Aircraft Crash Investigation: Exploring an Interdisciplinary Approach to the Archaeological Study of Submerged Aircraft

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The study of submerged aircraft is relatively new, and although traditional archaeological recording methods have been effective, the wrecking event and site formation of an aircraft falling from the sky is inherently different than that of a sinking ship. Just as different vessels from varying eras and nations necessitate specialized knowledge, so too do aircraft. Aircraft crash investigators use a variety of specialized techniques to study aircraft wreckage and crash sites to piece together why a plane crashed. Learning and applying those techniques may give archaeologists a better understanding of aircraft wrecking events, the pilots, and historical context in which they operated. This presentation aims to explore the usefulness and limitations of these investigatory techniques to archaeology by using the submerged wreckage of an F6F-3 Hellcat from the battle for Saipan as a case study.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow