In defense of WWII aircraft recovery

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Its good that Rob has been given the opportunity to respond to the implied accusations made in the recent Boston Globe article, and it is a pity its authors didnt seek and provide a right of reply in their own article?

the salient points in answer to that other article by Boston.com are:

World War II hero Marion Lutes is believed to have perished in the jungle after surviving the wreck of his P47D Thunderbolt in April 1944.

When locals found the aircraft on a 60-degree slope decades later, the cockpit harness was unlocked and there was no sign of the pilot.

Lutes is still officially listed as missing in action but his Thunderbolt, pulled from the jungle several years ago by Australian salvager and restorer Robert Greinert, is rising phoenix-like in a cavernous hangar at Illawarra Regional Airport, south of Sydney.

While the brave pilot is gone, his memory and that of others who lost their lives defending this country are being kept alive by dedicated Australian enthusiasts.

But Mr Greinert and his Historical Aircraft Restoration Society are incensed by US criticism their work may have compromised the recovery of human remains.

Despite numerous sweeps of the site before the salvage operation, it is understood that the Pentagon has not given up hopes of recovering Lutes’ remains.

“It (salvaging aircraft) has been presented as evil grave-robbing, which is just not correct,” society spokesman Ben Morgan said.

“It doesn’t happen that we storm in, grab this stuff and run. It (the imputation) is very hurtful.

“This is highly insulting to individuals who have devoted a large part of their lives and their personal resources to preserving historic aircraft.”

Mr Greinert, who has been recovering and restoring wrecks for three decades, received clearance from PNG authorities and maintains he never touches any site where there are MIA issues.

The Pacific Wrecks website seperately confirms the wreck was subject to a number of MIA searches well before the wreck was recovered

Wreckage
The wreckage was first located at at about 8,200′ near the villages of Nando and Tauta by a group of students ‘Operation Drake’ in 1979. They discovered the cockpit closed, and no remains were seen.

Although surveyed by US Army CILHI on three occasions, the site was never the subject of a dedicated MIA search for remains of its MIA pilot, and is list as an open MIA cases.

Rachel Phillips, JPAC adds:
“In 1990, a CILHI team surveyed the site. They did not find remains or personal effects. In 1999, there were two CILHI teams that visited the site associated with this case. Neither team found remains or personal effects.”

The wreckage remained in situ until October 2004.

Regards

Mark Pilkington