P-47 loss Austria ?

[DaveM2]

All

Does anyone have any info on the ditching of a P-47 on 8 May 1945 in the Traunsee, Austria. Pilot got out.

TIA
Dave

[werner]

The Sandy Air Corporation tries to rescue the P-47 from the Traunsee this week on behalf of the D-Day Museum New Orleans.

I suppose as soon as they have the P-47 ( it is supposed in 100 to 120 meter depth ) the media will start a frenzy.
The pilot is in a hotel close by, but he is totally shielded at the moment.

This is all I know at the moment.

Werner

[Lagarto]

Here's the link to an excellent photo of this bird. Check it out!

http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=489252

[heinz]

my god ...very impressive photo . the plane seems to be in good condition after 60 years under water .

[Simon Schatz]

Hi Dave!

More pics you will find here!

http://www.luftarchiv.de/bullet-boar...pic.php?t=2350

The plane really looks fine.

Cheers, Simon

[Franek Grabowski]

Definetelly a most wonderful time capsule. I would love to be wrong but I am afraid some idiots will put it into a 'factory fresh' condition. Eh.

[JACK COOK]

P-47D-28-RA s/n 42-29150 K4*?

[John Beaman]

What follows is a posting on HyperScale from Lynn Ritger:


Found this posted over on the Warbird Information Exchange from a regular member named Jack Cook. He tracked down the pilot of the P-47 "Dottie Mae" that was just recovered, and interviewed him... here's his recollections (pretty hairy stuff!).

Link for more on this thread: http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3977


I had a very nice chat with Henry Mohr this afternoon and learned quite a bit from him.
1. He doesn't remember the serial # or the a/c code letter.
2. It wasn't his assigned a/c he was just flying it.
3. This was his 15th combat mission with the 511th FS and he was a 2Lt.
4. There were 2 flights of P-47s and the mission was a low-level armed recon of POW camps. They were trying to determine if German units were attempting the kill their prisioners and they would attack if they saw evidence of this.
5. During a low pass he had to break off to miss a smoke stack and attempted to rejoin his flight which was low over the lake.
6. He touched the water during the rejoin and the engine quit making a making water necessary. He hit at 225-250 mph and the T-Bolt went straight down like a anvil.
7. He had no Mae West or raft and had given up trying to stay afloat and was actually under water going down when a boat showed up and someone suck a oar into the water which he managed to grab with the last of his strenght.
8. This was the 3rd attempt at recovery.
9. The backer of this was Doug Scroggins of Scroggins Aviation of Las Vegas, NV
http://www.scrogginsaviation.com/
10. The pilot in the flight that was at the recovery was named Powers. His name during the war was Machevarea (sp)

I'll be talking to Mr. Mohr further and will pass on any more information I receive.
========================================

Lynn

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Further, Ken Rust verifies that this 511 FS a/c was the last loss of the 9th TAC in WWII and they were reconning POW camps.

John

[JACK COOK]

A couple of corrections.

Henry Mohr told me that this was the third recovery attempt. The D-Day folks gave up and the fellow from Las Vegas was behind this attempt. Henry was not present and didn't know of the recovery until I talked to him. A pilot in the flight on May 8th was there (Mr. Powers/name change since war).