Remains to Recover? The Havoc A-20 Deep Ocean Investigation, May 2023

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Beyond the Battlefield: The Search for World War II’s Missing in Action by DPAA and Its Partners", at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

On 29 September 1941, a Havoc A-20 bomber aircraft departed the island of O`ahu for a routine training mission. Following engine failure, the plane crashed into the ocean, and the pilot and observer were lost. In March 2011, researchers from the Hawai`i Undersea Research Laboratory located the wreckage area hundreds of meters beneath the surface. However, the detailed survey remained pending. What happens to a WWII-era aircraft that suffers this fate, and what is the potential for preservation of human remains and their possible recovery from the deep ocean? In 2023 the E/V Nautilus and Ocean Exploration Trust (OET) conducted a non-invasive site survey, supported by the Partnerships and Innovation Directorate of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), and NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries provided the field archaeologist. The research mission (May 10-11) initiated new partnerships between OET and NOAA and DPAA, demonstrating mutual benefits of collaboration in research.  

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2024   •
• Beyond the Battlefield: The Search for World War II’s Missing in Action by DPAA and Its Partners

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow