Hellcat Raised From Lake Michigan!

[WarbirdRadio]

Hello. Just an FYI...an F6F-3 Hellcat was raised from Lake Michigan this morning. The pilot Lt. Walter Elcock (now 89) will join me on Warbird Radio LIVE! - Tuesday at 10am (EASTERN). His grandson, Hunter Brawley, will also be on the show to talk about the future plans for the airplane. Pictures of the recovery Lt. Elcock are posted now at LINK: HELLCAT FEVER – Warbird Radio LIVE! – Tuesday WarbirdRadio.com

Thanks for listening! Hope to hear from some of you tomorrow during the show!

Matt Jolley
Warbird Radio

 

[Thorlifter]

Another bird for the restoration boys!

 

[Colin1]

Did all of these birds go in whilst over Michigan or were they just dumped there as surplus?

 

[DBII]

I guess it was a training loss. Does anyone know who recovered the Hellcat? The Navy has a nasty habit of claiming their old aircraft as Navy property. There might be another ownership fight brewing.

DBII

 

[ccheese]

This item made the 1700 local news tonight. Had all the info on the pilot and that sort of stuff. The story was there was a "landing mishap" while
trying to land on the USS Sable.

Charles

 

[pbfoot]

Did all of these birds go in whilst over Michigan or were they just dumped there as surplus?

The US Navy did a lot of training over the Great Lakes particularly Lake Michigan are littered with wrecks

 

[vikingBerserker]

Thanks for the headsup Matt!

 

[WarbirdRadio]

According to the pilot...the landing officer brought him in a little slow. He'll share the entire story tomorrow on Warbird Radio. Hope you enjoy! Thanks again for listening.

Matt Jolley

 

[Crimea_River]

Cool!

 

[Heinz]

very cool to see another one for the restoration team!

 

[wheelsup_cavu]

That's cool that you are able to interview the pilot.


Wheels

 

[WarbirdRadio]

I agree Wheels...Mr. Elcock was awesome. We had a really cool conversation offline as well. I'm hoping to make the drive up to ATL and record some more stories. Thanks again guys for listening to the show. Off to bed now...getting ready for another busy day.

v/r

Matt Jolley
WarbirdRadio.com