Irgendwie ist die Vorstellung das eine umgerüstete Mitchell welche als Trainingsmaschine von der Air National Guard benutzt wurde und 18 Monate vor der Außerdienststellung stand, bei einen Routineflug für Geheimaufträge benutzt wurde—ist schon sehr speziell.
Die Tiefe an der Abtriebsstelle wird mit 7,6 bis 10,6 m angegeben und die Strömung die vorherrschte mit 15-18 km/h
https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/B-25-Report.pdfDie B-25 Recovery Group die sich seit 1995 um die Suche bemühen gehen davon aus das die spärlichen Überreste in einem Schotterfeld
45m vom Ufer und in 10m Tiefe unter einer 3-4 m tiefen Schlickschicht befindet. Durch die starke Verschmutzung des Flußes in den 50er Jahren dürfte die Alumninumhülle ziemlich schnell korridiert sein — max. die Motorenblöcke, Reifen und Fahrgestell könnte noch erhalten sein.
Based on the Group's research, the B-25's is buried approximately 150 feet off the left descending bank of the Mon, at mile point 4.9, at a place know to river men as Bird's Landing. Bird's Landing was once a tie-off spot for barges. Bird's Landing was also a favorite stopping place for "gravel pirates" who dredged gravel from the river and sold it to customers along the Mon, Allegheny and Ohio rivers. It was the activities of these entrepreneurs that created the open pit that would eventually be the burial site of the B-25. Somewhere in that filled in gravel pit, under 32 feet of water and 15 feet of silt lay the remains of
a B-25.
Quelle:
http://www.sennex.com/b25/Shema is confident they will find parts of the aircraft, but the thought of an eerie specter of the Pittsburgh ghost bomber rising from the Mon is doubtful. "We expect to find the engine blocks, landing gear and tires - they were all made to be bulletproof… but the rest of the plane - doubtful." Shema also said that the water quality of the Mon River in the 1950's was poor, at best. Life expectancy of any metal in the Mon's polluted water was 1/3 to ½ that of the Allegheny. "You couldn't keep an outboard motor in the water all year - the propeller would be dissolved in no time. All the aluminum [of the plane] is expected to be gone, except what may have come in contact with the bottom," Shema said. Four dives have been conducted in the Mon to date, but all they found was wood. "You don't find steel in the Mon" said Shema.
[...]
Shema continued, "The four of us would not have invested thousands of hours and significant resources for a wild goose chase. Why would someone put nerve gas, or nuclear weapons on an obsolete aircraft? The plane was an Air National Guard plane, a trainer. It was due to be retired in 18 months. It was the last day of the month and these pilots were just trying to get their flight time in."
Shema closed, "This plane simply ran out of gas".
Quelle:
https://web.archive.org/web/20130424003708/http://pittsburgh.about.com/od/transportation/a/b25_bomber_3.htm
