The pilot seat after 75 years in the ocean off the coast of Palau of a WWII MIA Avenger & Hellcat crewed by Walter E. “Bert” Mintus and Lt. Roland Richard Houle - found byProject RecoverCrew

Project Recover Locates Downed WWII Avenger in Pacific Islands

Lauren TrecostaNews, WWII Finds 1 Comment

May 25, 2016–An American aircraft, a TBM-1C Avenger,missing since July 1944 was recently located in the waters surrounding the Pacific Island nation of Palau by Project RECOVER — a collaborative effort to combine the most advanced oceanographic technology with advanced archival research methods to locate aircraft and associated Americans missing in action (MIA) since World War II. Scattered among the lagoon waters and coral reefs surrounding Palau’s island chain, and concealed within its dense mangrove forests, are several dozen U.S. …

Bentprop Palau Mission 18

PMAN XVIII – Project Recover Locates WWII TBM Avenger Aircraft

Lauren TrecostaNews, WWII Finds 1 Comment

PMAN XVIII – Project Recover Locates WWII TBM Avenger Team enjoys unseasonably cool winter. Mission starts with training on D.A.N. Emergency Oxygen Case and OTS Full Face Mask in the pool. Members cover more ground and target verification due to the Navigator Sonar from Scripps and UDEL drastically changing the efficiency of the team’s efforts. Nothing of interest found on land or in sea and obvious land targets are running dry. Old sites revisited for new members, corsair and B24. …

Bentprop Mission 17 Palau

PMAN XVII – Project Recover Locates Avenger In Palau

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Project Recover Locates Avenger Found In Palau.   Plane wreckage thought to be HellDiver aircraft reveals itself to be an Avenger while local Palau students build their own ROV’s. A joint mission between BentProp.org, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), University of Delaware (UDEL), San Diego State University, Stockbridge High School and Pursuit Productions. Team members: Pat Scannon, Dan O’Brien, Jennifer Powers, Val Slocum, Derek Abbey, Mickaila Johnston, Blake Bottler, Flip Colmer P-MAN stands for Palau – Marine, Army Air Force, …

The World War II Helldiver, missing for over 70 years, was discovered in the waters of Palau. Pictured is the bent propellerr.

Project Recover Locates TBM Avenger Off Palau

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March 30, 2015–Project Recover located a  United States TBM Avenger aircraft lost in World War II and missing for over 70 years was resting in the tropical waters of the Republic of Palau. The carrier-based dive bomber plane was discovered by a multi-disciplinary team from the University of Delaware’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment (UD CEOE), Scripps Institution of Oceanography: University of California-San Diego, the Coral Reef Research Foundation and the BentProp Project. Scientists used state-of-the-art technologies including unmanned …

Project Recover Locates WWII Aircraft in Partnership with SCRIPPS and UDel

Lauren TrecostaNews, WWII Finds 3 Comments

Nov. 7, 2014 — Project Recover locates its first WWII Aircraft in partnership with SCRIPPS Institution of Oceanography and University of Delaware’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment and is the subject of a film by camera maker GoPro and the CBS news magazine “60 Minutes.”   Supported by a grant from the Office of Naval Research, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, oceanographer Eric Terrill and Mark Moline from the University of Delaware have teamed up with the …