Dec. 1, 2009.
Hunter Brawley, grandson of the plane's pilot, Lt. Walter B. Elcock, was instructed by his grandfather to look for a pack of Lucky Strikes that he left when he crashed into the lake. Elcock said he brought the plane in too fast and low to the aircraft carrier and lost his lift.
He landed on the carrier (USS Wolverine?) and broke one wing on the catwalk and hung over the side for ten or fifteen minutes before falling into Lake Michigan.
The Coast Guard picked him up right away.
Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation built the Hellcats for the Navy. David Grumman said his father designed the folding wings based on a paperclip-eraser design.
Some 12,500 were made from 1942 to 1945. At peak production, one was made every 20 minutes.
Lost and Found. --GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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