P-61 Wreck @ Ft Glenn AAF AK

[Warbirdnerd]

Saw this posted on Facebook today. I've not heard about this one before. I wonder if there is a data plate in that mess...
Pic linked from the Wrecked & Abandoned Planes and Ships and Subs Group page. Taken in 2012.

[DH82EH]

Wow!
Never heard of that one either Bryan.
Thanks for posting.
I bet there are some useful tidbits in there at least.
Maybe the prop hubs are useable.

Andy

[tom d. friedman]

double ditto!!

[Triplane102]

Is that the one that had the one piece Canopy ?( looking), I think that one crashed & burned also. I'm just to lazy to look it up right now

[tom d. friedman]

what would a black widow be doing up their in the 1st place?? the p-61 didn't enter service till early 1944. that theater of the war was for the most part back water by then.

[DH82EH]

I think TBM Tony might be on the right track.
Possibly an F-15 Reporter and most likely post war.

Still, very interesting

Andy

[Triplane102]

F-15 Reporter! That's the ticket! Thanks Andy, I couldn't come up with the name. I was temped to tease that it might've been one of Howard H.'s "extra" X-F11s But the prop blades would have given that away that it was'nt!

[tom d. friedman]

i'm betting that wreck's bones are from a b-26 martin marauder. no way any p-61's served up their. while the 26 did serve from the early onset of the Aleutian campaign, besides, I can't think of another 4 bladed prop aircraft ever serving up their or in Alaska.

[marine air]

This one is a mystery to me. The F-15 Reporter has "spoon shaped propellor blades (like an FW-190). Except for a few civilian post war pics with skinny blades. The B-26 Marauder: wartime pics show the very narrow spinner and the prop extends a few inches from the hub before fanning out. SO I don't think it is a Martin B-26. There are a few pics of P-61's with similar prop blades.
ALso, the blades appear to be rusty steel, a la Curtiss Electric. Could it be a Lockheed PV1 or PV2?

[tom d. friedman]

I would like to see a pic of the f-15 reporter. never heard of it or saw a picture.

[Chris Brame]

I would like to see a pic of the f-15 reporter. never heard of it or saw a picture.

Last intact one was wrecked in '68:
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/p61regis ... 59300.html

[tom d. friedman]

ok, I remember now, just forgot the designation / name. i'd still bet it's a b-26. what would a prototype be doing in Alaska / Canada / aluetians in 1945?? maybe it's a post war wreck.

[Steve Nelson]

From the Wikipedia page on the P-61 (yeah, I know..but I see no reason to doubt them on this one.)

"Tactical Air Command was assigned the 415th NFS, and Air Defense Command was assigned the 414th and 425th NFS. The 414th was almost immediately transferred to TAC. Both the 414th and 415th were equipped and manned at Shaw Field, South Carolina and by early 1947 were operationally ready. The 414th was deployed to Caribbean Air Command for defense of the Panama Canal, and the 415th was deployed to Alaskan Air Command for long-range air defense against Soviet aircraft stationed across the Bering Sea in Siberia. Both of these squadrons were soon transferred to the overseas commands by TAC, and were redesignated as Fighter Squadrons."


Looks like this one is P-61B-10-NO 42-39641, which crashed and burned on takeoff in 1947 (no injuries.)

Here's a an accident report from Ft. Glenn, AK: http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=114905

..and the full story from Pacificwrecks.com, with a photo from a different angle. http://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/p-61/42-39641.html

SN

[Chris Brame]

Much larger copy of the image here (scroll down almost halfway):
http://www.airfields-freeman.com/AK/Air ... tm#ftglenn

[DB2]

For what it's worth regarding P-61s in Alaska during WW2, my grandfather was a flight test engineer out of Wright-Patt, and he flew cold weather testing in winter 1943 in the P-61 at Ladd Field in Fairbanks, AK.

I've always remembered that as he told a story of having a hydraulic failure a P-61 there...I don't remember the exact specifics, but apparently there was some sort of check or diverter valve that had a 3/8 thread on one side and 1/2 thread on the other, to ensure the valve could only be installed in the correct direction. The valve had been replaced, and the mechanic had used a 3/8 to 1/2 adapter on one side, and a 1/2 x 3/8 reducer on the other side, and put the valve in backwards!