Recovered artifacts from a U.S. Army Air Corps bomber forced to ditch in Lake Murray during World War II will comprise a “mini-exhibit” about the raising of the aircraft beginning May 16 at the South Carolina State Museum.
Catch of the Day will tell the story of the crash, and the efforts to recover the B-25C plane after it spent more than half a century submerged 150 feet below the lake’s surface.
“South Carolina was a major center for training pilots during World War II,” said Chief Curator of History Fritz Hamer. “Because of its many deserted islands and large area, Lake Murray made an ideal training ground for bombing runs. Between 1942 and 1945, thousands of hours of flight time were logged over the lake by pilots who learned how to deliver bombs onto practice targets.
But they didn’t all go perfectly. “After all, these were trainees, not experienced pilots,” said Hamer. “But this particular plane developed engine trouble on April 4, 1943 and forced the crew to ditch the aircraft.
“At least five more planes also crashed or were ditched, but all but two were salvaged soon after they sank,” said the curator. “But at 150 feet, the Army Air Corps decided it wasn’t worth the effort to recover this one.”
Five decades later, that was to change. In 1989, Greenville physician and historian Bob Seigler began archival research to find B-25 wrecks in Lake Murray. In 1993 sonar investigations of the lake identified the location of this aircraft. Because of high interest in raising the now-historic plane, plans were quickly made to recover it. The actual recovery, however, was not quick. It took 12 years.
Seigler’s efforts finally paid off in September 2005, when the plane was brought to the surface by a team of divers and surface personnel, said Hamer. “The aircraft was transported to the Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham, Alabama for stabilization and permanent exhibition.”
In the State Museum’s exhibit, guests can see a thermos bottle used by one of the crew; a C-2 altitude correction computer and an E-6B dead reckoning computer, both standard equipment for bombardier/navigators; an airplane hoisting shackle used for shipping planes or loading them onto aircraft carriers; and a technical order for Bendix radios installed on B-25 aircraft. The artifacts were loaned by the Birmingham museum.
“The Lake Murray B-25C, South Carolina’s ‘catch of the day,’ is a rare and valuable reminder of the role played by the Palmetto State in World War II,” Hamer said.
Catch of the Day can be seen on the Museum’s third floor near the aviation exhibit through January 2009.
A World War II B-25 bomber such as this one, ditched in a practice bombing run,
was recovered from Lake Murray near Columbia, S.C. in 2005. Artifacts from the plane
can be seen in the South Carolina State Museum’s “mini-exhibit” Catch of the Day,
opening May 16 and running through January 2009.