WW2 P47 Thunderbolt found in lake in Austria

[alexznam357]

I found this interesting story about a P47 Thunderbolt fighter from WW2 that was brought up from a lake in Austria. The cold water did an incredible job preserving the plane...even its cheesecake nose art survived. It is being restored in the US to its original appearance. My Aunt Vernice worked in a "Rosie the Riveter" job at the plant in Evansville, Indiana where it was built. I love the WW2 period (esp. the machines of war and the fantastic BMW motorcycles that were built at that time).

http://www.alliedfighters.com/

[Semper Gumby]

Years ago here in Atlanta a Me109 made an appearance on a flatbed truck at KPDK (Peachtree DeKalb Airport).  Turns out the pilot was shot down in the Ukraine when he ended up over a division of Russian infantry at low altitude trying to escape some Russian Fighters.  He was blown out of the sky and his plane landed in a lake.  We counted over one hundred holes in the wings and fuselage of the fighter from several calibers of gun.  Most impressive was the six inch diameter hole running across the fuselage 5 inches behind the pilots head.

Also interesting was the quality of workmanship.  You could see varying levels of construction in the riveting.  Parts of it looked like they were thrown together in a hurried fashion.  You could also see varying qualities of the Aluminum used by the amounts of corrosion on the panels.  I wish I had taken some pictures.

It was like looking at a time capsule.

[nhmaf]

That was incredibly well preserved !

[Justin B.]

Even belts of .50 cal!  When I was a id I think I built a model of about every major plane used in WW2...