Try Kathryn’s at
http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2018/11/diver-reveals-historic-thunderbolt-war.html
now.
It contains the whole text of that “Newsday.com” -link. :eagerness:
Yes, I checked using “Google-translate”. 😉
[FONT=”verdana” ]An underwater diver is revealing his accidental discovery of historic significance: He found the wreck of the sole Thunderbolt prototype, one of World War II’s fiercest war planes, in the Long Island Sound.[/FONT]
[FONT=”verdana” ]The August 5th, 1942, accident report for the XP-47B, declassified under a broader 2009 executive order, says the plane crashed off Eatons Neck shortly after taking off from Republic Airport. The pilot managed to bail out — and survived.[/FONT]
[FONT=”verdana” ]Diver Kirby Kurkomelis said in 2012 he first found parts of the warbird in about 50 feet of water while searching for the remains of two airmen who crashed in a military training plane in 1947.[/FONT]
[FONT=”verdana” ]Kurkomelis has kept his find secret, until now.
Over the past six years he has worked on other projects while undertaking the necessary and time-consuming research,
including obtaining records from the National Archives, to verify his discovery.
He has returned to the site nearly two dozen times to recover more artifacts.[/FONT]
[FONT=”verdana” ]Kurkomelis, a Nassau County resident, declined to reveal the fighter-bomber’s specific location as he continues his research.[/FONT]
[FONT=”verdana” ]“The most interesting part that positively identified it – he found the bulletproof glass” from the windshield. “It’s a different shape from all other P-47s.”[/FONT]
[FONT=”verdana” ]The accident report listed the Thunderbolt prototype as “a complete wreck.”
Explained Stoff, it broke up when it hit the water because it was at “flying speed.”[/FONT]
Dangerous dives
[FONT=”verdana” ]The debris field Kurkomelis found is scattered; even the engine fell out, he said.[/FONT]
[FONT=”verdana” ]And much of the plane’s metal frame and parts have corroded in the salt water.[/FONT]
[FONT=”verdana” ]Another problem is that diving down to the warbird is both arduous and exceptionally dangerous.[/FONT]
http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2018/11/diver-reveals-historic-thunderbolt-war.html
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