This is the place where the majority of the warbird (aircraft that have survived military service) discussions will take place. Specialized forums may be added in the new future
Sat Apr 07, 2007 9:40 pm
Just could not let this one pass, my friends.
Thanks Tulio for the plug for "ALAE SUPRA CANALEM: Wings Over the Canal, the Sixth Air Force and Antilles Air Command." Hope it helps, but......
I spent a number of LONG tours stationed in the Canal Zone once-upon-a-time, and heard these rumors repeatedly. I also know the fellow who wrote the article that was cited in Air & Space Smithsonian. I sent him a note asking for him to elaborate, but to date no response.....
As noted in the book, there were a significant number of aircraft stationed there that just flat went missing and were never found. If they went down in the Darien Province, good luck Amigo! I also heard rumors about aircraft pushed off in the bush near the New France Field location on the Atlantic side of the isthmus. I am a graduate of the former Jungle Survival School, and did the Balboa Crossing as a graduation exercise when I was first stationed there, and trying to find your hand in the jungle is hard enough. Trying to find an aircraft that may have gone down 50+ years ago will be a tad more difficult. As for a so-called Panama Air Depot (PAD) boneyard, yes, there was one - once. But it has long since been scavenged to extinction. No easy pickin's in Panama, I fear.
Dan Hagedorn