{"id":53403,"date":"2020-02-20T11:00:31","date_gmt":"2020-02-20T11:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/02\/20\/three-downed-aircraft-associated-with-seven-mias-from-famous-wwii-battle-located-in-pacific-ocean\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:16:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:16:21","slug":"three-downed-aircraft-associated-with-seven-mias-from-famous-wwii-battle-located-in-pacific-ocean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/veterans\/2020\/02\/20\/three-downed-aircraft-associated-with-seven-mias-from-famous-wwii-battle-located-in-pacific-ocean\/","title":{"rendered":"Three downed aircraft, associated with seven MIAs from famous WWII battle, located in Pacific Ocean"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In February 1944, the U.S. military launched Operation Hailstone, a massive military assault on Japanese fortified positions in the Pacific. On Monday \u2014 76 years later \u2014 researchers announced the discovery of three U.S. aircraft remains associated with seven service members missing in action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project Recover<\/a> identified the wrecks of two SBD-5 Dauntless<\/a> dive bombers and one TBM\/F-1 Avenger<\/a> torpedo bomber in Truk Lagoon<\/a>, now known as Chuuk State in the Federated States of Micronesia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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U.S. Avengers, Hellcats, and SBD Dauntless aircraft aboard the USS Intrepid, 1944. (Courtesy of Project Recover\/United States Navy Museum of Naval Aviation)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The nonprofit, which works to locate and repatriate Americans missing in action, located the three planes that launched from the carriers USS Enterprise and USS Intrepid to strafe Japanese-held islands during the two-day air assault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over four expeditions, researchers with Project Recover scanned the ocean floor with advanced sonar surveys and high-resolution imaging devices. The organization used underwater autonomous vehicles tethered to surface vessels and human divers to \u201cinterrogate\u201d the sites \u2014 survey them for verification and identification of the remains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Propeller from a TBM\/F-1 Avenger torpedo bomber in Truk Lagoon. Image captured from a Remotely Operated Vehicle. (Courtesy of Project Recover\/Bob Hess, Scripps)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[These vehicles are] able to look at large areas in fine resolution. When these aircraft crash into the water, they don\u2019t look like aircraft anymore,\u201d said Mark Moline, Ph.D., principal investigator and co-founder of Project Recover. \u201cMost of them are piles of metal that don\u2019t rise very far off the bottom [of the ocean]. The exception is the propeller, usually sticking out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Moline is also the director of the School of Marine Science and Policy<\/a> at the University of Delaware, one of Project Recover\u2019s partner organizations. The Scripps Institution of Oceanography<\/a> at the University of California, San Diego is also a partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The site of the bombardments, Truk Lagoon, may contain as many as 33 aircraft that carried nearly 100 service members still missing in action, according to lead historian, Colin Colbourn, Ph.D.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lagoon has become a \u201chigh priority\u201d location for recovery and identification efforts due to the its \u201ccontained environment,\u201d which is relatively small compared to the surrounding ocean area with \u201cdepths that are scuba-diving depths\u201d for recovery, Colbourn said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once a wreckage is identified, researchers look for the smallest details to narrow down the selection of potential downed aircraft \u2014 and thus missing crew members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will stare at these images all day long and the wreckage that we find in order to be able to identify these airplanes based on very small pieces and parts,\u201d Colbourn said. \u201cAnd for these particular aircraft, we got really fortunate that within this lagoon, there are only two SBDs that were missing with MIAs in the exact area that we located them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Add to the deteriorating wrecks is the presence of hundreds of Japanese aircraft in the same area, which Moline said have also been periodically identified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for Moline and Colbourn, these dives aren\u2019t simply exercises in oceanography or archaeology; they\u2019re recovery operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proper identification of aircraft, and thus their crew members, is critical to Project Recover\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven though we are focused on finding aircraft, the aircraft really aren\u2019t our interest,\u201d said Moline. \u201cWe are only doing this to return and identify MIAs. That\u2019s really our core mission. The main headline is bringing our guys home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A coral covered propeller of a U.S. SBD-5 Dauntless dive bomber stands above the sand in Truk Lagoon. (Courtesy of Project Recover)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The located remains are transferred to the federal government\u2019s Defense POW\/MIA Accounting Agency<\/a> (DPAA), which formally identifies the service members, notifies living relatives and repatriates the remains for proper burial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese were guys from towns across the United States. There was so much hurt after the war with 72,000 missing in action,\u201d said Colbourn. \u201cPart of what we are doing\u2026is to at least bring a little closure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe loss appears to be multi-generational. You have teenagers going to these funerals, and initially, they have no interest in being there,\u201d said Moline. \u201cBy the end of the events, these kids are taken \u2014 they understand the sacrifice. The entire family doesn\u2019t realize what they are going to feel when a loved one comes home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discovery of these three aircraft bring Project Recover\u2019s total to 28 aircraft with 13 repatriated remains; however, their work is not over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organization will continue its Expedition Chuuk to identify the remaining wrecks in Micronesia, and the nonprofit plans to begin additional explorations in Southeast Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of questions now about what patriotism is,\u201d added Colbourn. \u201cWhen you see the whole town come out to honor this person [and] what they\u2019ve done for their country: that, for me, is the truest form of patriotism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n