About
Us
The
UB88 Project began in early 2001 as a collaboration
between Gary Fabian and Ray Arntz to locate the
elusive WWI German submarine
UB88.
The story of that collaboration, through the discovery
of the sub, the addition of deep divers Kendall Raine
and John Walker, photo documentation of the sub and
reproduction of rare photographs and wartime records,
is recounted on this website.
What began as a search for one sunken vessel has evolved
into a quest to locate other “lost” submerged
wrecks. Sometimes this involves solving mysteries
surrounding their crews and bringing closure to families,
some of whom have wondered for decades as to the fate of
their loved ones. These wrecks are both ships and
aircraft. Each is afforded a section on the UB88.org
website and we have compiled histories of the crews, the
loss of the craft, history of the respective search
efforts and photo documentation of the craft then and
now.
From Gary and Ray’s work on the UB88 came a growing
collaboration with aircraft archaeologist Pat Macha
(aircraftwrecks.com).
Pat’s work centers on finding lost aircraft,
civilian and military, in the mountain and desert
regions of California. Working with Pat, the Project
is in its fifth year of trying to locate the remains
of Gertrude Tompkins Silver and her North
American P-51 Mustang
which
went missing in 1944 - presumably in Santa Monica Bay.
During the search for the missing P-51D, the Project
located, identified and documented the wreck site of a
Lockheed T-33 Shooting
Star in
Santa Monica Bay which went missing on a training
flight in 1955. Pat also collaborated on the
Project’s location and documentation of
the Convair
B-36 Peacemaker
lost
off San Diego, CA in 1952.
We
maintain active search efforts for other submerged wrecks
off the Southern California coast and publish our finds
from time to time.
In the eight years since the inception of the Project,
the UB88 team has been privileged to work with some truly
wonderful people who’s interests and skills have
added immeasurably to our efforts to bring forgotten
corners of history to light. Those individuals are
mentioned throughout the various sections of this
website. Though the disciplines of these respective
individuals differs, the unifying element is a thirst for
discovery, adventure and a desire, when possible, to help
others resolve painful questions about the disappearance
of relatives.
We are committed to respect the dignity of the sites we
document and remember that the remains of these machines
are in some cases grave sites. As such, we don’t
disclose the locations of these sites to the public or
disturb the sites or collect artifacts. While there are a
few, particularly in the tech diving community, who
resent this non-disclosure decision, we think it’s
the right thing to do.
We welcome you to our website and hope you will find the
histories and adventures described here interesting and
inspiring. We look forward to the opportunity to work
with other like-minded individuals and teams on future
projects.
Team Bio's
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