First
Video
B-36D
49-2661
Video footage recorded aboard SUNDIVER
II
with a tethered underwater camera.
October 2008
This is the first video footage recorded of San Diego's
lost B-36 Peacemaker. The wreck site is a massive debris
field, understandable considering the violent impact and
explosion that occurred when the aircraft struck the water
in a steep nose-down attitude. Contrary to popular belief,
the aircraft is not spread over large distances. As
the crash photos suggest,
the wreck site is quite compact spanning a distance of
about 350 ft in diameter.
The most notable feature in the video is a brief glimpse of
a seat sitting upright on the seabed. The seat appears to
still be attached to it's sliding track. Upon close
examination, the seat is likely the pilot or copilot seat.
If it turns out to be the copilot seat then this is the
very seat that Pilot Dave Franks was sitting in when the
plane went down 56 years ago.
Other features include the forward landing gear, a pair of
20mm cannons, large pieces of aircraft skin with circular
openings, one engine, several propeller blades, an empty
propeller hub, a single main landing gear tire, electrical
wiring and innumerable pieces of wreckage.
Capt. Ray Arntz, John Walker and myself worked together to
record this footage on October 28, 2008 aboard the dive
boat SUNDIVER II
out of
Long Beach, California.