The Latest Undersea Adventures from Our Man Dan on Kwaj!
By Dan Farnham
I am fortunate enough to get a regular diet of these fascinating images of the adventures of my Friend Dan who is currently working as a firefighter on the Kwajalein atoll. I find the images incredibly interesting, and seriously envy Dan the ability to go out and dive wrecks of Mitchells, Dauntlesses and Corsairs, anytime he has a few free hours.
So Dan was kind enough to agree to write some articles for LSP as I thought you would enjoy seeing the images and reading the story behind them. We are all very lucky to have these articles to read every so often. How many websites do you know that have a mate living and working on a Pacific Atoll sending in pictures of undersea wrecks from the war? Thanks Dan!! -- Editor
In the past year and a half that I’ve been living here on Kwajalein, I’ve had several people ask me, “What’s it like living on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean?”
My answer to that depends on who is asking me the question. For family members and friends who aren’t history buffs, I emphasise the year-round summer climate, good pay, the chance to interact with the native Marshallese, days and evenings spent scuba diving or barbecuing at the beach or at a friend’s house, often with nothing more stressful to do than watch geckos climb walls and catch bugs. I rarely talk about the downsides of being way out here- for me, the good points FAR outweigh the bad points.
But, if the person asking me that question is a history buff, that’s when I really get on a roll. I tell them about the shipwrecks and plane wrecks, both Japanese and American, from World War II that are in abundance all over the lagoon. Then there are the above-ground remains on both Kwajalein and Roi-Namur. The Prinz Eugen is even out here, capsized off Carlson Island, right across from Kwajalein. Although I’ve dived on several shipwrecks out here, and always enjoy those dives, it’s the planes that have my main interest and passion. So naturally, the aircraft graveyard off Roi-Namur, at the north end of the atoll, is a prime attraction for me.
A few weeks ago, on May 12, 2007, I caught the island-hopper plane for the 15 minute flight from Kwajalein to Roi, for another diving excursion to the aircraft graveyard. Three of my friends, Dan Bogart, James Polan, and Leonard Grandbois had flown up the day before, and the plan was to spend the weekend diving on the plane wrecks. We’d been talking about and planning this trip for a few weeks, and our work schedules finally meshed enough to have the time off together to make the trip. This was my second trip to Roi to dive the aircraft graveyard- my first trip was back in November of 2006. (For the story about that trip, including background on the aircraft graveyard, see the article ‘Dan dives some Dauntlesses’)
That Saturday night, I sat at the Outrigger Club on Roi, and spent some time talking with Greg Howson. Greg has been on Roi for sixteen years, and when it comes to the aircraft graveyard and where all the wrecks are at, Greg is THE go-to guy on Roi for information. Greg and I chatted about planes, plane wrecks, and for the price of a couple of drinks (double jack on the rocks, in case you ever find yourself on Roi), Greg provided me with more information on wreck locations and how to find them than I could have hoped for.
On Sunday morning, May 13th, armed with Greg’s information, the four of us headed out from Roi to a spot on the lagoon side of Mellu Island. After getting our dive gear on, I watched what appeared to be a small jellyfish float by for a minute, before rolling off the boat to join Leonard, Dan, and James in the water. We headed down the slope of the reef, and as we descended the outline of a plane took shape ahead of us. As we got closer, the outline resolved itself into the shape of a R5C ‘Commando’, sitting on the lagoon floor at a depth of about 110 feet (33.5 meters). The U.S. Army designation for this type of plane was ‘C-46’.
During World War II, the Navy assigned a series of letters and numbers to designate various aircraft types, based on the intended role of the plane, and which company manufactured it. ‘R’ stands for transport plane, the ‘5’ means it was the fifth transport type operated by the Navy, with the ‘C’ as the letter assigned to all planes built by Curtiss.
Just beyond the R5C, we could see the outline of a PBJ-1H ‘Mitchell’. “PB” stands for Patrol Bomber, and the ‘J’ means it was built by North American Aviation. The Navy designated all of their ‘Mitchell's’ as PBJ-1, with the letter after the -1 corresponding to its Army counterpart. (PBJ-1C for the B-25C, PBJ-1D for the B-25D, and so forth) The crews of PBJ’s were known in a couple of cases to jokingly refer to their planes as the “Peanut Butter and Jelly”. It wasn’t an insult- the PBJs were generally loved by aircrews and ground crews alike.
That was the wreck I was interested in the most on this dive, and having conserved my bottom time by staying 20 to 30 feet above the R5C, I had some time to get down to the bottom for some up-close shots of the PBJ. This plane once belonged to VMB-613, a Marine bomber squadron which was based on Kwajalein during the war, and the only unit to fly the PBJ-1H in combat. There is a truck chassis lying across the right side of the tail, and someone in the past had hung a steering wheel off the pitot tube on the right wing.
