NAS Pax River - Arado 234 / Bell XFL-1 w/ new pics

[Quest Master]

This is a very cool thread and illustrates what WIX is all about. Thanks Van for starting it!

Scott, thank you so much for your praise!!!
The WIX is a community of like minded aviation lovers. We all take so much from this wonderful forum. I'm just trying to give a little bit back.

[Quest Master]

Thank you Quest Master for the information. Could "bnm" be the code for the engine manufacturer?

Like any American aircraft manufacturer of the period, not every component was built by a single manufacturer (this also applies to tanks, ships, jeeps etc). This also include replacement parts, like bulbs/switches/filters, would also be made by different manufacturers and not the prime manufacturer of the aicraft.
Here is an example list of German WWII manufacturer codes (bnm is not on the list...but this is also not a complete list, just an example):
http://oldmilitarymarkings.com/codes_fu ... a_a-b.html

[Speeddemon651]

The Maryland Maritime Archaeology Program & NOAA has side scanned most of the water in from of PAX a few years back had done every large object, plane, or boat they could find. Apparently there is a radial fighter about the size of a Bearcat, with a bubble canopy sitting in 20-30 feet of water out in front of one of the runways. When they dove on it, the visibility was pretty low and the exact model of plane could not be identified. It was a quick dive to prove it was a plane, then to move on. If you have a descent fishing sonar it can be seen with it also.

The pictures of scouring the beach in front of PAX made me think of it. MMAP of course doesn't want to release their findings from their scans thinking that it would encourage artifact hunters.

http://www.mht.maryland.gov/archeology_underwater.shtml

NOAA's scans of underwater "obstructions" click on the map
http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/hsd/ ... tions.html

Here is a map showing multiple "obstruction's" off PAX

[SaxMan]

I've seen the sidescan imagery of the plane in the water. It looks like a Bearcat, but the profile could easily be the second SN2J. Searching through the archives, we know an F8F did not crash there, so it is likely whatever it was got dumped. I pretty much heard the same thing that you did: the visibility in the water is extremely poor, and positive identification would likely be very difficult.

[Stoney]

Nice pix of the Culpeper flight, all NATA members

[Quest Master]

I found this interesting photo of an XSN2J-1 on the Aviation Enthusiast Corner, Photo taken 1994,
Submitted by Tom Silsbee in November 2000, Maryland USA.

[Mark Allen M]

A couple more shots of one of those XSN2-1's in better days.

[SaxMan]

Sorry for the brief threadjack, but I did want to do an update on the Taneytown DB-7:

I guess the saying "Don't count your chickens before they hatch" is entirely true. When we spoke to the landowner, the answer wasn't just "no", but "No artifacts get taken from our property"

While the answer may seem harsh, there is actually sound reasoning behind it. All one has to do is look at a map and see Taneytown's proximity to Gettysburg to realize why. During the Battle of Gettysburg, Union troops marched up the Taneytown Road to the Emmittsburg Road to get to the battle, and it's possible some may have even bivouaced on this property, which sits adjacent to the Monocacy River. With a number of Civil War relic hunters "poaching" on private property, this land owner has firmly decided that no one digs on her property.

It's still a good story, and at least we know the general location, but I guess not all wreck hunts have a successful ending.