TBF-1C Avenger BuNo 47746 (Anacapa Island — 120 fsw)

Introduction

This is a well-known and previously dived and identified wreck; however, I had never personally dove it and I had been meaning to for a long time. My goal was to build a high-quality photogrammetry model to capture the current state of the wreck. I made a “rookie mistake” and forgot to re-zip my drysuit after our first dive and ended up flooding my drysuit. I decided to do the dive anyway but limited my bottom time to stay out of deco. I had so much water in my suit that it all pooled to the bottom and had enough weight such that I could barely get back on the boat.

During my research after the dive, I found a lot of incorrect information about this wreck which I will hope to clear up (and/or at least present the differing data points).

The Accident

On Feb 22, 1945 (some web sites indicate it happened in 1944), there were five airplanes off Anacapa Island practicing torpedo runs in what is called an “anvil” move. They had been practicing for about 15 minutes and had done a couple practice runs with no incidents. On the third run, two of the TBF/M airplanes collided and it was witnessed by somebody that was stationed at the nearby lighthouse. One of the planes went down on the north (leeward) side of the island and the other went down to the south on the outside of the island.

The plane on the leeward side was found quite some time ago and is the wreck that I recently dove with Danny Graham at Triton Diving. The TBM that crashed on the outside of the island has never been found and was the subject of an Expedition Unknown episode back in 2021.

The two planes that were involved in the accident were:

TBF-1 BuNo 23892 (crashed on the South side of the Island)

• Pilot : Ensign Dennis Peter Ruehle
• Russell A. Guzetta (AMM 3/c)
• Ernest A. Williams (AOM 3/c)

This is the plane that has not been located and all three men vanished at sea.

TBF-1C BuNo 47746 (crashed on the North or Leeward Side of the Island)

• Pilot: Ensign John Buckley
• Vernon R. Bergen (ARM 3/c)
• Lawrence E. Works (AMM 3/c)

According to the accident report, the plane piloted by Ensign Ruehle made an unexpected dip in flight that hadn’t been done on the previous two training runs (this was not Ruehle’s first accident – he crashed landed TBF BuNo 06071 in heavy cross-wind just a week prior which was determined to be 90% pilot error).

During that time of the unexpected dip in flight, Buckley lost site of Ruehle’s aircraft whose prop then struck the port side and elevator control of Buckley’s plane. Both planes had immediate water landings.

The three people in Ruehle’s airplane that crashed on the backside of the island were never seen and presumed dead. That airplane has never been found. In Buckley’s plane, he and the radioman Bergen both survived; however, Works bailed out when the airplane was at 400 feet altitude and his parachute didn’t open and he died.

The total from the accident were four deaths (Works, Ruehle, Guzetta, Williams).

I got copies of the accident reports which are presented below.

TBF-1C BuNo 47746 – Buckley

TBF-1 BuNo 23892 – Ruehle

War Diaries

In addition, Tyler found two war diary entries:

The Wreck (BuNo 47746)

The wreck lies about 1/4 mile off-shore on the leeward side right in the “gap” in Anacapa Island and is below a rock ledge. The rock ledge is about 90 feet deep and then there is a drop of about 30 feet to a flat, sandy area where the wreck is located. The wreck is pointed straight at the “gap” with the nose pointing south right at the island.

The wreck was discovered probably 20 years ago and used to be almost completely intact. I’m not sure who originally found the wreck or who identified it. The effects of time have definitely started to take effect with the wreck slowly collapsing and falling apart. According to Danny, the wings used to be intact and up above the sand and the engine was connected with the fuselage. Neither is true anymore.

To avoid dropping an anchor or line on the wreck itself, the safest approach is to drop it at the end of the rock cliff and then swim a short distance to the wreck.

Below is one of the first pictures I took as I was approaching the wreck after dropping down the cliff:

This photo shows Danny at the tail of the wreck. You can get a sense of size of the wreck and the deterioration.

As mentioned in the beginning, I made the mistake of not re-zipping my drysuit and I paid the price. I wanted to get at least a preliminary model so I limited my dive time and only had about 8 minutes on the wreck and took about 400 pictures for the model.

Below are some photos of a few key parts of the wreck (clockwise from the upper left) : break in the wing on the starboard side, engine, ring from the ball turret at the read of the cockpit, another view of the engine, a moray eel in the wing break on the port side, and the oil cooler.

Mysteries

Obviously, the biggest mystery is: what happened to the Ruehle’s TBM that crashed on the outer side of the island?

They dedicated an episode of Expedition Unknown trying to find it but didn’t manage to locate it. The accident report itself contains a conflict in the narrative. The eyewitness says that it crashed “400 years offshore at a true bearing of 170 degrees true” but then it says the plane “sank in about 47 fathoms (282 feet) of water. ” If you look 1/4 of a mile offshore, it is nowhere near that deep. We recently heard rumors of somebody that had dove the wreck in “280 feet of water” but no pictures or proof and we haven’t been able to talk to the actual diver.

We have looked at a few possible targets but haven’t dived anything yet.

There are also some of the “normal” inconsistencies in WW2 era reporting. For example, one of the war diary reports has the TBM that was found as BuNo 47746; however, in the database of Navy planes, that is listed as “(VT-10) attached to USS Enterprise (CV-6) lost of Truk in central Pacific Feb 17, 1944.”

The research was also hampered by some internet sites that list the accident as occurring in 1944 (it was conclusively 1945) and the standard misspelling of names (war diary had one of the deceased as “R. A. Ruzzetta” but the accident report and some newspaper articles confirm his name as “R. A. Guzzetta.”

The other interesting thing is that neither of the crashes is listed in the normally reliable accident database site that we often reference.

Such is the joy of researching WW 2 wreck sites, but it also means that other than knowing that the second TBM is somewhere on the outside side of Anacapa, we can’t really count on distances, directions, or depths so it will be very hard to find that second aircraft without the assistance of a AUV for some extended time.

Photogrammetry Model

Below is a link to the on-line photogrammetry model and some screenshots. Due to the flooded drysuit and the resulting limited time on the wreck, I didn’t quite get as many photos as I wanted but I think it came out relatively good.

Model screen captures

Thanks To…

Once again, thanks to Danny Graham for taking me out to the wreck, placing the line perfectly, and supporting my efforts to document some of the wrecks of Southern California. Thanks to Tyler, as always, for helping with the research, insight, and inspiration.