All too soon it seemed, it was time to head back to the surface. We spent part of our surface interval switching out our air tanks for fresh ones, and it was while we were doing this that we heard a sound no diver enjoys hearing- air escaping from a faulty seal. It was coming from James’ tank, and that would have meant that he couldn’t do the second dive, as we had no spare O-rings with us. Since James had a camera, Dan voluntarily gave up his extra tank, and the dive, so that James could go. After a surface interval of an hour and a half, Leonard, James, and I entered the water for the second dive, leaving Dan taking a nap on the boat.
On this dive, we took a slightly different heading than on our first dive. The first planes we came across, were a pair of SBD ‘Dauntless’ dive bombers, lying on a sandy slope. ‘SB’ stands for ‘Scout Bomber’, and the ‘D’ designates them as having been built by Douglas Aircraft Corporation. One of the SBDs is lying upside down on top of the other one. The bottom SBD is slowly disappearing under the sand- the tips of the tail and left wing can be seen poking out, and the fuselage is partially buried up to the level of the cockpit.
After a few minutes taking pictures, we continued on. Another dark mass loomed ahead, and as we got closer we recognized it as a F4U ‘Corsair’. ‘F’ stands for Fighter, ‘4’ in this case means it was the fourth fighter type built by Vought Aircraft, and the ‘U’ was the letter assigned to all aircraft built by Vought.
Ever since growing up in the 1970s and watching the old TV series ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’, the Corsair has been my favorite plane, and so this wreck was the most exciting one for me yet! Of course, I had to have James take my picture as I posed next to the wreck. We swam around the wreck taking pictures from all angles, and the framed canopy and lack of hard points under the center section of the wing, plus the lack of bulges on the gun access panels, identifies this Corsair as a F4U-1A- which also happens to be my favorite variant of the Corsair.
We headed back to the boat when our air supply dictated that it was time. We then headed back to Roi to get a fresh supply of scuba tanks, after which we headed for a spot just outside the shipping channel that comes into the Roi marina. Our intent was to locate the wreck of a Japanese Zero, but the visibility in that area was very bad, and despite two tries we were unable to locate it.
And so ended our first day of diving. That evening, we had dinner at the Outrigger and planned the next day’s diving. Since Leonard and Dan had to fly back to Kwajalein the next day, we were only going to have time for a couple of dives in the morning.
Monday morning, we headed out to the aircraft graveyard again. Since Dan had not dove with the rest of us when we found the Corsair, he wanted to head back to that area so he could see it too. That was of course great- the rest of us wanted to see it again anyway. As soon as we were anchored in the same spot we’d been in the day before, we went into the water. We found the two SBDs again, then headed from there to the Corsair.
We spent some more time taking pictures, and we noticed the shape of another plane a few yards away. It was another SBD, so we swam over to take pictures of that as well. And that’s when we saw yet another plane, and on inspection it turned out to be a TBF/TBM ‘Avenger’. ‘TB’ stands for Torpedo Bomber. ‘Avengers’ were built by both Grumman Aircraft and General Motors- the letter ‘F’ designates the former, and the letter ‘M’ designates the latter. I wasn’t able to determine if this was a Grumman or GM-built plane, and short of finding a data plate I don’t know if it could be determined. But, maybe someone reading this article will be able to tell- if so, please let me know!
After spending a few short minutes taking pictures of the Avenger, it was time to turn around and head back to the boat. We’d come a long way on this dive, and it was also time to get a bit shallower with regards to the depth that we were at- the depth of the Corsair, SBD, and Avenger is about 110 feet. Heading back, it was a great time to get some overhead pictures of the Corsair, looking down from above the tail.
When we were back in the boat, we decided that we’d take another shot at finding the Zero. So, we headed back to the same spot just outside the shipping channel. Luck was with us this time, as we were finally able to locate it- good timing too, as this was going to be our last dive of the weekend! Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get any new pictures of the wreck, but Leonard and James had their cameras with them, and they kindly contributed a selection of pictures to include with this article.
As is sometimes the case with historical wrecks like this, some new information has come to light regarding this Zero wreck since my previous article. In consulting with Greg, Leslie Mead (the Kwajalein historical archeologist), and another friend of mine who is an aircraft mechanic out here, there is a stronger likelihood that this Zero was lost in an accident, not as a result of combat action. I’ll have that information in a future article specifically about this Zero.
I’ve mentioned before that there is an estimated 150 American airplanes in the graveyard off Roi. By my count, I’ve seen 21 of them over the course of my two weekend trips.
That means only one thing - I’d better get my dive gear and head back up to Roi, because that leaves an estimated 129 plane wrecks up there that I haven’t seen yet- I’ve got my work cut out for me! Wait a minute…does this really count as work??
© Dan Farnham 2007
This article was published on Wednesday, July 20 2011; Last modified on Saturday, May 14 2016