even after all these years) ---- One piece of good news for Romeo’s search is that there are probably very few other planes anywhere near Howland. An airstrip was built on Howland in the 1930s in anticipation of commercial trans-Pacific flights, but Earhart was going to be the first to actually use it. During the war it was bombed by the Japanese to prevent its use, and that’s the extent of its aviation history. None of the WWII air-sea battles were fought in the vicinity, and it’s much too remote for general aviation planes to ever go near. ---- https://briandunning.substack.com/p/i-remain-very-guarded-about-the-new https://briandunning.substack.com/p/i-remain-very-guarded-ab...

wolverine876 3y ago
Who is Brian Dunning and what do they know about the subject?
NikkiA 3y ago
He's wrong because that is an area that the USN actively did carrier training in from 1945 to today, and lots of planes ended up in the ocean after missing a landing, a take-off failure, or just because the pilot had to bail for whatever reason. Heck, during the evacuation of Hanoi they were pushing perfectly good jets into the ocean just to clear enough room for helicopters and the odd cessna, but that would have been further west. https://theaviationgeekclub.com/that-time-a-south-vietnamese-o-1-bird-dog-landed-aboard-uss-midway/ https://theaviationgeekclub.com/that-time-a-south-vietnamese...
- iudqnolq 3y ago
  Not sure why you're bringing up the evacuation of Hanoi. Further west is a hell of an understatement. Howland Island is closer to San Francisco than Vietnam. It's thousands of miles from that anecdote.