July 09. NOAA found the wreck of a B-29 from WWII. (Slide show)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ต.ค. 2024
- Mixed feelings. But it was a very respectful dive.
Location: Saipan Channel .
The last pic is only an example of a B-29 with gun turret.
This B-29 has not been identified yet.
Research update:
The B-29 Superfortresses were built too fast, too rushed tested.
414 B-29s were lost. 2/3 from technical problems. Overheated engines were common
This one was stationed at Tinian airport and crashed after takeoff, 5 km from the coast. Depth 300m.
Cause: The plane was too heavy for the weak engines.
One engine caught fire, the power decreased.
Bombs were dropped and an attempt was made to land on the water.
It was a flat landing but the plane hit the water surface very hard
All engines were pressed at the bottom and the plane broke on the water surface.
The cockpit, the tail and the fourth engine broke off.
There's no evidence someone survived.
Out of respect for the deceased crew members, I have not shown everything.
May they rest in peace.
Follow NOAA for more info. oceanexplorer.n...
Music: Almost in F-Tranquillity by Kevin MacLeod
I want to say something but im speechless. Sorry for my mispellings, in tears...
I lost 3/4 of my team recently. this hits home for me. I hope most can imagine the pain and suffering this ship with the loss of its crew has affected the lost loved ones has affected them throughout the years, Was very hard to right this through the tears streaming down my face...
flyaccelerated I feel so sorry for your loss. Must be heartbreaking. When I post videos like this I try to show respect to the victims...no matter where they come from. This aircraft crew served their country. May they rest in peace.
@@2011ACVVV I am very curious about the cans?
@@Mike-rt3mw I have no idea. Maybe NOAA can tell you more?
@@2011ACVVV thanks, sorry I thought you were part of that team.
I see this & think of my dad. It makes me wonder who they were that flew this plane. What they must have gone through then. They sacrificed everything for this country without a second thought. These were real men,real heros. I wish more people cared about our history & appreciated what we have because of these men. I worry about our future. I will not forget dad. Godspeed.
I took care of an old man who was a tail gunner on the B-29. Depressed and angry with dementia the only thing that made him happy was to talk to him about the B-29.
She hit the water HARD, from the amount of damage it's obvious that the crew didn't survive. Maybe there's some way of identifying what particular B-29 this was. 😯
May their souls rest in eternal peace with the Lord. Just a reminder our freedom is never free. Some has paid the Ultimate cost! May God bless all that serve.
Shows the reality of war and of the brave hearted men who sacrificed for me and all to be where we are today.God rest there weary souls,and they are at peace.
It lies there in near complete quiet yet it's last moments must have possibly been full of men yelling, possibly dying, broken howling engines, flapping metal and wind roaring. It was somewhat of a home for 11 crew. I wonder if any of them are still alive?
there are probably quite a few B29s scattered along the bottom between Tinian and japan. a friend (rip) flew B29s.. he described loosing 3 engines on take off.. dumping the bombs and ditching it off the beach. another time they came back and crashed it on the runway.. on another run they had just dropped their load and were turning when smoke filled the cockpit. the aircraft commander yelled for everybody to bail out. but they were still over japan. my friend said he got the wire cutters from the radio operator and found the box that was smoking and started cutting wires going into it.. it turned out to be the voltage regulator for the generator on one of the engines . they flew back blacked out following other planes.. boeing figured out why it was burned and came up with a fix.. B29s were falling out of the sky for a time.. no radio signals from them. he ended up flying a camera ship that went in after the Bomb . had all kind of personal cameras on board from the crews at that end of the base.. he had those photos in a big safe and lost them when somebody broke into it while he was in the hospital a few years ago.
Too far gone, sadly.
May the crew Rest. In. Peace.
I talked with an old WW11 vet at the VFW bar and remember him saying the very long flights were very tiring and extremely boring until they neared the target then it all changed. Also the return leg was dull unless they had damage or mechanical problems and then it was a different story!
Wow. Amazing. Wonder how many of our heroes dies in that aircraft for us? RIP brave hero’s. Thank you. And I am both embarrassed and sad for our country watching these fools take to the streets. I know that’s now what you fought for. I personally will never forget what you all have done
Thanks for the video, my uncle was a B-29 Navigator.
Considering the 'disintegrating' damage shown, i suggest a hi alt fall to the ocean surface. perhaps a flat spin.
There was a b-29 that ditched off of Saipan in 1945, when it ditched the tail section broke off, there is even a video of it ditching in the ocean. I wonder if this is it because it's in the right location.
You might be on to something there. The forward bottom edge of the engine cowlings are all crushed inward, like might happen if they hit water with forward motion.
From the looks of the wreck, the ship appears inverted, since the wheels on the main gear are facing upward and the oil coolers on the engine cowlings are also facing upward.
