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This site lies near the bridge linking Arakabesan
and Koror, in a small debris field that includes landing gear.
I had traveled by this location many times without noticing the wreckage.
However, while reviewing a report on American wreck sites conducted by
the American Graves Registration Unit from 1947, I noticed a mention of
their finding wreckage of a Corsair at that
same location. According to the report, the Japanese had buried the aviator's
body but the Graves Unit could make no identification of the aircraft
nor person. Interestingly, after-action reports have not been thus far
illuminating in suggesting a specific mission linked to this crash site.
The aviator's name remains a mystery.
During the 2000 P-MAN II expedition, Greg Kovacs
took this underwater photo at the site. Three months later, based on this
photograph, Reid Joyce positively identified the tailwheel assembly as
belonging to a TBM / TBF (not a Corsair). This doesn't disprove
the Graves Unit's assertion that there is Corsair wreckage here (that
could be true, too), but this tailwheel is definitely from an Avenger.
 The
evidence that this is a TBM component came from a comparison between Greg's
underwater photo and a portion of a TBM photo that Reid found in NASA's
archives. We've prepared a 543KB
RealMedia (.rm) movie that morphs back and forth between the NASA
TBM photo and the underwater photo. There's also a 1,462KB
QuickTime movie (.mov) version of this convincing evidence. As
you view either movie, pick out a spot on the assembly (for example, the
wheel, a strut, or a bolt head) and focus on it as the picture moves back
and forth between the wreck and the file photo.
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