Florida B-17s!

[davidwomacks]

Ive been to the dove quite a few times and I will say she apperars quite solid for being in the water since the early 80's. We used to own a house near the lake and my dad and I would go fishing out there alot (never caught anything) I would think she lyes in public waters as shes a few hundred yards off shore in very very shallow water like 2 feet at the most(The deepest part of the lake is only 8 feet) so to get her out you'd need a pontoon barge large enough to spread her and the cranes wieght out but it could be done for pretty cheap plenty of old pontoon boats lying around the lake. As for the ownership she was a drug running plane so I would guess you could just go get it? Don't worry about the gators as we never saw any large ones out on the lake or many small ones for that matter they seem to stay in the creeks and swamp areas but back there there were some that were longer than our 12ft fishing boat lol. If your interested in recovering it let me know I'll be happy to help you get her out and save her before she rots away.

[PbyCat-Guy]

I'd like to save it, just not sure who to get permission from. It's such a cool airplane and I'd hate to see it rotting away.

[cooper9411]

I'd like to save it, just not sure who to get permission from. It's such a cool airplane and I'd hate to see it rotting away.

Find out who owns the land it is on. If the land is privately owned that makes it easier, but if the land is under the jurisdiction of the national park service or state park service you have to go through them. Then if they give you permission, they will want you to have a plan that "they" agree with.

[camshaw]

1 UH huey and a couple hillbillys with tow straps and its yours to within 200 miles radius of a drop off!....nights are best!....lol........must have truck ready for dilevery and cash only...

[Wildchild]

I'd like to save it, just not sure who to get permission from. It's such a cool airplane and I'd hate to see it rotting away.

Ask for permission from Highlands (Maybe?) County and maybe Sebring Airport Authority because I believe the county that she lies in would own her. If not contact the airport (maybe not around this time... they are busy with the Sebring 12 hours)

If you manage to gain permission to get the plane contact me and I would love to come down and help! I'm only an hour and a half away!

[Wildchild]

Where at in lake whales? I might get the scuba equipment out for that if there is anything worthwhile left of her.

There was a link somewhere here to another fourm that talked about it. Appearently it was blown in half for boats and the chemicals that were drained into the lake have turned it into paper... On top of that, the same chemicals makes the lake very foggy and nearly impossible to dive on.

[davidwomacks]

Where at in lake whales? I might get the scuba equipment out for that if there is anything worthwhile left of her.

There was a link somewhere here to another fourm that talked about it. Appearently it was blown in half for boats and the chemicals that were drained into the lake have turned it into paper... On top of that, the same chemicals makes the lake very foggy and nearly impossible to dive on.

after hearing that I'm not sure I'd even want to get in that water. What the hell was draining in there that caused that.

[camshaw]

so Have any wixers gone out lately in search of any good aluminum?

[PinecastleAAF]

after hearing that I'm not sure I'd even want to get in that water. What the heck was draining in there that caused that.

He might be referring to tanic acid which most of the rivers and lakes down here have unless they are spring fed and even some of those have it. It acts much like salt water on aluminum. Also if they farmed fruits and veggies nearby there could be fertilizer runoff which I imagine would eat up aluminum quickly.

There are many wreck sites in FL, even a P-51 that has never been found. Some of the B-17 in Lake Wales might be ok if it is buried in the muck and somewhat protected from the chemicals in the water.

[CoastieJohn]

If anyone doesn't mind going thru local newspapers, I have seen several aircraft mishaps in the 1940's Daytona Beach Morning Journal. There were of course numerous WWII training fields in the area. Deland NAS/F had a few mishaps and lost aircraft. I think I recall a PBY went down in Lake George too??

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=OWslULmvb_UC

[MSGW]

Updated information; There is a plane in Crystal Lake (Keystone Heights), not a P-39 but unsure as to what type. No public access though.

Probability of a B-17 in Lake Okeechobee - zero. There are however fighter types in there.

There is documented B-17 in Tiger Lake near Kissimmee which was allegedly dynamited for being a navigation hazard, years ago an attempt was made to recover it but the conditions were terrible, the suction of the mud, and from what is being said the gators are plentiful!

Strong rumor of a B-17 in Lake Arbuckle (on the border of Avon Park Air Force Range) which is protected.

B-26 in Lake Livingston, Avon Park/Sebring area. Conflicting reports on whether or not this one was salvaged. Just about all information indicates it's still there.

"said Floridas the place you oughta be, so we loaded up the truck and headed for Okeechobee"

HERE IS SOME MORE INFO ON THE B17 in Lake Arbuckle:

My father came back from New Guinea probably around May or June of 1943. His story is on the Rutgers Oral History of WW2 at:
http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/Intervie ... erick.html

At some point he was stationed at Avon Park, Florida as he states as follows from his Rutgers interview: "Then I became deputy group commander of the Eighty-eighth Bomb Group, and about that time, the group was moved to Avon Park, Florida, the whole group, and I led the air contingent down there. I think we had eighty-five airplanes ..."

The story he told me was as follows (this is paraphrased and not a direct quote. I only ever heard the story verbally:

I believe there was a hurricane or bad weather moving in, so the order went out to move the aircraft from the base to another location. One of the aircraft in the hangar had some new engines put on it and while they where operational, they had not been 'synched' to each other. The decision was made to fly that plane out as well. It took off and experienced some form of mechanical trouble and proceeded to go down into Lake Arbuckle.

If you look at a map you will see that the runway (which is still intact and I believe in use) takes you right over the lake after wheels up. I had heard him tell this story several times and he actually pointed out the lake and the runway when we were in Florida back in the summer of 1973.

I did some searches and could find nothing indicating that a B17 had everee been pulled from Lake Arbuckle. I did however find one verification of this story at:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/2192454/CHARL ... II-Memoirs

I copied and pasted the section from Charles C. Huff recollections as follows:

"Going back to when I first arrived here, (Avon Park) there was an incidentthat happened about a week earlier. A B-17 ditched (landed) in Lake Arbuckle, which is a large lake about four miles long with the south end right at the base. The Officers' Club was built on this end out over the water, so there was eyewitnesses that saw it happen. I never heard the official report, but since one of our runways was almost in line with this lake, it was speculated that there was a fire onboard soon after taking off, and the pilot decided to set it down in the water, which is exactly what I would have done. I know for sure that it was never salvaged, so it is still there where it sank. I'll bet that lake has ten feet of mud on the bottom,which acts as a preservative on metal, so I imagine it is still in good condition. It would be worth a lot of money, and some day someone will salvage it."

Based upon these two stories, I would believe that this incident occurred and that perhaps the aircraft is still there. As far as the timeline goes, I can only speculate that this happened some time in late 1943 or during 1944.

[TAdan]

MSGW, welcome to WIX.

Hope you don't mind, here is link to your father's interview.

http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/rutgers- ... -frederick

[cooper9411]

Thanks for the additional information.

[_evan]

currently comprising a list of candidate planes that could be the one that made the emergency landing on the lake. Hopefully I can find the full accident report and see if that provides anymore details on the crash

[_evan]

I'm wondering what kind of b-17s are buried at Hendricks field. I know there was YB-17s at that base!!!!!

I would be searching the fields day and night if I wasn't 1000 miles away. Someone tell the freeman field recovery team to stop looking for scraps of German warbirds and help us recover B-17s that we know for a fact are there!!!!