Warbird Information Exchange

I've searched and cannot find reference to a C-47 that I saw in the lagoon along the north ring of Majuro atoll several years ago. I was working on Majuro growing pearl oysters and this plane was near our farm site. It was lying in maybe 40-50 feet of water, upright, in one piece. I've always been curious how it came to be there. Does anyone know the story of this plane?

This the one?

http://www.oceanfootage.com/video_clips/PW02_149

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I last time I was on Majuro, they were just starting to move dirt for the new runway. I was down at the far end of it and there was a Zero in the water, you just make it out.

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Hmmm, that could be the one...

I never dove around the airport. Too bad, that would have been cool to see. Was the plane on the ocean side or the lagoon side?

lagoon side, this was in 1972

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Sea Star Pacific N1051N. Looked a lot nicer back in 1981:
http://www.airlinefan.com/airline-photo ... -3/N1051N/
Wonder what happened? Aviation-safety.net doesn't have a listing for an accident.
This photo is captioned as being "prior to the ferry flight to American Samoa":
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/s ... clnk&gl=us
At any rate, it was originally C-47A-60-DL 43-30736; it spent time with West Coast Airlines, then AirWest.

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

Wow, it sure looked good! Too bad it ended up in the lagoon! My guess is it ended up on Majuro due to maintenance or repair issues and the needed skill and/or parts were unavailable. They probably pulled the engines off and drug the airframe into the lagoon as a dive spot...

Based on the tips/clues you guys have given here, I created an airframe dossier for this one...
Aerial Visuals - Airframe Dossier - DouglasDC-1 / DC-2/R2D / DC-3 Dakota / C-47/R4D Skytrain / C-53 Skytrooper, s/n 43-30736 USAAF, c/n 13887 {1}, c/r N1051N {2}

I have also created a location dossier meant to represent it's location...
Aerial Visuals - Location Dossier - Majuro, Majuro Atol - DC-3
...and I would very much like to improve the location of the marker. Can anyone help with this? You can right click on the map via this link to get the lat and lon of a position (zoom in first on the spot).

Mike

P.S. There may be B-24 remains nearby here...
Aerial Visuals - Location Dossier - Ine, Arno Atol - B-24

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Mike R. Henniger
Aviation Enthusiast & Photographer
http://www.AerialVisuals.ca
http://www.facebook.com/AerialVisuals

Do you want to find locations of displayed, stored or active aircraft? Then start with the The Locator.
Do you want to find or contribute to the documented history of an aircraft? If so then start with the Airframes Database.

Here is about where I think the C-47 was:

07 07 01.15 N 171 19 35.59 E

The bottom of this page also has information on several other planes around that atoll:

http://www.divemarshallislands.com/maju ... majuro.htm

Thanks for the tips! I have added two more locations...
Aerial Visuals - Location Dossier - Marshall Islands International Airport, Anenelibw, Majuro Atol - Grumman Duck
Aerial Visuals - Location Dossier - Marshall Islands Resort - F6F

Mike

_________________
Mike R. Henniger
Aviation Enthusiast & Photographer
http://www.AerialVisuals.ca
http://www.facebook.com/AerialVisuals

Do you want to find locations of displayed, stored or active aircraft? Then start with the The Locator.
Do you want to find or contribute to the documented history of an aircraft? If so then start with the Airframes Database.