Subdeacon Joe Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 I found this on FB: "You're walking through the woods in Germany and find this! What do you do next?" Most of the answers I read (admittedly only about 100), were "Take it home," "Climb in and pretend," or a combination of the two. I find both unsettling. My answer was: First, check for human remains and any identification papers. Second, use the GPS on my phone to record location. Third, photograph the heck out of it . Fourth, maybe find some small part take as a memento. Fifth, notify some military authority or national air and space museum for proper recovery. ================================ If there were remains, after some prayers for the repose of the soul of the person, I'd still go through the rest of the list in order. #4 would be something not attached to the aircraft but from the ground near it. How say you? 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 Messerschmitt? There appears to be a skull in the cockpit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted February 12 Author Share Posted February 12 1 minute ago, Alpo said: Messerschmitt? There appears to be a skull in the cockpit. FW-190. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundog Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 I would immediately call a wrecker service or a tow truck for "pickup". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyesa Horg Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 If no body/skeleton in it, I'd definitely be climbing aboard. Then pix and possibly souvenir! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted February 12 Author Share Posted February 12 37 minutes ago, Alpo said: Messerschmitt? There appears to be a skull in the cockpit. Where do you think you are seeing a skull? 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kloehr Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 If no signs of prior scavenging/ souvenir hunting, I would take nothing but a picture and report it. Otherwise, see if there is some cool item to collect. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyesa Horg Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 Looks like someone glaumed the prop blades! I don't see a skull either! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyesa Horg Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 Shouldn't there be a machine gun too? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rye Miles #13621 Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 Take a bunch of pictures, maybe take a small piece of it for a momento and then contact the authorities. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 1 hour ago, Subdeacon Joe said: Where do you think you are seeing a skull? As I said before, I'm looking at this on my phone, so the pictures are small. Make the pictures bigger and they pixelate. But there appears to be a whitish gray skull shaped object in both pictures in the cockpit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted February 12 Author Share Posted February 12 12 minutes ago, Alpo said: As I said before, I'm looking at this on my phone, so the pictures are small. Make the pictures bigger and they pixelate. But there appears to be a whitish gray skull shaped object in both pictures in the cockpit. If you are looking where I think you're looking that's some kind of attachment point for the harness. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 (edited) 2 hours ago, Eyesa Horg said: Shouldn't there be a machine gun too? The guns would be in the wing root ( I read that) but the wings are missing. Edited February 12 by Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyesa Horg Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 8 minutes ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said: The guns would be in the wing root ( I read that) but the wings are missing. Those wings must be out there somewhere! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted February 12 Author Share Posted February 12 I got around to searching the photos with Google Lens. This was found in 1989 near St Petersburg, Russia. The pilot walked away and was captured. https://www.jetsprops.com/fighters/fw-190-found-in-the-woods-uncovering-the-greatest-ww2-relic-inc-video.html 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 What is the distinction between a detached piece on the ground and one still attached, memento-gathering-wise? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kloehr Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 4 minutes ago, Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 said: What is the distinction between a detached piece on the ground and one still attached, memento-gathering-wise? If it can be unbolted, unscrewed, or pried loose, it is no longer attached. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 32 minutes ago, Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 said: What is the distinction between a detached piece on the ground and one still attached, memento-gathering-wise? I think it would be something like the movie star that you greatly admire put a piece of gum in his mouth and threw the gum wrapper on the ground. "Oh my God! Look!! It's Bobby Joe Billy's gum wrapper!!!!" As compared to going up to Bobby Joe Billy and tearing his shirt sleeve off. In both cases you have a souvenir, but I think the tearing of his shirt sleeve would be taking things a little too far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 57 minutes ago, Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 said: What is the distinction between a detached piece on the ground and one still attached, memento-gathering-wise? In my mind, if there had been human remains in the aircraft prying something off of it would be like breaking something off of a crypt, Picking up a fragment from the ground would be like finding, say, an arrowhead or spent bullet on or near a battlefield - one that isn't a declared national park or monument. Possibly a distinction without real meaning, but to me enough of a difference. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 Summer of '75 I was hunting up in @Subdeacon Joe country, a few miles north of Clearlake Oaks. As I was glassing an opposite hillside across a valley, arroyo, or whatever it was, my eye caught a glimmer of a reflection. I mentioned it to a buddy, and he said that he'd heard that a P-51 had crashed in the area a couple years before. Hmm... I'd been "buzzed" by a blue Mustang a couple years earlier while hiking not far from there. At the time I'd been torn between being pissed at the jerk or appreciative of seeing that gorgeous blue and gold craft. Two or three weeks later I returned to the area and hiked in to the site with a backpack containing a few tools. If indeed there was a crashed Mustang, I would've loved to harvest the brass Rolls Royce placard from the engine - I'd seen examples at air shows. Well... it indeed was a '51. And it appeared to be the same plane I'd seen earlier. But instead of a brass RR, I discovered a rocker cover with "PACKARD" pressed into the sheet metal. Merlin engine, built by Packard under license from Rolls Royce. I did take home a couple of souvenir pieces; the wreck site had been visited by rescue personnel, but no salvage had been attempted. Indeed, some sort of tracked equipment had evidently been used to access the site. However, there wasn't much left of the pilot and passenger to rescue. Indeed, the plane - and its occupants - had fairly exploded on impact. The concussion was so great it literally cleared an area seemingly at least half the size of a football field. No fire, just pure concussion from the impact. At the time of my "visit," grasses had grown to maybe shin height; otherwise, it almost looked like a bulldozer had scraped the manzanita and scrub oak into a roughly horseshoe shaped boundary. It truly was a mess. A couple of very interesting reads below ~ I suspect the accounts of the incident are still questionable. Background Story The Pilot The Plane There were 12 of these; this was the only one that wasn't buried, broken, bent, or crushed to some extent. It was a simple matter to remove the circlip and drift the wrist pin from a totally mangled con rod. The piston then sat on my desks at work for over thirty years. Packard V-1650 Merlin engine 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 21 minutes ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said: Summer of '75 I was hunting up in @Subdeacon Joe country, a few miles north of Clearlake Oaks. I haven't lived in The Oaks for a dozen years now. But good story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watab kid Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 im not certain if i might be an=ble to find anything here except in a lake - there was one from early 1940s found in the k=last couple decades in a lake not all that far form here , but : im not necessarily going to subscribe to all of these - My answer was: First, check for human remains and any identification papers. ------------i agree Second, use the GPS on my phone to record location.--------------------------i agree Third, photograph the heck out of it ..................................................................................i agree Fourth, maybe find some small part take as a memento....................................i disagree but understand the desire Fifth, notify some military authority or national air and space museum for proper recovery........i agree ================================ If there were remains, after some prayers for the repose of the soul of the person, I'd still go through the rest of the list in order. #4 would be something not attached to the aircraft but from the ground near it.............................................i dont disagree , but im going to go one further , if there are remains its because no one else found it yet , its a place to be noted and receive certain considerations of the dead first , then all the rest can be looked at , much like a crime site , you just dont desiccate or disturb , you have some respect first , 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 19 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said: The guns would be in the wing root ( I read that) but the wings are missing. Two MG 151/20 E 20mm cannons, one in each wing near the fuselage and two MG 131 13mm machine guns, just forward of the cockpit on the top of the fuselage. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001 Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 salvage the MGs , they need to be secured don'tyaknow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 Grab a few unused rounds if any. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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