@@ericanderson8965 pilots were trained how to belly slide the different bombers... But on dirt. Belly sliding on the top of an ocean would cause it to skip many times before ultimately flipping over. I doubt they had any working engines when they went in.
Can someone explain the old style pop top cans, one looked like a Budweiser can. We used to leave a Bud and a pack of Marlboro Red at the head stone of our brothers.
Hope there is a way of identifying the aircraft. It may bring some closer to some families.
I hope too. Saw different numbers and lettering. The engines and the tower are in good shape, I think. Maybe experts can find a match.
If you can recover one of the guns the identity of the plane can be determined by the serial number of the gun. The air force kept detailed records of guns and planes and that has been used to identify many WWII wrecks.
S. SESTRIC better off with the SN from the Norton bomb sight to identify the crew. Most chilling part of the video was the parachutes.
There's got to be a way to find out the identity of the plane. The video description says the wreck is located in the Saipan Channel, which is a narrow body of water that separates the islands of Saipan and Tinian in the Mariana Islands. There were 5 airfields in the Marianas where B-29s flew during WWII, with 2 on Tinian, 1 on Saipan, and another 2 on Guam further to the south. This plane probably flew out of one of the Saipan or Tinian airfields, and was lost during takeoff or landing. B-29's did not start arriving at these airfields until early 1945, so not until the last few months of the war. I would think it's likely that only a small number of B-29's were lost from those airfields during takeoff or landing over that time period.
That's all I've got, but if anyone wants to take this information and run with it, and finds out the ID of the plane, please let me know. I found out this information from a document called the Historic American Engineering Record: Anderson Air Force Base, Northwest Field, published by the National Parks Service. There's a link to that document here: lcweb2.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/gu/gu0000/gu0010/data/gu0010data.pdf
On the other hand, from the time of their introduction in early 1945 until the end of the war on September 2nd, 1945, five hundred and twelve B-29s based out of the Marianas were lost, along with approximately 2500 air crew! That is a staggering number of losses over a very few months. Also during that time period, B-29's based out of the Marianas "firebombed Japan's six largest industrial cities, eliminating them as profitable targets," along with bringing death to 330,000 people. It's shocking to see the numbers and realize what a grim business the war was at this point.
So, with so many planes based out of the Marianas lost, the number of possible IDs for this particular plane may be greater than I initially thought.
Again, I found this information from the Historic American Engineering Record: Anderson Air Force Base, Northwest Field, published by the National Parks Service. Here's a link to that document: lcweb2.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/gu/gu0000/gu0010/data/gu0010data.pdf
I always sort of drift off,watching this kind of thing. Remembering the lives lost. The haunting music goes so well.....
That B-29 was burning like mad when she hit the water.
how can you tell? I mean it definitely looked like it made a hard impact rightside up but it couldn't have been too hard if the wing spar managed to stay in one piece like that
I also see fire damage in some of those pictures.
Agree - there are chard black marks on several parts. The cockpit instruments looks burnt too.
@@AviationCommercials You can also see where shells pierced some of the wing spars and fuselage. She was coming down a hot mess for sure.
They'll have their work cut out for them identifying that crash. It's probably impossible at this point. There were many just too damaged to make it back, and were forced to drop out of formation over the Pacific, or an island, never to be seen or heard from again. In some instances, some of the crew has later been found. But this B29, there is simply too much of it lost to time under the ocean. I suspect that the pilot skipped it on the surface in an attempted belly slide when coming down, and a great deal of the damage to the plane was pulled away by the force of that, and sank in other locations.
They and who have and are currently serving deserve our most and highest respect and love now and forever remember them that are gone but not forgotten
“ And those in the Sea shall rise again
The brave and bold,
Sacrificing their lives,
So that future generations,
Like me can grow old,
My they find rest, in Gods arms,
For their souls.
~DrFrankensteam
Sadly there seem to have been quite a number of problems with B29 in the early stages and a number of crashes, what is perhaps not widely known is that a number were used by the RAF in post war period, and two by the Australians
Wow talk about being respectful even the music was I can't believe the clarity and I believe at 5:26 that is a parachute
My father was a Marine searchlight crewman on Saipan in 1945, he said he saw two B-29's crash there, one was on fire coming in, and crashed in the ocean just offshore and everyone on board was killed, and the second landed, and careened off the runway into where some bombs were stacked and the crew were all killed.
@Ugnaught82,
Wow...what a story! Thanks for sharing.
During the dive, an expert said that the B-29 engines caught fire more often just before landing. They were not able to cope with long distances and became overheated.
Terrible to hear your father witnessed that. That must have been very traumatic.
Strange idea to realize that he might have seen this plane crash.
Too many young people have died unnecessarily.
Better place than the ones falling apart in a desert. A home for beautiful fish. Hope the crew survived the war.
