Officials To Check Wreckage Plane May Be Bomber From World War II
June 30, 1989
By BETH DUFF SANDERS, Staff Writer SUN SENTINEL
Aviation authorities hope to examine the remains today of a TBM Avenger torpedo bomber that apparently crashed in the Everglades during World War II and has been hidden ever since.
Bob Lester, a Broward sheriff`s deputy and pilot, spotted the 7-ton plane just off Alligator Alley in far western Broward County on May 30 while maneuvering his helicopter over brushfires.
`The Navy has crashed a lot of planes out there on training missions,`` Lester said. ``They have always gone out and recovered their wrecks and this one has not been recovered at all. That`s the strange thing to me.``
On behalf of the Sheriff`s Office, Lester contacted the Navy, saying he thought the wreckage was a TBM Avenger, tagged one of the ugliest but most rugged torpedo bombers of World War II. The Navy contacted retired Navy machinist Allan McElhiney of Fort Lauderdale.
Today, Lester, McElhiney and a Federal Aviation Administration official plan to examine the wreck.
``I`m really excited. I`m trying to keep the history of all this alive, so this could really be a find,`` said McElhiney, who keeps an offbeat collection of World War II paraphernalia at the Naval Surface Weapons Center at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
McElhiney said there is a remote possibility the plane could be part of Flight 19, a squadron of five TBM bombers and 14 crew members that disappeared shortly after they left the naval base in Fort Lauderdale in 1945. The mysterious disappearance sparked the myth of the Bermuda Triangle.
But McElhiney said it is highly unlikely the plane belonged to Flight 19 because of where it crashed.
John Evans, a local architect who was a TBM turret gunner at the Fort Lauderdale base, also doubts the downed bomber belonged to the missing squadron.
``I just don`t think they ever got near land,`` said Evans, who is writing a novel based on Flight 19. ``The last radio report put them far off Cape Canaveral.``
Evans declined to join today`s mission. ``I`m a little jittery about it.``
Evans said the plane probably was part of a practice bombing raid going after targets in the Everglades. He flew on several of those runs.
``There must be a thousand ex-bombs out there,`` he said.
Lester said the parts of the plane, which apparently exploded when it crashed, are spread out over a 300-foot mucky area and hidden by sawgrass. When he discovered the TBM, he recovered a dash panel and part of the canopy of the gun turret. The Sheriff`s Office will give the parts to McElhiney, Lester said.
McElhiney hopes to track the engine number from the plane so the Navy will be able to determine who the crew members were and possibly contact their families. He said it is likely the crew survived, but the crash was too far out in the Everglades for the Navy to try to recover the plane.
The single-engine TBM Avengers carried a pilot, co-pilot and turret gunner. They first went into combat during the Battle of Midway in June 1942, Evans said. They were dubbed ``old turkeys`` and ``pregnant ducks`` because of a bulge in the the belly of the plane.
`They weren`t much for looks, but hell-built for stout,`` Evans said. ``They were slow, but rugged.``
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By BETH DUFF SANDERS, Staff Writer SUN SENTINEL
Aviation authorities hope to examine the remains today of a TBM Avenger torpedo bomber that apparently crashed in the Everglades during World War II and has been hidden ever since.
Bob Lester, a Broward sheriff`s deputy and pilot, spotted the 7-ton plane just off Alligator Alley in far western Broward County on May 30 while maneuvering his helicopter over brushfires.
`The Navy has crashed a lot of planes out there on training missions,`` Lester said. ``They have always gone out and recovered their wrecks and this one has not been recovered at all. That`s the strange thing to me.``
On behalf of the Sheriff`s Office, Lester contacted the Navy, saying he thought the wreckage was a TBM Avenger, tagged one of the ugliest but most rugged torpedo bombers of World War II. The Navy contacted retired Navy machinist Allan McElhiney of Fort Lauderdale.
Today, Lester, McElhiney and a Federal Aviation Administration official plan to examine the wreck.
``I`m really excited. I`m trying to keep the history of all this alive, so this could really be a find,`` said McElhiney, who keeps an offbeat collection of World War II paraphernalia at the Naval Surface Weapons Center at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
McElhiney said there is a remote possibility the plane could be part of Flight 19, a squadron of five TBM bombers and 14 crew members that disappeared shortly after they left the naval base in Fort Lauderdale in 1945. The mysterious disappearance sparked the myth of the Bermuda Triangle.
But McElhiney said it is highly unlikely the plane belonged to Flight 19 because of where it crashed.
John Evans, a local architect who was a TBM turret gunner at the Fort Lauderdale base, also doubts the downed bomber belonged to the missing squadron.
``I just don`t think they ever got near land,`` said Evans, who is writing a novel based on Flight 19. ``The last radio report put them far off Cape Canaveral.``
Evans declined to join today`s mission. ``I`m a little jittery about it.``
Evans said the plane probably was part of a practice bombing raid going after targets in the Everglades. He flew on several of those runs.
``There must be a thousand ex-bombs out there,`` he said.
Lester said the parts of the plane, which apparently exploded when it crashed, are spread out over a 300-foot mucky area and hidden by sawgrass. When he discovered the TBM, he recovered a dash panel and part of the canopy of the gun turret. The Sheriff`s Office will give the parts to McElhiney, Lester said.
McElhiney hopes to track the engine number from the plane so the Navy will be able to determine who the crew members were and possibly contact their families. He said it is likely the crew survived, but the crash was too far out in the Everglades for the Navy to try to recover the plane.
The single-engine TBM Avengers carried a pilot, co-pilot and turret gunner. They first went into combat during the Battle of Midway in June 1942, Evans said. They were dubbed ``old turkeys`` and ``pregnant ducks`` because of a bulge in the the belly of the plane.
`They weren`t much for looks, but hell-built for stout,`` Evans said. ``They were slow, but rugged.``
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