Douglas SBD Dauntless Dive Bomber Lifted from Lake Michigan

A World War II bomber that has been sitting at the bottom of Lake Michigan off the Chicago shoreline for more than 60 years was brought to the surface in June 2009.

Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor has sponsored the location, recovery, restoration, and eventual display a World War II Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber from the depths of Lake Michigan. The National Naval Aviation Museum, in coordination with the Naval History and Heritage Command, the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation, will complete the recovery portion of the effort using a crew from A&T Recovery. This recovery has been made possible through a generous donation from Fred L. Turner of Deerfield, Illinois.

"It is my honor and privilege to support this effort to present, to the American public, this portion of the history of the "Greatest Generation," whose courage and love of our country preserved America's and the world's freedom." stated Mr. Turner, "It was their sacrifices which allowed America to become such a great country and provided people such as myself the opportunities to prosper, this is a small thing I have done for the people we all owe so much."

The airplane was lost in Lake Michigan on February 18, 1944. The pilot was Lieutenant Junior Grade John Lendo of Massachusetts. LTJG Lendo later went on to serve in the Pacific Theatre of Operation where he gave the ultimate sacrifice in protecting America's freedom.

The Douglas SBD Dauntless was credited with winning the Battle of Midway and turning the tide of the Pacific war in America's favor. This airplane crashed in Lake Michigan during aircraft carrier qualification training, which was conducted on Lake Michigan during the early to mid 1940s. More than 17,000 pilots completed the training including LTJG George H. Bush, later to become U.S. President. The aircraft carriers used for training docked at Navy Pier in Chicago and the airplanes and pilots flew from Glenview Naval Air Station in Glenview, Illinois. Prior to the activities on Lake Michigan this SBD-2 (2173) Dauntless served with the very distinguished US Navy Aircraft Carriers USS Enterprise (CV_6) and the USS Yorktown (CV-5).




Visit www.PacificAviationMuseum.org for more information.

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