May her crew rest in peace.
This is reality that freedom is never free
By the looks of the wreck at least one engine was on fire, not sure if it was overheating or battle damage though.
Wortem14 Early on, the B-29s had engine issues.
War grave ... Not disturb and contact MIA organisation for identification... Crews fly in blue sky for eternity RIP ...
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My dad was an a/c on a b-29, flying out of saipan. He fllew 23 missions, his aircraft wad shot down over japan
he regained consciouness on the way down in a parachute. i wonder where his aircraft or pieces of it landed?
I understood this was the first B-29 they've found in the Marianen area. And it looked like one of the engines had been on fire, what happened many times because they became overheated during the long flights. Maybe you can ask NOAA about possible other B-29s closer to Japan.
I had a relative that was a B-29 Navigator but he was shot down. He was with the 497th Bomb Group out of Saipan.
Do you know the ID number of the plane? Is this a known location for possible removal of remains? Project Recover would like to see this location as well please. Thank you.
I'm not from NOAA. According to the NOAA log the plane is not identified. As far as I know they don't make the location public. They didn't show radar and other instruments during the dive either. Maybe you can contact them?
If you ditch you leave your chute behind. If lucky, a life boat is right there, you walk to the end of the wing and de-plane.
I took a private plane ride with a WW II USMC Ace. Boyington's XO for a time. Shot down 7 planes, got shot down twice and ditched 5 times. He broke even. Col Joseph Hunter Reinberg. He had a book with a very mundane title, something like "A Fighter Pilot's Diary"?
Also, my Dad was an ordnance handler on Tinian. I've got real photos of nose art. And his "Standing Order" for his Soldiers Medal also lists a couple dozen of the same for flight crew. They had evacuated a ditched plane, then went back inside to pull out the wounded.
I think I have family stories on Facebook.
Hope the kids in the crew made it out.
This is very sad once a magnificent plane now just a pile of bits makes one wonder what its all about rest in peace
Charles
How old were those that manned that ship? Lives that hadn’t even started yet ? Very sobering thought .
BC Bob the plane . Some aviators refer to their planes as ships too .
Usually between 19 and early 20's. My dad was a 21 year old B-29 Flight Engineer based at Saipan. (20th AF, 73rd BW, 499th BG, 877th BS.)
Hardly even looks anything like a plane any longer. Didn't expect it to be in that of a bad condition....
They think it crashed because the #3 engine caught fire on take off, the whole plane had burnt down even before it went under
Most of the planes would hit the water and break apart, some exploded, some stayed afloat for a while and burned, so most of the wrecks are like this.
I saw a part of a spine in there, at 5:18 . Definite war grave. Very chilling to think she has lain on the bottom for all these years, untouched and undiscovered and is only now giving up her secrets. I hope at least some of the crew got out. This is part of the cost of freedom, paid during a time where the world was at war. My respects to this aircrew, and my solemn gratitude for such a steep price paid in full by the fine young men that flew this bird and hundreds like her. What is the name of this absolutely beautiful piano piece?
Yes, unfortunately it was a war grave. Have seen more but I wouldn't show that.
It's always sad when NOAA finds a WWII war grave. but those dives are very respectful.
But this sighting was the saddest I've ever seen.
I don't think there were survivors. The plane was too damaged. Broke in three. Like it dived almost vertically when it hit the water surface. It looks like at least one of the engines was on fire.
I heard many B-29s crashed into the sea on their way back to base. Overheating was a common problem.
Music: Almost in F-Tranquillity by Kevin MacLeod
@@2011ACVVV Thanks for your answer. I'm interested in your unseen footage, but honestly, I think this was bad enough with the little we see. It's hard to imagine her, right now, down there in the tranquil dark. Her crew frozen in time and her mission never ending. Let us not forget.
@@codyking4848 The reason I only used stills was because it was heartbreaking to watch. Showing the original footage would be very disrespectful to relatives from those who have never returned. But I was happy to see the octopus.For me it's a creature who guards the crew to eternity.
Very sad...Why did the plane so nearly completely disintegrate while others that ditched are still in recognizable condition? Did being upside down contribute?
I would think it hit the water surface almost vertically. Less floating, more damage.
Rest in peace long flyers may you be gracing the skies in Heaven forever
3:48 Budweiser beer can.
hmmmm. something doesn't add up. the aluminum skin of the fuselage and wings are completely missing - but parachutes and rubber tires are in great shape??? maybe this plane was cannibalized for parts and then dumped into the ocean after the war?
I've seen more than I showed. It's a war grave.
