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Wreck Hunters: Uncovering the History of Unlucky Aviators

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Wreck Hunters: Uncovering the History of Unlucky Aviators

Follow these amateur sleuths in their search of discovery.

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Lead wreck hunter Ryan Gilmore takes a photograph of a piece of the TA-4F Skyhawk found near the bottom of the rocky wash. No artifacts are ever taken from the site.
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After locating the cockpit impact area, pilot and wreck hunter Chris LeFave digs down a few inches into the dirt and finds a part of the copilot’s watch. He compares it with his own.
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Chris finds a large section of the Skyhawk’s 20-millimeter cannon. Since no one has visited the site since 1969, there are numerous pieces of the jet in the area.
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Wreck hunter G. Pat Macha (front) and a friend survey the wreckage of a F4U Corsair that met its fate in a midair collision near Irvine, California, in 1946. The pilot bailed out successfully.
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In this 2008 photo, wreck hunter Mark Lindemann sits among the remains of an Air Force Douglas C-47B that crashed on San Gorgonio Mountain in 1952, killing 13 airmen.
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On a subsequent search, the author finds the wing of a sailplane that crashed near the summit of Mount Baden-Powell in Southern California in 1971. The pilot did not survive. Check out the full feature here.
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