World War II Plane Pulled From Lake Michigan

liverpool annie · Apr 28, 2009

A World War II aircraft was lifted Friday from the bottom of Lake Michigan. The plane was discovered in water near north suburban Waukegan. Retired Captain Ed Ellis is a spokesperson for the National Aviation Museum. Ellis says Joseph Lokites was the pilot of the SBD Dauntless dive bomber, a training plane.

ELLIS: He apparently made a mistake on switching the fuel tanks on the aircraft and switched to an empty tank and his engine stopped and he went in the water. And so they rescued him and the airplane sank. And this is the first time it's seen the light of day since November of '44.

Ellis says the right wing is damaged and the engine is rusted. He says the aircraft will take about two years to restore. It will then go on display at a museum in New Orleans.

City Room™ - News In Brief - World War II Plane Pulled From Lake Michigan

The plane was lost Nov. 24, 1944, as Ensign Joseph Lokites, a pilot with 380 flight hours, tried his third of about six required landings on the USS Wolverine.

“It just crashed. I guess it ran out of gas or something. I took over from another pilot,” Lokites, 86, said in a phone interview from his Des Moines, Iowa, home. He landed in frigid water, and the right wing dipped under, but he was still able to jump out.
“It’s not cold when you’re fighting for life or death,” he said, chuckling.
“I was lucky.”
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Antipodean Andy · Apr 28, 2009

Good to hear. Plenty more where that came from!

Antipodean Andy · Jun 24, 2009

Another one. Great pic at the link. Check out the Related Links tag as well.

Second WWII plane retrieved this spring :: News Sun :: News

WAUKEGAN -- For the second time this spring, a World War II plane was raised Friday from the depths of Lake Michigan, but on this occasion timed to the strains of Hawaiian music and three hula dancers.

"The plane had been at Pearl Harbor," said Kenneth DeHoff, executive director of the Pacific Aviation Museum, referring to the "hula blessing" of the Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber and its ties to the South Pacific.

Workers with A & T Recovery pull a Douglas SBD Dauntless airplane out of the water of Lake Michigan at Larsen Marine in Waukegan.

This latest raising was unique in that the dive bomber had served in combat before becoming a training plane. It's pilot served on the same aircraft carrier as future President George H.W. Bush and the plane was in pretty good condition.

It had been embedded nose first in the clay, 300 feet down, some 25 miles from the Waukegan shoreline since crashing Feb. 18, 1944, because the carburetor iced up.

Its pilot, Lt. John Lendo of Massachusetts survived the crash and would later serve in the Pacific Theater of Operations where he was listed as missing in action in the Philippines. He was serving on the USS San Jacinto, the same small carrier Bush served on before being shot down earlier that year.

The recovered dive bomber will go to the Naval Restoration Museum in Pensacola, Fla., for about three years before landing for the last time at the Pacific Aviation Museum in Hawaii. The plane's rescue was funded by a donation from Fred Turner of Deerfield, a former CEO of Oak Brook-based McDonald's Corp.

DeHoff said Turner made the donation in honor of his best friend, Adm. John "Jig Dog" Rampage who flew this type of aircraft off the USS Enterprise. "We know this one once flew off the Enterprise and has combat experience," he said.

The gift is an effort to preserve the history of the Greatest Generation "whose courage and love of this country preserved America's and the world's freedom," Turner said.

The plane had been covered with invasive zebra mussels. Unmanned submersibles were used to film the plane and install the lift bags to raise it.

Taras Lyssenko, owner of A&T Recovery of Chicago, said there are about 300 training aircraft that went down in Lake Michigan during the war, and salvage crews have recovered about 40 so far. The plane remains the property of the Navy, which approved the retrieval, along with the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

The dramatic display of the plane on a dock at Larsen Marine at Waukegan Harbor drew several dozen onlookers who learned things like the plane's gas tank was self-sealing, a distinct advantage over the Japanese Zeros which would either run out of fuel or catch fire.

"It's so cool to see it," said Eric Schnell, 9, son of Capt. David Schnell, commanding officer of Naval Station Great Lakes, who was there with his brother Evan, 7. "I think this is just terrific," said Capt. Schnell, who took the day off for the event.

"I just love old planes," said Sue Naylor, 60, of Beach Park, whose office is filled with pictures and models. "There's just something about these World War II planes," she said.

The Douglas SBD Dauntless is credited with winning the Battle of Midway and turning the tide in the Pacific Theater with its 500-pound bombs and speed. The plane would slow down to 300 mph when on a bombing run with the help of two wing flaps.
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