Warbird Information Exchange

I heard a rumor that years ago after the war there was a bendix air racer p39 cobra that crashed in the great lakes area, in the lake but was never found/located, anybody ever heard of it?

Possibly Jack Woolams' 'Cobra I' in Lake Ontario in 1946?

If it Woolams and Cobra I that he is talking about, he supposedly went in at a high rate of speed, so I doubt there would be very much airplane left. Also, they determined somehow that the windscreen probably blew in, so they must have been able to find something left.

I know there was a Tuskeegee Airmen P-39 that crashed into Lake St. Clair north of detroit. I found serial #: 42-21249 crashed 12/12/1943.

Only parts are visible and divers dive on it to this day (well maybe not today, it's a little chilly ).

Regards,
Mark

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Once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards... for there you have been and there you will long to return. Leonardo daVinci

I'm assuming it's Jack Woolams and Cobra I, who crashed at high speed enroute to Cleveland from the Bell Factory in Niagra.

If I recall, they recovered the airframe--just as they recovered Woolams' body--the next day. And that was how they were able to determine where the aircraft had failed, and how they field-modified Tex Johnston's Cobra II at Cleveland to prevent the same thing from happening.

Just a side note, it was a Thompson racer, not a Bendix racer.

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