In the Battle of the Coral Sea, in 1942. USS Lexington, the carrier the one I was on was named after, was sunk. In 2018, an expedition funded by Paul Allen found the wreck of the Lexington, which is now designated a war grave. The expedition also found several aircraft when slid off the Lexington’s deck as she sank, and came to rest on the ocean floor, some distance from the wreck of the ship.
These aircraft, due to cold, dark, oxygen starved ,water at 11,000 feet, are very well preserved.
Among this group of aircraft is an F4F Wildcat fighter that, over it’s career, was flown by several historically significant people, including Jimmy Thach and “Butch” O’Hare. Thach was a leading figure in Naval Aviation in the 30s and early 40s. O’Hare was the first Navy ace of the war, Medal of Honor winner, and the person O’Hare Airport in Chicago is named after.
Also in that group of aircraft are seven TBD Devastator torpedo bombers. The TBD is best know for being slaughtered at the battle of Midway, a month after Coral Sea. (I think the TBD gets a bum rap. At Coral Sea, no TBDs were lost to Japanese action. The slaughter at Midway was due to the US attack being fatally botched) What makes these seven TBDs significant, is there are no TBDs, above water, anywhere in the world. After the huge losses at Midway, the few survivors were quickly retired. None survived the war in Navy hands.
An expedition has been organized to attempt recovery of at least four TBDs and the F4F. They set sail for the Coral Sea in May.
I became aware that this recovery operation was being planned in mid October. The operation went public a couple weeks later. I learned that the project was a “go” yesterday, while attending a lecture by one of the restoration people from the Kalamazoo air and space museum.