Did it end up inverted
I had to go back and look again at something that just jumps out at me. At 3:26 it appears to be the top of an old pop top can. At 3:45 this to me is the unmistakable aluminum Budweiser beer can. 4:21 another can? 7:29 look behind the fish. 13:17 lower left corner of view is another can. And finally in the center right of the picture. Something isn't quite right. Were are the props and their hubs? Just saying. And why isn't it identified? There appears to be plenty enough wreckage to retrieve something with a serial number. This is such an old post no one probably gives a dang anymore. NOAA I would expect more from you regarding recovery or a little more work in identifying or fallen servicemen.
Mike Alt This is not a NOAA channel.
Maybe you can find more info here: oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/livestreams/welcome.html
And what looks like pop top cans could be trash that's stuck with the wreck.
Parachutes are with the wreck. Surely the crew was picked up after ditching.
It's a war grave.
The parachutes tell a story. Unless I'm wrong, the crew would have been wearing them when it went down. Also, it looked like one of them was wrapped around the engine? Perhaps he got caught up in it as it tumbled through the air? And was that a bone we saw at 5:20?
You are not wrong. And sadly yes...it is a war grave.
In this day and age, I refuse to believe that this wreck can't be identified? The poster of this video could have asked more questions or done more research before posting...
Hey JungleYT. The video description says this wreck was found in the Saipan Channel, which is a relatively small geographical region. More than likely this plane went down during takeoff or landing at Anderson Air Force Base in Guam. There's probably only a handful of B-29's were lost in that way at Anderson over the course of the war, so I imagine you could track down the identity of this plane with a little digging around.
@@Ccccccccccsssssssssss Agreed... The poster should get a professional on it and give us an update?
@@JungleYT The poster this, the poster that.... why don't YOU get off your fat ass and do it? He just relayed some content he came across and has said so many times.
More than likely these Heroes did not survive
Aye, the sea........
She's a cruel mistress .....
Jim lad......
Engine had fire damage
Were there human remains of any Airman on this aircraft and if so what are we doing to bring them home?
Such a sad video.....
Did any of the crew make it?
I did not see anything To identify this wreck as a B29! B17's b24' s are easy to ID! Not here!
All the experts said it was. Who am I to say it's not a B29?
I saw at least 19 major identifiers that prove it is a B29. Probably the easiest one is the type G1 oxygenator visible at 5:50. The B29 was pressurized, which at the time was somewhat of a novelty... and required stored oxygen to fill the fuselage along with the pressure air. That stored oxygen came from those oxygenator orbs, of which there would have been 16 total. The B29 was the only US bomber aircraft fitted with those yellow, round oxygenators. The second easiest one is the location of the oil pressure gauges in the flight engineer's panel, and the fact that there was a flight engineer's panel in the first place. I could go on and on...
Sad
3 25 70's era beer can top
3:25
depth?
Rów Mariański....Około 11km.... Tam prowadzono badania od kwietnia... Natomiast sam wrak zlokalizowano bardzo płytko, bo na 375m :)
What was the depth of the water where the plane was found?
I have an idea, but it's up to NOAA to give this information.
+2011ACVVV Marianna Trench is where they are exploring right now. Good grief, if they found the B-29 at the bottom of it. That's got to be some kind of record for a wreck discovery at depth, if so.
It wasn't as deep as the Trench, but it's a record they've found a B-29 in that area. :)
it was at a depth of around 1100ft.
Did they ever come out with more details about the find?
17:50 flak jacket?
Were they that small? On the next pic you can see two red dots...that's 10 cm.
@@2011ACVVV Ah, I didn't know that the laser was 10cm. I guess it could be a should strap?
@@spacemutt1978 Hm....wrong color I guess.
My guess would be wing tank bladder. The self-sealing thing. Japanese aircraft fuel tanks had no damage sealing provisions, but a lot of American aircraft did. The Japanese medium bomber given the allied code name Betty was called by it;s crew "the Ronson".
How deep?!
Nigel 900 I can't tell. During the dive they didn't show the quad screen with info about depth.
When I see these great videos, I'm always curious as to the depths the marine life lives and thrives. Thanks...
When the weather is fine tomorrow they are live on the seafloor again: oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/livestreams/welcome.html
How deep was the wreck?
No idea.
fascinating. i assume its a war grave?
Thanks. Yes it is a war grave.
Do you have any confirmation? Usually in a ditching with Superforts, the aircraft floated for a long time due to the construction of the fuselage. Because it was built to be pressurized, the Superfort was known for being a floater meaning the crew usually had time to get out. Usually. A B-24 Liberator, on the other hand, was a much different story!
I saw it.
Saw what beside the aircraft? Thank you for your reply.
No details. I saw it's a war grave.
Were there human remains of any Airman on this aircraft and if so what are we doing to bring them home?
You can see a bone fragment and a boot at 2 parts in the video as another commenter said, so there’s at least one body at the wreck, but I’m afraid there’s probably not enough left to bring home.