WWII Bomber Pulled Out of Lake Michigan

[tigershark]

WWII Bomber Pulled Out of Lake Michigan
Written by KGMB9 News - news@kgmb9.com     
June 19, 2009 05:49 PM 


A piece of Pearl Harbor history was lifted from the ocean, thousands of miles away in Lake Michigan.

A World War II bomber that flew in Hawaii in the 1940s, was recovered in Illinois Friday.

It's been underwater for more than 60 years, ever since it belly landed in 1944, when its carburator iced up during training.

The recovery was sponsored by our Pacific Aviation Museum, so a Hawaiian ceremony marked the event.

It will be restored and returned home.

"It was repaired and maintenance was done on it in Hawaii, so most likely we will find a Hawaii resident that worked on it, that knew about it," said Pacific Aviation Museum director Ken DeHoff.

Although it sat in its watery grave for more than half a century, it still had its rubber tires on and gasoline in its tank.

Source
http://kgmb9.com/main/content/view/18480/40/

[AVIATOR]

Good find Steven.

I was surprised that at no time in this report did it mention either verbally or in writing just what this aircraft is.
It is referred to as a "WW2 Bomber from Hawaii". I put this down to the young lady announcer who wouldn't know a B-29 from a Vickers Vimy.
But I was very surprised when I looked at the article thinking it would be a B-25 Mitchell.
This aircraft is a Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber. I took a screenshot of the video.



But here is the enigma, as I thought I knew my WW2 aircraft as it is my hobby.
It doesn't have a rear turret. All pictures of Dauntlesses show an open rear turret. I thought at first it has because the front canopy was slid back over it, but that isn't the case. It is a single seat version. Never seen one before.

[tigershark]

If the aircraft were built in this region they wouldn't put the back gunner in until flown across the country. Extra weight for one thing and the US used a lot of transport pilots for these types of hops, so one pilot would have been used.  I can only assume something happen in testing or training is why the aircraft ended up in the Great Lakes. 

[AVIATOR]

That is a very credible answer Tiger. I thought the gunner's cockpit would be part of the initial production but you must be right because there it is.