Coronado wreck near Kwajaline?

m50a1ontos · **Posted:** Wed Dec 22, 2010 4:53 am

Tesla_HV wrote:

Hello all, I posted these pictures on Moparts and dove the wreck last weekend. If I get the chance to dive it again, is there a way to identify the remains? As you can see, we have only found the nose section and it has been underwater in a saltwater environment for a few decades. Anyway, I would be glad to answer questions.
- Monty -

Welcome aboard Monty!

warbird1 · **Joined:** Fri Sep 21, 2007 6:25 pm **Posts:** 2760

Tesla_HV wrote:

Hello all, I posted these pictures on Moparts and dove the wreck last weekend. If I get the chance to dive it again, is there a way to identify the remains? As you can see, we have only found the nose section and it has been underwater in a saltwater environment for a few decades. Anyway, I would be glad to answer questions.
- Monty -

I would love to see pictures of any other W.W.II airplanes you might have dove on in the Pacific. I'm particularly interested in Japanese types. What about on land? Is there anything left there airplane-wise? Thanks.

Stoney · **Posted:** Wed Dec 22, 2010 10:13 am

I left Kwaj in 73' and didn't have a lot of time on Roi, but did take some pix there. A friend found a Corsair tailhook on Roi. There was a parts dump in the NE corner of the island.

F3A-1 · **Posted:** Wed Dec 22, 2010 10:44 am

Why is it that dumps always seem to end up under runway extensions?

Pirate Lex
http://www.BrewsterCorsair.com

jdvoss · **Posted:** Wed Dec 22, 2010 11:56 am

Monty:

Since you are now currently diving on the Kwajalien Atoll (how lucky can you be !!) here are a couple of rumors I recall from my days there:

The German Battle Cruiser Prinz Eugen supposodly had at least one seaplane still in its hangar (Arado 196?).
An intact Betty bomber off of the pier at Ebeye
A B-29 laying off of Bigej Island

BTW, does that pile of aircraft still exist on Roi ?(re: my photo posted yesterday) Looking at the google.earth image of Roi it seems that both Roi and Namur have been cleaned up significantly.

For the rest of the WIX'ers I've posted a photo of the sunken Prinz Eugen

Tesla_HV · **Joined:** Wed Dec 22, 2010 2:53 am **Posts:** 6

If you go to the Kwajalein Scuba Club website: http://www.kwajaleinscubaclub.com/ they have an interactive map showing the wreck positions. The Coronado that I dove on wouldn't be on that list since it is a new find. Some of the sites on that interactive map have links to photos embedded. It's a bit hard to explain but play around with the site and you'll see. As for my diving experience, I do much more fishing that diving. I only have about six more months at Kwaj so if I'm going to dive the wrecks there, I'd better get going. Thanks for the welcome.
- Monty -

Speedy · **Posted:** Wed Dec 22, 2010 12:59 pm

Isn't that Amelia's plane? Anyone let Gillespie know?

ArtS · **Posted:** Wed Dec 22, 2010 1:29 pm

I thing this site might be of interest to the group:

http://www.vmb613.com/disposal.htm

VMB-613 squadron's PBJ-1Hs all sitting at the bottom of the lagoon at Roi!

Regards,

Art S.

Tesla_HV · **Joined:** Wed Dec 22, 2010 2:53 am **Posts:** 6

Speedy wrote:

Isn't that Amelia's plane? Anyone let Gillespie know?

This is probably not news to anyone but one of the rumors was that Amelia did a successful crash landing on the reef off of Mili Atoll which is just SE of Kwajalein. According to the rumor, they were taking to a prison on the island of Namur which is now Roi-Namur on the northern tip of Kwajalein Atoll. The prison building still stands and I have a picture of it somewhere. I'm not saying I believe this but it does make for interesting conjecture. The Marshallese government was so certain on this that they printed the event on two stamps. This link has pictures of the stamps about midway down.

http://www.specialbooks.com/AESurvived.htm

warbird1 · **Joined:** Fri Sep 21, 2007 6:25 pm **Posts:** 2760

Tesla_HV wrote:

Speedy wrote:

Isn't that Amelia's plane? Anyone let Gillespie know?

This is probably not news to anyone but one of the rumors was that Amelia did a successful crash landing on the reef off of Mili Atoll which is just SE of Kwajalein. According to the rumor, they were taking to a prison on the island of Namur which is now Roi-Namur on the northern tip of Kwajalein Atoll. The prison building still stands and I have a picture of it somewhere. I'm not saying I believe this but it does make for interesting conjecture. The Marshallese government was so certain on this that they printed the event on two stamps. This link has pictures of the stamps about midway down.

http://www.specialbooks.com/AESurvived.htm

Let us know if you find any women's shoes or aircraft panels! Haha!

Thanks for the info and welcome to WIX, Tesla_HV! I hope you share your interesting dive experiences with us here. Even if they are not airplanes, there is still a military section where you can post pictures of anything interesting you find! A lot of us are interested in anything related to World War II, not just airplanes.

RMAllnutt · **Posted:** Wed Dec 22, 2010 4:12 pm

Just got a note from a former WIXer concerning the Coronado. He said that he was sure it was a PB2Y-5R version, which was built, in part, by the Rhor Aircraft Corporation.

Cheers,
Richard

warbird1 · **Joined:** Fri Sep 21, 2007 6:25 pm **Posts:** 2760

RMAllnutt wrote:

Just got a note from a former WIXer concerning the Coronado. He said that he was sure it was a PB2Y-5R version, which was built, in part, by the Rhor Aircraft Corporation.

Cheers,
Richard

Tell Col. Rohr thanks for that info!

Tesla_HV · **Joined:** Wed Dec 22, 2010 2:53 am **Posts:** 6

RMAllnutt wrote:

Just got a note from a former WIXer concerning the Coronado. He said that he was sure it was a PB2Y-5R version, which was built, in part, by the Rhor Aircraft Corporation.

Cheers,
Richard

That would be consistent then with "450212" from the AAIR website given in a previous post. The location of this wreck (Kwajalein Atoll, seaplane area) is also where this wreck is.

- Monty -

Dan K · **Posted:** Wed Dec 22, 2010 10:43 pm

Dan K wrote:

This list would seem to suggest that the remains of three PB2Y are in the area: 440214, 440914, and 450212

http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/USN/PB2Y.htm

The first two are -3, which theoretically would have had the nose turret mounted. 450212 was a -5R which would not have had a nose turret.

DOH!

Sorry about that, folks...it was pretty late when I posted.

The actual BuNo's for those three are actually 7170, 7068, and 7075...with 7075 being the PB2Y-5R.

Again, sorry for the confusion. :rolleyes:

Tesla_HV · **Joined:** Wed Dec 22, 2010 2:53 am **Posts:** 6

Sorry but what is a BuNo?

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Coronado wreck near Kwajaline?

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