Sunken Bomber in Atlantic Canada Lake??

[daveymac82c]

Hey everyone,

Maybe it's deja vu, or the sinus cold I can't quite kick, but I keep thinking about an article or something I read about either a B-24 or a PBY or something similar being discovered deep in a lake somewhere in Atlantic Canada. I thought I remembered the story mentioning that it was found by use of sonar and it was spotted on a ledge deep below the surface.

Can anyone tell me if this is a real story, or if I just made it up in my head?

Oh, and if it is real, are there any updates?

Thanks,

David

[valdez25]

My uncle used to say to me, "You know, sometimes when you drink a lot, you don't know if something really happened or if it was a dream."

[daveymac82c]

Sadly, this is not drinking related, not even over-the-counter drug related... sigh....

Come on, someone come out of the woodwork and support my memory..!?!?!?!?

-David

[fitzday]

I seem to remember something like that also. Somewhere near Great Slave Lake if I remember correcly. Dont have a clue what type of aircraft it was supposed to be though.

[peter]

Your not thinking of Lancaster KB999 that ditched in a lake in Manitoba and ended up on a sand bar?

[Fleet16b]

There is a 4 engine bomber here in a lake in Ontario.
It has been located raised with airbags below the surface and moved to a shallow location.
Unfortunately there is a dispute about fees ownership etc.
It's location is being kept from the original people heading the project due to these issues.
I am not directly involved but one of my close friends is.
Due to whats is happening, I can't say much more. I have been asked to not even reveal the type of aircraft
Sorry

Besides that, I have the location of an RCAF Mustang in fresh water. If a legitimate and serious party were to come forward, I would be willing to work with them.


Fleet16b

[muddyboots]

right. So is this birds wing high or low:p

[jdvoss]

One possiblity for a Canadian Atlantic lake that may hold WWII A/C would be that of Gander Lake in Nfld. Gander Lake was used by flying boats (Catalinas, et.al.) as a fueling stop prior to crossing the Atlantic. It is possible that landing /take-off mishaps may have resulted in aircraft loss. Gander Lake is adjacent to Gander airport where many lend-lease A/C transited . Another possible site would be that of Botwood, Nfld as that location was also used for servicing flying boats making Atlantic crossings. A google.earth search of Botwood shows a large seaplane ramp and servicing area as well as a Catalina preserved there.

[daveymac82c]

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the input guys. I get the feeling that it is the 4 engined "bird" that Fleet16B mentioned. I'd love to hear more about the story attached to the half-way recovery.

Or the story I'm trying to recall is of a PBY... geez I wish I had a clearer mind.

Anyways, thanks again.

Cheers,

David

[Aircraft Mech Paul]

Hi Guys,

I did hear about about a B-24 wreck site that Tom Reilly was attempting to acquire up are around Nova Scotia, But the Canadian Parliament stopped him, perhaps temporarily. Any news about this one ?

Paul

[Kzee]

Some quick research I have done over the past few years regarding aircraft crashes in Atlantic Canada has turned up a number of possibilities in Nova Scotia alone. When you consider that there was approximately 100 aircraft mishaps in Nova Scotia alone between 1939 and 1945, and that Nova Scotia primarily made up of Trees, Rocks and Lakes there are bound to be a few still under water, Not to mention the ones that have gone missing or crashed in the salt water surrounding the Province.
There is has been newspaper reports of a Lockheed Hudson in one of the larger lakes in province. I will not disclose the location here, as a local museum has obtained the right to recover it once it is found.
The Atlantic Canada Aviation Museum took ownership of a Hudson wing that was recovered from a lake earlier this decade, in this case the aircraft made a force landing on the frozen lake hitting a tree on its way down. The aircraft and crew landed safely, the wing was replaced and the aircraft flew off the ice. The damage wing was left on the ice only to sink when the ice melted in the spring.
I have also herd of several other airframes in the local lakes, including a Fleet Finch, Harvard and Avenger. Although these stories are at least second or third hand I have yet to confirm these rumors.
Kzee.

[peter]

Where there's smoke theres fire... Look at the recent spitfire in a barn story..

[Mark_Pilkington]

There is a 4 engine bomber here in a lake in Ontario.
It has been located raised with airbags below the surface and moved to a shallow location.
Unfortunately there is a dispute about fees ownership etc.
It's location is being kept from the original people heading the project due to these issues.
I am not directly involved but one of my close friends is.
Due to whats is happening, I can't say much more. I have been asked to not even reveal the type of aircraft
Sorry

It cant be this B-24 "Getaway Gertie" in Lake Ontario? , it seems very well known and easily found via google on the web?

Getaway Gertie:
In the Early Morning hours of Feb. 18, 1944, the B-24 Liberator Getaway Gertie, on a routine training flight from Westover, Mass, to Syracuse, was caught in a Blizzard and crashed into Lake Ontario east of the City of Oswego. All 10 crew members were lost, and the aircraft was never found. Today, the search for the sunken wreckage of the plane has become a popular hobby for local enthusiasts, but as of yet, the location of the doomed bomber remains a mystery.

Lake Ontario holds some 1,500 ships and several aircraft. A wing section of the B-24 bomber "Getaway Gertie" was recovered from the Lake.


Divers still search for the remains of some. In fact, one was made an underwater park in a ceremony that was celebrated from beneath Ontario’s waves in 2000.

One of the ghosts that beckon divers to the bottom of the Great Lake isn’t a ship.

She is “Getaway Gertie.”

On Feb. 18, 1944 “Getaway Gertie,” a B-24 Liberator bomber went down in the lake somewhere between Nine Mile Point east of the city of Oswego and Port Ontario.

