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“Big Round Engines” and other classic aviation topics...

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Author Topic: “Big Round Engines” and other classic aviation topics...  (Read 12963 times)
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Kiwithrottlejockey
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« on: May 31, 2009, 01:31:27 pm »


Plane salvage crew caight in crossfire

By BRUCE McDOUGALL - The Daily Telegraph | Saturday, May 30, 2009

RESPECT: John Brooker (rear) and Ben Morgan.

         RESPECT: John Brooker (rear) and Ben Morgan.

AS the battle for the skies raged over Papua New Guinea 65 years ago, a young American pilot took his fighter plane on a test run, flew into the side of a mountain and was never seen again.

World War II hero Marion Lutes is believed to have perished in the jungle after surviving the wreck of his P47D Thunderbolt in April 1944.

When locals found the aircraft on a 60-degree slope decades later, the cockpit harness was unlocked and there was no sign of the pilot.

Lutes is still officially listed as missing in action but his Thunderbolt, pulled from the jungle several years ago by Australian salvager and restorer Robert Greinert, is rising phoenix-like in a cavernous hangar at Illawarra Regional Airport, south of Sydney.

While the brave pilot is gone, his memory and that of others who lost their lives defending this country are being kept alive by dedicated Australian enthusiasts.

But Mr Greinert and his Historical Aircraft Restoration Society are incensed by US criticism their work may have compromised the recovery of human remains.

Despite numerous sweeps of the site before the salvage operation, it is understood that the Pentagon has not given up hopes of recovering Lutes' remains.

"It (salvaging aircraft) has been presented as evil grave-robbing, which is just not correct," society spokesman Ben Morgan said.

"It doesn't happen that we storm in, grab this stuff and run. It (the imputation) is very hurtful.

"This is highly insulting to individuals who have devoted a large part of their lives and their personal resources to preserving historic aircraft."

Mr Greinert, who has been recovering and restoring wrecks for three decades, received clearance from PNG authorities and maintains he never touches any site where there are MIA issues.

The society said it was unfairly "caught in the crossfire" between MIA objectives and commercial interests trying to leverage the lucrative wrecks industry.

Mr Greinert argues it is an "ill-conceived notion" that wrecks should be left to rot or to looters.

"The world's governments cannot effectively police archaeological sites on land or sea," he said.

"To expect them to preserve aircraft wrecks in outdoor situations is utter folly.

"As for MIA sites, I don't go near them unless they have been cleared by the national museum."

An estimated 800 World War II wrecks still lie hidden in PNG jungles alone. Some have been quarantined for tourism or because of MIA issues.


http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,,25558504-5001021,00.html
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