Downed World War II aircraft missing for 72 years discovered near Pacific islands

SAN DIEGO, May 26 (UPI) — A U.S. Navy TBM-1C Avenger torpedo bomber that was lost during World War II was found in the waters near the Pacific island nation of Palau more than 70 years after it was downed, researchers said.

The aircraft, missing since July 1944, was found concealed under the dense mangroves in the tropical waters, adding to the long list of wrecks found by Project Recover, a collaborative effort between the University of Delaware’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, and the BentProp Project. It is the sixth aircraft recovered through Project Recover. more