TBM Avenger

Otis E. Ingram, WWII Gunner, Accounted For By DPAA

Harry Parker MIAs Accounted For, News 7 Comments

Navy Aviation Chief Ordnanceman Otis E. Ingram, a WWII gunner, killed in 1944, has been accounted for by the DPAA.  ACOM Ingram was a turret gunner aboard a TBM-1c Avenger and a member of the U.S. Navy Torpedo Squadron Fifty One (VT-51). Project Recover located that Avenger in 2016 and turned its findings over to the DPAA. Ingram and his crewmates were on a mission to bomb a Japanese base in Malakal Harbor, Palau.  His aircraft took off from the USS San Jacinto on July 27th, 1944, and was in the lead position of four Avengers. According to reports, the aircraft was last seen three to five miles ahead. It was believed to have been spotted on fire in Malakal …

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

Harry Parker News, 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. aircraft and the remains of as many as 80 U.S. airmen. This U.S. Navy TBM-1C adds to the growing list of wrecks discovered by Project RECOVER. “The importance of our mission is reinforced with each new discovery of a missing …

Bentprop Palau Mission 18

PMAN XVIII – Project Recover Locates WWII TBM Avenger Aircraft

Harry Parker News, 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. Sunken landing craft and land LTV’s visited. New records set for the team. 100 targets dived. 70 man hours underwater. 79 Feet Below Sea Water (FSW) average for all targets. BentProp team members: Pat Scannon, Dan O’Brien, Val Thal-Slocum, Derek Abbey, …