"ArtKramr" wrote in message
...
Subject: Bob's Story
From: (MLenoch)
Date: 8/6/03 7:43 PM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id:

where his wife lived with his family in Palmerville, beside Badin Lake,

the plane plunged at high speed into the lake.

I bet there are pieces to be recovered, though small, from the lake.
Being a
B-25H, the cannon might be salvagable?
Just some thoughts........
VL


Let it lie. Don't disturb the grave.

Arthur Kramer
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

Art, I agree. Leave them alone.

Over the years there have been a number of efforts to try and locate the
B-25 (actually PBJ-1-H-89050) in Badin Lake, and salvage it. In 1999 some
people said they found it but nothing ever came of in.

The pilot 2dLt. Charles M.McDaniel USMC (Palmerville NC) and co-pilot Ensign
John R Withrow USNR (Beaver Falls Pa) were lost and not recovered. The
aircraft was enroute to MCAS, Cherry Point, NC.

Badin Lake is owned by ALCOA and it provides power for their big aluminum
plant at Badin. As I said every few years something comes up about trying to
recover some aircraft. The efforts at Badin Lake always seem to center
around finding the aircraft, before the money runs out, or it is stopped by
the US Navy as they still claim ownership.The aircraft was found once in
1944 and a map made but the Navy was unable to salvage it at the time. The
Navy still has the original reports of the accident, investigation and
salvage effort, but the appendix listing the exact location of the wreckage
is missing from the archives.

A team from the Navy's Experimental Diving Unit attempted to recover the
aircraft. It was finally located in over 150 feet of water buried in mud and
silt, and the divers thought most of the aircraft was in one piece. Some
pieces (a truckload) were brought to the surface and hauled away when the
Navy ended their efforts on July 15, 1944. Due to water conditions the
divers worked by feel, and reported that the aircraft, cables, pieces etc
were tangled in standing trees on the lake bottom.

I have always had an interest in this because my father, a Lt (Navy) at the
time was involved in the investigation. I grew up hearing tall tales told by
older family members of the high speed trips he made almost nightly between
Badin and Raleigh to see my mother. I was one year old at the time. Mom and
Pop are gone but, dads motorcycle rides are a family legend.

Red