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Re: F3F from (fresh) water

Posted by Rob Mears on Wed Jan 23, 2002 11:14:17 AM

In reply top Re: F3F from sea water posted by SRS on Tue Jan 22, 2002 02:13:37 PM

: The National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola has a b
: eautiful Grumman F3F restoration of an original that was p
: ulled from the Pacific, off the California coast. Looks g
: ood enought to fly now, but no telling how much of the ori
: ginal metal remains, or in what condition.

All of the F3F Wildcats and SBD Dauntleses in the NMNA are airframes recovered from Lake Michigan (fresh water). I believe there are two of these Wildcats, and three of the recovered SBD's on actual display inside the NMNA (as of two years ago). Where an airframe exposed to salt water will immediately begin suffering the effects of intergranular corrosion, the same airframe submerged in fresh water would actually remain fairly well preserved over the long run. I dare say the 20+ warbirds recovered from Lake Michigan so far would all prove to be good candidates for restoration back to flying condition. I know of at least one F4F Wildcat that spent 50 years submerged in Lake Michigan which took to the skies not long after being hauled up (it was at Oshkosh this past year...for sale).

Currently, plans to recover an F6F Hellcat as well as an F4U-1 Corsair from Lake Michigan are underway. This Corsair constitutes the oldest surviving (complete) example, and is slated to become the prime Corsair display on the floor of the NMNA in the near future.

Rob Mears

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