Calling Jack Cook

[O.P.]

Hi again Sir!

I've been going through WIX and your posts, but I con't seem to find a post on a subject mentioned a few months ago. You said that an Oregon ANG P-51 went down in lake Vancouver in the late 40's . I think you had said the pilot drowned before he could get out, or something of that nature. Me, thinking that if the pilot was alive at some point, that would mean that a large intact chunk of aircraft remained, at least at the time.

Wellllll........I emailed the Portland/Oregon ANG at that time with this...

"Hi! My name is Orvis. I'm trying to find out about some
information about something that happened with an Oregon ANG aircraft flying
from Portland in the late 1940's. Is there a base or unit historian I can
correspond with? Or is there a place where I can look up the information?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time,
Orvis
Portland Native
Now living in Mountain View Ca."


I have just now recieved a reply....


Hi Orvis,
if you could be more specific with your question, I can try and get someone
to research it for you. We no longer have a base historian so we'll do the
best we can.
thanks,
Capt. Misti


I guess I need any info you might have on the incident so I can forward it to her.

If the plane is still there, I think it would be cool to get it back to the Portland ANG for restoration and display over at Portland International.

Any help would be cool. And....it was you who put the idea in my tiny mind in the first place

Thanks again Jack,
Orvis

[Jack Cook]

I'll check with a friend who was a P-51 pilot with the 123rd at the time. You might ask again being more specific about the crash ie "123rd FS F-51D which crashed into Vancouver Lake in the 1947 time frame with the pilot being killed".
I'll get back to you on this.

[O.P.]

Very cool!
Here is the message I just sent to the Captain,

"Good afternoon Captain!

Thanks for your reply!

I'm looking for information on a 123rd FS F-51D which crashed into Vancouver Lake in the 1947 time frame with the pilot being killed. My friend is friends with a former 123rd pilot who flew during that time frame and he heard about it from him. He is contacting him about more information at this time. What I've heard so far, is that this might have been a ditching in the lake. I don't know if this was true or not.

My purpose for asking these questions is to try and determine if the aircraft is still there. If there is a possibility of recovering the aircraft, restoring it, and displaying it at the Portland ANG base, or even inside of Portland International Airport, like the SBD displayed in Chicago's airport, then I'd like to try.

Thanks for any help Captain! As soon as I have anymore information, I'll share it with you.

Thanks Again,
Orvis"

Thanks Again Jack! Looking forward to more info for the Captain.

Orvis