Experts believe it is somewhere in relatively deep water.

“The crew and the plane crashed into the lake during a blinding snowstorm from what I remember about it,” said Bill Gregway, local observer for the National Weather Service.

Despite the best efforts of many divers over the years, the plane and its crew of eight has never been found.

According to news reports from the time, “Gertie” was on a routine training flight from the Army Air Base at Syracuse, a bomber staging area during World War II, according to the late Anthony Slosek, a former city historian.

A little past 2 a.m. Feb. 18, the bomber radioed its home base at Westover Field, Mass., that it was circling above Syracuse municipal airport.

It was reportedly dangerously low on fuel and unable to land due to poor visibility.

The crew was ordered to bail out.

According to the calculations of military officials, “Gertie” could have stayed in the air until 7 a.m. if its fuel was stretched to the utmost.

News reports said radio monitors were keyed to the wavelength of the plane’s radio.

But it was never heard from again.

The crew consisted of: Wendell K. Ponder of Jackson, Miss., and Raymond A. Bickel of Springfield, Mass., flight officers; Sgt. Audrey H. Alexander of Rogersville, Ala., Sgt. Kenneth M. Jones of Milwaukee, Wisc., Sgt. Thomas C. Roberts of Boston, Mass., Sgt. Joseph M. Zebo of Pawtucket, R.I., Capt. James O. Cozier of Tulsa, Okla., and Phillip R. Walton of Berkeley, Calif.

A massive air search got under way.

Residents from Rome to the Galloo Island claimed to have heard the loud roar of a plane as it flew low overhead.

Oswego and Henderson Harbor Coast Guard officials were alerted.

Some reports had placed the plane in the area of the Adirondacks and forest rangers and game protectors were called in to assist with search efforts.

The search of the lake proved futile.

Freezing temperatures caused any hole in the ice-covered water to quickly freeze over.

The search lasted for many days.

On Feb. 25, Army observation planes from Rome Air Force Base and “flying jeeps” of the Civil Air Patrol spotted a wing panel floating about 700 feet off shore near Pleasant Point, according to news reports.

It is believed that the wing panel may have “floated for several miles.”

Eventually, the search was terminated.

In recent years, several divers’ groups have sought to locate “Gertie’s” final resting place.

The Oswego Maritime Foundation’s submerged cultural resources program embarked on a search for the B-24 a few years ago with the help of Tim Shippee and Doug Low, who had built a side-scan sonar, according to Phil Church, director of OMF’s submerged cultural resources program.

They did not find the plane. Instead they located a tugboat called the Cormorant.

In 2000, the search went very high-tech as the U.S. Navy took part.

The Kingfisher, one of two minesweepers visiting Oswego as part of the Navy Great Lakes tour of ports, used its equipment to search for “Gertie.” They did not find it, either.

Seems there is/was an active dive and sonar search with a project website, unfortunately nothing is on it as yet?

http://www.dreamscape.com/pchurch/sonar/gertie.htm

Whatever Happened to Getaway Gertie?Lake Ontario, can be a very secretive lady, with many secretshidden in her murky depths. In the midst of a February 1944snowstorm, the U.S. Air Force added to those secrets when theGetaway Gertie, a B-24 Liberator bomber crashed into thesoutheastern portion of the lake. The plane, en route to GriffissAir Force Base in Rome, NY, from Westover Air Force Base inMassachusetts, was more than 60 miles off course when itsplashed down into the lake. Other than the crew of eight, no onewitnessed the end of Getaway Gertie’s last flight. The 18+ tonB-24, with a wing span of 110 feet, disappeared completely;despite the Air Force’s all out search for the plane, none of thewreck has ever been found beyond a section of a wing thatwashed up onshore after the crash.This summer, a group of volunteers from the Oswego, NewYork Maritime Foundation hope to succeed where other search-ers have failed, thanks to an unlikely ally -the zebra mussel.As a result of the mussel’s voracious appetite for phytoplankton,Lake Ontario’s water is clearer now than it has been in genera-tions, greatly improving the searchers’chances of sighting thewreckage of Getaway Gertie. If the plane is located, it will be upto the Air Force to decide what to do with the wreckage. It islikely, however, that Getaway Gertie may look substantially dif-ferent than when she went down 53 years ago: she is probablycovered with the same mussels which have raised hopes of find-ing the ill-fated bomber

Great Lakes Underwater Workshop Held

In April, New York Sea Grant, the Oswego Maritime Foundation, Oswego County Department of Promotion and Tourism, and Ontario Scuba, Inc. sponsored Great Lakes Underwater!, a day long workshop filled with presentations about underwater recreational activities. Jene Quirin of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society presented a keynote presentation on the Edmund Fitzgerald Project. Other presentations included the B-24 "Getaway Gertie" Search Project, Oswego Maritime Foundation's Submerged Cultural Resources Program, Underwater Seaway Trail, and St. Lawrence River Historical Foundation Iroquois Project.

Seventy-five people attended the workshop, including scuba divers and others interested in the history of the Great Lakes. Workshop evaluations indicated that the presentations were well received and that the workshop should be continued next year.

regards

Mark Pilkington

Last edited by Mark_Pilkington on Thu Oct 02, 2008 9:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Mark_Pilkington]

removed duplicate post

regards

Mark Pilkington

Last edited by Mark_Pilkington on Fri Oct 03, 2008 12:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

[daveymac82c]

Hey Mark,

In my search to try and remember the airplane I'm thinking of I came across a website talking about Getaway Gertie, but I don't think it is the same plane. I recall that the one I'm thinking of was described as being complete. I'm also starting to think more that it was a PBY though, rather than a B-24.

Anyways, thanks for all the input.

Cheers,

David