Hawaii resident finds apparent WWII wreckage off North Shore

A local spearfisherman found wreckage of what is believed to be a World War II-era plane off of Oahu’s North Shore.

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[robertmillwee]

It's definitely a P-38, you can clearly see the superchargers in the tail booms.

[lookslikeit]

My brother once thought he found an 1700's cannon in Kailua out front of Bellow's airfield. Threw it in the back of his truck and drove it around for about a week before he took it. A month or so later he took it to the Bishop Museum to get it check, hahaha, turned out to be a live mortar round. he took to the base and turned it into them for disposal. The military told him it was live, and he was lucky it didn't go off in the back of his truck, donkey boy, hahaha

[olsurferguy]

The engines and propellers (both) appear to be missing, so it may have been dumped as so many pieces of equipment were during and after the war.

[sirjasonakana]

My father was 11 and living in Kilauea on Kauai when Pearl Harbor was bombed, he remembers seeing a plane trailing black smoke fly low overhead. Days later he learned that a Japanese plane had crashed landed on Ni’ihau. The locals there, not knowing about the bombing at first helped him, but later held him captive. He tried to get away and killed a local. The locals then killed him. At least that is the story my father heard, the plane he actually saw though.

[CarreraTrackOntheFloor]

Without the engines nearby, I'd say this was dumped there during or shortly after the war.

[michaeldecker]

Funny how no one can help until the tv stations start asking the right questions. Maybe they should try that with ALL the politicians.

[fw]

Yea, it looks like a P-38. The engine superchargers are just behind the wing on each boom. The P-3* was an awesome fighter.

[DF-egvl]

I am from Venezuela and in one key we found an actual 1600 canon. We placed it on the island looking at the coast, the next summer it was gone, probably sunken in the sand.

[williamallen]

Yep it is a 38. The Air Force Historical Agency has the information. Retired AF Enlisted and civilian historian. BTW check with the PACAF History office at Hickam.

[kalkal-nnwd]

NOAA, a very poor place to inquire with regarding such things. Many such wrecks out there, WW2 losses in the Hawaiian area for both Navy and Army are well over three thousand.

[liamm]

The cockpit and engines are missing, so my guess is someone stripped it and left the frame

[jillbecker]

My Dad flew this model in WWII. He was in Italy and at Battle of Tobruk...

[davidfromamerica]

On a side note; The movie industry used old Decommissioned navy ships to sink in war movies.
The Military used old Decommissioned ships for target practice and sinking for various purposes.

[guillaumepare]

I confirm, most probably a P-38. The pilot cockpit is missing but:
- middle left wing on the left (part of wing between engine and cockpit) has a shape that really look like that (1:51);
- the supercherger system that look like a machinegun with a top rotary magazine pointing backward (buttom of screen); a bit like the Lewis or Degtyaryov MGs, is visible on the right engine (1:54).
After that it's built construction that you can see when the external enveloppe is missing. I am less aware of that but I'm sure 99.9% it's a p-38.

[islandbirdw]

Looks like the fish like it too! They’ve made it their home 🙂

[BrokenWrenches]

i would guess this was dumped intentionally. its missing a bunch of structure, including both engines and props.

[CP]

"Every kid dreams of seeing a wreck in the water". I guess just more proof I was a weird kid, cause that's not what I dreamed of.

[mungmungthethird]

This Moore kid be coming out with the best stories in the state 👀

[frisk]

That is really awesome! Wondering about the engines but they could be buried.. Hopefully we'll find out more int he future! Thanks to the Speero who shared this with the rest of us!!!

[dw]

I'm pretty sure that the location where this aircraft was ditched was known, but back in the day during the war, a salvage operation was not worth the effort. The aircraft was probably scratched from the records and taken off the chalk board.