New Wreck : F8F-2 Bearcat (Imperial Beach — 60 fsw)

Intro

Tyler Stalter has, once again, located a new wreck and we have a high probability identification.

This discovery was part of the Expedition Unknown TV show so we had to keep it under wraps for a little while. The wreck is down near Imperial Beach in relatively shallow water which means that visibility is often very limited.

The wreck that we dove on the TV show is this Bearcat and it was located and identified by Tyler.

The Wreck

Tyler saw a small anomaly in the bathymetry data that lead to the discovery. You can see that it shows a slight indentation (or divot) which is typical of the wrecks that we find.

I have dove the wreck twice. Once was with the Expedition Unknown filming and the visibility was literally 1 foot. The other time we had slightly better visibility but it wasn’t great.

The wreck is largely buried in sand and is in pretty poor condition (unlike the deep Bearcat which is almost completely intact).

The signature on the sonar system is pretty obvious given how shallow the wreck is.

Photos

Given the poor visibility on both dives, photos are limited. The wings are buried in the sand but the main part of the fuselage are visible. There are some key areas that allowed us to first identify it was a Bearcat and then to narrow it down to a -2 variant.

Rear Cockpit Area

Note the sloping back of the cockpit area that is relatively unique to the Bearcat.

Fuselage, cockpit, and engine mount area

Behind the Cockpit

This is an interesting area. You can see what appears to be cockpit glass amongst the debris. Also, key to the identification of the wreck, note the assembly near the rear which we believe is a target towing mechanism similar to what Tyler found on the SBD Dauntless that helped him identify it.

Photogrammetry Model

Given the limited visibility, it wasn’t easy to build even a partial photogrammetry model. Below are some screenshots and link to the online model.

UPLOAD MODEL & LINK TO SKETCHFAB

Wreck Identification

We were pretty sure after we dive the wreck that it was a F8F Bearcat. The biggest clue is the sloping rear of the cockpit glass. You can compare the screenshot of the deeper F8F that we found with this wreck and see that they are very similar.

However, this wreck has the middle support bar on the rear canopy which was added in the -2 model of the Bearcat. An article in Tailhook Topics website has a really good comparison of the two different versions:

So, we knew we were likely looking for a F8F-2 crash somewhere near Imperial Beach. Tyler, once again, came up with a very likely identification. It is a -2 variant AND it was towing a gunnery target which is supported by the winch assembly we noticed behind the cockpit area. From the accident report that Tyler obtained it indicates “Pilot had just completed towing for gunnery fly at 15,000’….”

Below is copy of the accident report:

Note that the location “3 mi Seaward of Ream Field” matches the location of the wreck site.

We also found a database entry for the wreck:

Given all the evidence, we are relatively sure that we have located and identified F8F-2 Bureau Number 121705.

References

Tailhook Topics