Discovery of USS LEXINGTON CV-2 including TBD Torpedo planes

[DRAGONFLYDF]

there are no TBDs in the Great Lakes, and any that are in shallow water are too far gone due to corrosion, The TBDs near the Lexington are the best preserved and best chance of being raised for display. Good thing is, while they are deep, they have not settled into the sea floor so they should not be filled with sand to the point they cannot be lifted. The planes that remain in Lake Michigan are being destroyed by the muscles. The planes that came up in the early 90s had NO muscles on them and were in amazing shape, the latest recoveries were covered with them.

[jon_norstog]

I saw the pictures too. Were those Army Air Corps markings and paint on those planes?

jn

[Griff Murphey]

Jon:
Those were standard US Navy markings at that time with the stars with red dots and the horizontal flag stripes on the rudder. Then as now the national markings between the antecedent Army Air Corps now USAF and the USN pretty much mirrored each other. In May of 1942 the red dot and tail stripes were dropped to avoid confusion with the Jap markings in the Pacific. Interestingly AAF Pilots in Europe lamented the loss of the dot which resembled our allies the brits’ markings. Other mods were tried in Europe including an orange yellow outline. In June of 1943 the “wings” were added and the star and bar insignia was standardized.
The aircraft on Lexington are painted in Sea Gray upper surfaces over light gray.

[jon_norstog]

Thanks Griff, I didn't know ... and the undersea photos didn't really give you a sense of the colors on the planes.

jn