Dan Dives Some Dauntlesses

By Dan Farnham

How many of us have ever thumbed through a copy of National Geographic, and gazed at the glossy pictures of underwater wrecks, be it planes, ships, or whatever, and had our imaginations fired by images of the remains of battles gone by? I know I have. Many times. Growing up in the 1970s, I remember watching Baa Baa Black Sheep on T.V. That, and the first time I saw the movie Midway, is what got my interest going in World War II aviation, especially naval aviation in the Pacific Theater.

I’ve been living on Kwajalein island, in the Marshall Islands, for almost a year now. I work at the U.S. Army base here as a civilian firefighter, on a two-year stint (if I don’t decide to stay longer, which I likely will stay longer!). When I saw an opening advertised for the fire department here, I thought to myself “Where would be a better place in the world to go, to work in my chosen profession, AND indulge my interest in WWII Pacific Theater history?” To make a long story short, I arrived on Kwajalein in the middle of December 2005. The first order of business was to sign up for scuba diving classes! I’d always wanted to become scuba-qualified too - it goes right back to looking at all those pictures in National Geographic as a kid. That, and my mother had the set of books from Jacques Cousteau, which I spent untold hours going through over and over again.

Since I’ve been here, I’ve spent a lot of time at the archeologist’s office. I’ve become good friends with the archeologist, Leslie Mead. I’ve done some WWII aviation-related research for her, and Leslie very quickly picked up on the fact that I’m passionate about my interest in World War II Pacific Theater aviation. When I was going through my scuba training, I mentioned to her that I wanted to dive on the aircraft graveyard up by Roi. She made me promise her that I wouldn’t do that, until she could go with me on my first dive up there. As she put it- “I want to see your eyes get big when you dive it for the first time.”

After getting my basic Open Water Diver certification, I then completed the Advanced Open Water Diver course. (I dive every chance I get on my days off work, and since diving is a huge thing out here, it’s never hard to find a dive partner.) I gained experience diving on several Japanese ships near Kwajalein island, that were sunk during the battle for Kwajalein Atoll (Operation Flintlock- Jan./Feb. 1944).

Finally, on the weekend after Thanksgiving (just a few days ago as I write this article), Leslie and I were able to get our schedules matched up so we could go dive on the aircraft graveyard. On Saturday, I took a island-hopper plane from Kwajalein island, up to Roi, which is only a 12-minute flight. Monday morning, Leslie, Rene, and I were on a boat headed out into the lagoon. Rene is a diver who lives on Roi, and is good friends with Leslie.

The aircraft graveyard off Roi covers several square miles. It’s estimated that approximately 150 American WWII planes are dumped out there. Sometime after the end of WWII, when it was decided that the planes weren’t needed any more, it was also decided that it was cheaper to barge them out into the lagoon and dump them, rather than take them back to the U.S. Aircraft types include SBDs, Corsairs, B-25s, a C-46, a Helldiver, Wildcats, and others.

Our first dive on Sunday morning, was to a section of the graveyard called “13 Planes”. That’s where several SBD ‘Dauntless’ aircraft were dumped. It’s a deep dive- 120 feet down to the sand. And as the three of us descended, Leslie got her wish- my eyes were as big as serving platters, and even I knew it! There were SBDs everywhere, as far as I could see! I quickly went into action with my dive camera, as at that depth, bottom time is limited. When it was all said and done, I’d taken 24 still pictures, and one video.

After getting back in the boat, we headed over to a spot where there’s a Japanese Zero. The Zero was shot down during the battle for the atoll. Leslie has combat footage of this plane going in- it was in a roll, which explains how the tail came to be resting on top of the rest of the plane. At those speeds, when the Zero impacted and basically drilled itself into the water, for lack of a better way to explain it, the torque bent the plane in half. The Zero lies about a mile off Roi, in 50 feet of water, give or take a few feet depending on the tides.

I had more bottom time on the Zero wreck, because it is in much shallower water than the SBD’s at ’13 Planes’. I was able to take my time swimming around it and taking pictures. The visibility on this dive was a bit murky, maybe 30 or 40 feet at the most (by visibility standards out here, 100 foot visibility is common). The Zero lies in the shipping channel, and several days of high winds had the lagoon stirred up a bit.

As I gazed at this plane, all kinds of thoughts ran through my head. I can’t really think of anything in particular to say about those thoughts, without sounding cliché. Okay, everyone talks about how they think of things like “I wonder who the pilot was, and if he left a wife and kids behind.” Things like that. Yes, some of those thoughts occurred to me as well. Another thought I had is one that has run through my mind several times as I’ve dove on WWII shipwrecks out here- “Man’s tragedy is nature’s triumph.” All these ships and planes that were made to wage war on other people, are now artificial reefs for many different kinds of ocean life. Nowadays, I dive the wrecks to see the ocean life as much as the wrecks themselves.

All too soon, it was time to head back to the surface again. We headed back to Roi, making plans for the next day’s diving as we went.

The next morning, Monday, Leslie didn’t feel like diving. So, Rene and I headed out for a couple more dives. The first dive of the morning was on a Japanese cargo ship that Roi divers refer to as “1st ship”. It was named ‘Eiko Maru No.2’, and was sunk during the battle for the atoll.

The second dive of the morning, was to a section of the aircraft graveyard that Roi divers call ‘Lionfish Ridge’. The name says it all. This is an area where several Wildcats were dumped, and similar to ’13 Planes’, the area is littered with Wildcat wrecks. The depth in this area is 92 feet to the sand- not quite as deep as ’13 Planes’, so I was able to take a little more time taking pictures. One thing I noticed, is that like the SBDs, all the Wildcats were missing their engines. The planes were obviously stripped before they were dumped into the lagoon.

After that second dive, it was back to Roi, and the weekend diving was at an end. I went back to my room, cleaned up my dive gear, and caught the afternoon plane back to Kwajalein. After getting home and putting away my dive gear, and unpacking, I reflected on the weekend. Yeah, I’ll admit, it was a heady feeling again to have dove on those planes, and touch pieces of history in a context that few ever get to even see.

I’ve seen WWII planes in museums, and I am always suitably impressed. But, diving on the planes in the aircraft graveyard, is a feeling on a whole different level. These aren’t museum pieces that have been carefully preserved over the past decades since WWII…these are pieces of history that lie where they were dumped all those years ago, and in the case of the Zero, where it fell in battle. In a lot of ways, seeing these wrecks, and touching them, is more meaningful to me than seeing planes in a museum. Now, I don’t mean to detract from those who spend countless thousands of hours restoring and preserving WWII planes - far from it. It’s just that, for me, seeing them in a non-museum environment has a lot of meaning that seeing a museum piece can’t bring.

And the best part? There’s still more planes up there that I haven’t dived on yet…the B-25s, Corsairs, the C-46, the Helldiver, and whatever other planes are up there off Roi. But I plan to rectify that- oh yes, I’ll be making many more dives on the aircraft graveyard.

And you can take THAT straight to the bank!

Dan Dives Some Dauntlesses

By Dan Farnham

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