Multi-Image Photogrammetry for Long-Term Site Monitoring: A Study of Two Submerged F8F Bearcats

Summary

Underwater aviation resources in the Gulf of Mexico near Pensacola, Florida are numerous due to a longstanding presence of the U.S. Navy’s first Naval Air Station. Throughout the years, training aircraft were lost at sea during periods of both conflict and of peace. The F8F Bearcat, a carrier-based fighter aircraft, was introduced too late to participate in World War II, but was used at NAS Pensacola as a carrier qualification trainer. This paper presents steps taken to utilize and test photogrammetric methods to monitor two submerged F8F Bearcats lost during training missions. Because aircraft submerged in salt water are subject to high rates of degradation, these methods present an opportunity to test photogrammetric field methods on resources that may be quickly disappearing. Various field and post-processing impediments to photogrammetric site monitoring are discussed, and approaches to solving these problems are considered.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Setbacks and Solutions Within Archaeology   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2017

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

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PaperId(s): 398