Designed in 1938, the Vought F4U-1 ‘Corsair’ would become the greatest American-built carrier fighter of World War II. It would also have the longest production run of any piston-engine fighter in history. The first Corsair was built in 1940, and by the time the last Corsair came off the production line in December 1952, a total of 12,571 examples of the type had been built. F4U stands for “fighter, 4th in series from Vought,” and the ‘U’ was the letter assigned by the U.S. Navy to all aircraft built by Vought. The distinctive “bent-wing” design would forever characterize the Corsair, making it one of the most easily-recognizable airplanes of all time. Almost all of the early Corsairs were given to U.S. Marine Corps squadrons, who flew them from narrow landing strips on islands scattered across the Pacific. Thanks to Baa Baa Black Sheep, a television series that aired in the mid-1970’s, the most well-known of these squadrons was VMF-214, the ‘Black Sheep Squadron’. In order to simplify the logistics pipeline in the fleet, the U.S. Navy did not use the Corsair widely on its carriers until late 1944. However, four F4U-2 night fighter Corsairs of VF(N)-101 were aboard the USS Enterprise (CV-6) during Operation Flintlock in late January 1944. Following Operation Flintlock, several Corsair squadrons were assigned to Kwajalein Atoll until the end of the war, operating from both Roi Island and Kwajalein Island. The Corsairs were tasked with the defense of Kwajalein Atoll, and attacking other atolls and islands which had been bypassed by the Americans but still held Japanese garrisons. They also served as escorts for bombers attacking the same bypassed atolls and islands. The aircraft graveyard off Mellu Island has the wreck of one Corsair, and it is BuNo 56267. The framework on the canopy is what we usually associate as a “F4U-1A” version of the Corsair. In June 1945 the plane was transferred to Combat Aircraft Service Unit (Forward) #20, or CASU-F-20, which was based on Roi Island. This plane was stricken by CASU-F-20, and it was dumped into the lagoon near Mellu Island on June 30th. How and why it ended up at Roi for disposal, instead of being disposed of at Majuro Atoll, remains a tantalizing mystery. (Text by Dan Farnham)

Artifact mapping testing via SeaArray photogrammetry December 13, 2023 5898 Images 144419x64745 Orthomosaic 0.454 mm/pix

At 9:51 a.m. July 21, 1948, a B-29 Superfortress, weighing in at 104,556 pounds, took off from China Lake, California. It traveled to a test area near Lake Mead to conduct high-altitude atmospheric research. After the last measurements were taken, the pilot took the plane a little lower. Both the pilot and co-pilot thought they were around 400 feet above the lake’s surface, but the altimeter was reportedly off. Around 12:30 p.m. traveling at 230 miles per hour, the B-29 struck the water and sank to the bottom of Lake Mead where it still lies today.

Comparison of underwater lidar and photogrammetry on the Jaluit TBD Devastator.

The SMS Cormoran II initially came to Guam in December 1914 out of coal and weary from avoiding enemies throughout the Pacific. While the US was not involved in World War I, Guam's military governor decided against refueling the vessel, but did allow the German sailors to come ashore. The Cormoran and her crew stayed in Guam for two and a half years, becoming very friendly with the people until the day the United States officially entered World War I. On that day, with the US now at war with Germany, the Guam military governor ordered Captain Adalbert Zuckschwerdt to surrender the Cormoran. Unaware of the new conditions, a supply boat returning to the Cormoran with supplies failed to stop when ordered to by US sailors who then fired a warning shot over its bow. This was the first official shot fired by the US in World War I. Rather than surrender his ship, Captain Zuckschwerdt decided it would be more patriotic to scuttle her instead, which he did. For the next 26 years, the SMS Cormoran II lay undisturbed on the sea floor, until August 27, 1943. On this day, a US submarine torpedoed the Tokai Maru, a Japanese freighter during World War II. The Tokai Maru came to rest lying perpendicular against the Cormoran. The two ships are the only place in the world where divers can touch shipwrecks from two different World Wars at the same time. Apra Harbor, Guam Sparse cloud generated with 38,642 images from the NPS SeaArray photogrammetry system Produced by the National Park Service Submerged Resources Center

Isle Royale National Park America was built to act as an excursion vessel between Michigan ports and Chicago. During this time, as many as 1,200 excursionists would be aboard. In 1902, America was purchased by the Booth Company and was moved to Lake Superior. The vessel now moved from Duluth, Minnesota, Isle Royale, to Thunder Bay, Ontario. The vessel was known for its friendly captains and prowess in the fog. On June 07, 1928, America had dropped off passengers at Washington Harbor, on the southwest side of Isle Royale. Captain Edward Smith turned the wheel over to first mate John Wick, who was new to America's crew and Isle Royale. Heading outbound of Washington Harbor, Wick clipped the vessel on a reef; luckily the engineer was able to ground the vessel in the North Gap. Captain Smith had five life boats launched and everyone, save one pet dog, was able to get off America before it sank. A portion of the bow remained above the water, before becoming fully submerged sometime following the summer of 1929. The forward cargo hold remained mostly accessible throughout this time. For several weeks after the wreck the ship's fruit cargo continually surfaced and washed ashore. Island resident Stanley Sivertson once remarked, "We ate fruit all summer". The vessel was not fully salvaged due to the oncoming Depression years. There had been multiple attempts to salvage, and eventually raise the America, however none of these were successful. This is the most popular dive site at Isle Royale. It is possible to see the affects of natural site transformation processes. Seasonal ice buildup along the shoreline of North Gap affects the shallower parts of the vessel.

This site was imaged during a October 2018 expedition with the nonprofit Air/Sea Heritage Foundation to document the largely intact wreck of a rare and historically significant US Navy Douglas TBD-1 Devastator aircraft resting at the bottom of Jaluit Lagoon in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). Of the 129 Devastators built, all were either lost in battle, destroyed in operational accidents, or scrapped before the end of World War II. Part of the ongoing “Devastator Project,” this recent expedition was developed to capture precise, repeatable, millimetric data to build an accurate 3D model as a 21st century site map for this significant cultural heritage asset; and to serve as a “pre-disturbance survey” for the proposed recovery, conservation and public exhibition of the historic plane at the National Museum of the United States Navy in Washington, DC. 1886 images, Nikon / Nauticam D5, 14mm Nikor Generated from Pix4D

Incomplete 488 million point dense cloud render from 2044 cameras. Photographed July, 2018

90 minute dive on USS Arizona stern to test NPS /Marine Imaging Technologies SeaArray. Field render (No dense cloud, no texture - sparce cloud / depth map only)

Low Res field render of the Glenlyon stern and bow located in Isle Royale National Park.