| [Content at a glance]In World War II, a P-38 fighter plane ambushed Isoroku Yamamoto’s plane and killed it. As for this fighter plane abandoned on the Welsh beach, it was gradually covered with sand and has been sleeping on the coast for 65 years. Its most famous achievement was the ambush of the plane of Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese joint fleet, on April 18th, 1943, which killed the mastermind of the Pearl Harbor incident. |
In World War II, a P-38 fighter plane ambushed Isoroku Yamamoto’s plane and killed it. [Profile picture]
The heroic attitude of P-38 Lightning fighter during World War II. [Profile picture]
The northern coast of Wales, England, has charming scenery and golden beaches, and tourists come in an endless stream in summer. Surprisingly, a plane was buried in the shallows for 65 years until July this year. According to expert appraisal, this rusty "antique" actually belongs to the famous American P-38 "Lightning" fighter in World War II.
Shoal surprises antique fighters
According to the British "Daily Mail" reported on November 15, this fighter plane was discovered by a family who came here for a holiday on July 31 this year. It may be because of the climate that the sand surface on the beach flowed and retreated, which made this plane see the light again. Before that, people built sand castles, walked and swam around it, but they didn’t know it existed at all.
At first, people thought it was an unmanned reconnaissance plane in the 1950s, but when an aviation fan saw the photos published in the local newspaper, he recognized its identity from its unique "double-body" shape-the P-38 Lightning, the main fighter of the US military in World War II, and then got in touch with American aviation historians.
Experts uncover twists and turns.
Through the serial number and other records of this fighter, the experts finally determined its identity. It was built in 1941, arrived in Britain in 1942, and then began to carry out combat missions along the coast from the Netherlands to Belgium. On September 27, 1942, Robert, a pilot from North Carolina? Fred? Lieutenant Eliot took part in the bombing exercise, but due to fuel supply problems, he was forced to make an emergency landing on the Welsh beach. Because the belly of the fighter plane landed in the shallows first, the wing tip of the plane broke, but Eliot was safe and sound. Unfortunately, three months later, Eliot, 24, was hit by the enemy in an air battle in Tunisia, flying another P-38 "Lightning" fighter plane, which was destroyed and killed, but his body and wreckage were never found.
As for this fighter plane abandoned on the Welsh beach, it was gradually covered with sand and has been sleeping on the coast for 65 years. Rick gillespie, the head of the International Organization for the Restoration of Historical Aircraft, who led the team to visit, said that some official records of the United States showed that the military dismantled its weapons and equipment and salvaged it because it could not take off on the beach. "But in fact, they didn’t do it. Because of the military’s information censorship system and the fact that Britain closed the beach in World War II and did not open it to the public, no one knew where it was hidden. "
This incident was later forgotten by American officials. On November 19, 1961, a fire destroyed a lot of data of the US Air Force, and the plane that had disappeared before was later listed as "officially abandoned" by the military and was not mentioned again.
Robert Jr., 64, who lives in Tennessee, USA? Eliot, the nephew of that young pilot, spent nearly 30 years trying to understand his uncle’s deeds. "For me, this is a major discovery, which makes me excited." He expressed his great hope to go to the scene to see the recovered fighter in person.
It once frightened the Japanese army.
It is reported that the P-38 "Lightning" fighter is the first twin-engine military aircraft developed by the famous Lockheed Aircraft Company. Johnson introduced it in the late 1930s. At the beginning of 1942, an F-4 reconnaissance plane modified from P-38 suddenly appeared over the southwest Pacific Ocean, which was the first appearance of P-38 on the battlefield, and then P-38 was put into the European battlefield one after another. Because the P-38 adopts the layout of double tail supports, it looks like two fuselage, and it was called "double-body demon" by the Axis forces at that time.
After 1943, P-38 also began to appear in the vast Pacific battlefield. With high speed, heavy armor and powerful firepower, the excellent characteristics of the P-38 made the Japanese army hate and fear. Its most famous achievement was the ambush of the plane of Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese joint fleet, on April 18th, 1943, which killed the mastermind of the Pearl Harbor incident.
By the end of production in 1945, a total of 9,923 P-38 models had been produced, but there were only 32 complete machines and some spare parts. The newly discovered plane on the Welsh beach may be the oldest "Lightning" fighter. The "International Organization for the Restoration of Historical Aircraft" plans to join hands with experts from the British Museum to begin the restoration of this fighter in the spring of 2008. The British Imperial War Museum and the Royal Air Force Museum are also interested in this. In order to prevent being robbed, the authorities did not announce the current specific location of the fighter plane, but let it continue to return to the cover of sand. (China Daily website/Kang Juan)
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Editor: Cao Jin
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