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This is a search for three individuals.

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All three have been missing from their families for over 70 years.

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This is kind of a smoking gun.

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If this is accurate, then 400 yards out, there should be a lost World War II plane.

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These are AUVs, autonomous underwater vehicles.

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Okay, let's do it.

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We got something, we got structure.

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Oh, this is incredible.

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Look at that!

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Unbelievable, what a thrill.

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I got it, I see the wreck.

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Absolutely incredible.

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No one left behind.

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That's the pledge we make to American soldiers willing to sacrifice their lives for our country.

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In World War II alone, more than 75,000 servicemen were listed as missing in action.

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But not tallied in that number are the more than 18,000 airmen who died in fatal training and aviation accidents.

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Most of them right here in the USA.

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This is the story of three of those young men, the baffling mystery surrounding their disappearance and the effort to bring them home.

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February 1945, a squadron of Avenger bombers is on a training mission near California's Channel Islands,

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when suddenly two of the planes collide and crash into the Pacific.

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One of those planes is never found.

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Its three-man crew, pilot Dennis Ruhl and crewman Russell Guzetta and Ernest Williams vanish, never to be seen again.

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Now, in a race against time and the elements, a group of scientists and archaeologists called Project Recover

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is using the latest deep-sea tech to reconstruct the accident and mount a search to find the lost Avenger in the depths of the Pacific.

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My mission is to join them and uncover what happened on that fateful day

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and to hunt for the final resting place of three servicemen who have waited three-quarters of a century to be brought home.

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My name is Josh Gates.

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Hello!

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Explorer.

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Adventurer.

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This is sick!

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And a guy who ends up in some very strange situations.

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Whoo! That was exciting!

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With a degree in archaeology and a passion for the unexplained, I travel to the ends of the Earth, investigating the greatest legends in history.

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Day, let's punch it!

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This is Expedition Unknown.

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I am driving in an authentic Willie's Jeep.

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This iconic four-wheel drive vehicle replaced the military's literal workhorses, the draft animals that were used during World War I.

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And it was so popular that Willie's manufactured more than 350,000 of these during World War II.

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I am headed toward La Jolla, California, to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and the beginning of an expedition in search of a lost World War II-era plane and a mystery 75 years into making.

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Founded in 1903, Scripps is one of the oldest and most important Earth science centers on the planet.

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I'm here to meet Scripps Lab Director and Project Recover Co-Founder, Dr. Eric Terrell.

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Hey Josh!

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Hey, nice to meet you man.

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Thanks for coming.

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This place is stunning.

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Scripps is a global institution, looking at sea level rise.

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We are studying ocean waves, the forecasting of the ocean.

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So what it has to do with the ocean, Scripps is on it.

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We're on it.

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And I take it these are some of the tools of the trade here?

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Yes, AUVs.

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Autonomous underwater vehicle.

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We can go out and sample a thousand football fields in one deployment.

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Wow.

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This is revolutionizing what we do here at Scripps.

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Things we never dreamed of a decade ago we're doing now.

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These sonar equipped torpedo bots are transforming deep sea exploration,

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allowing scientists to map Earth's final frontier, the ocean.

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I got to see them in action while searching for Gertrude Tompkins,

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another missing World War II pilot whose story inspired me to seek out more of our nation's lost heroes.

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And among the many missions that you're associated with is this thing called Project Recover.

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Yes.

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We've conducted over 50 missions in 20 different countries,

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looking explicitly for missing in action associated with past conflicts.

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Incredible.

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Project Recover scours the globe for American MIAs with one objective, to bring them home.

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Their efforts have led to the discovery of more than 30 World War II wrecks

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associated with more than 100 missing servicemen who made the ultimate sacrifice.

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More than a dozen of these individuals have been repatriated,

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giving long awaited closure to their families.

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Josh, why don't we go upstairs and I'll show you the next mission we're getting ready for.

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I would love to. Come on, please.

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Eric leads me to the aptly named Viz Room.

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Welcome to our operations center.

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I mean, this is like mission control.

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It is.

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You launched the space shuttle from in here.

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We can at least track it.

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Right. There you go.

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This is unbelievable.

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So when we talk about American MIAs, how many are still out there?

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Josh, the numbers are staggering.

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83,000 missing in action since World War II up to their present.

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83,000?

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For instance, let's take a look at this map here, Josh.

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We've got maps of cases just in the European Mediterranean Theater.

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Each one of these dots represents a case file.

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So these are all potential missions?

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Yes.

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And some of them aren't even on the Defense Department's radar.

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The U.S. doesn't recognize people who got lost during training accidents.

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They're not counted as MIAs.

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They're not counted as MIA.

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So if you're in a training accident, you are not listed as missing in action,

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even though your body was never found and brought home to your family.

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And how many people are we talking about?

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Where you have about 18,000 individuals that were lost in training accidents.

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Really?

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And does that also mean that nobody's looking for those people?

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It's currently not on the search list for the U.S. government.

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And in fact, a lot of these cases in our own backyard.

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So as we spin the globe here, we're going to bring you into Southern California.

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Yellow dots here represent training accidents that our team's been able to uncover for the last year.

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Project Recovers' next mission, and one of its most mysterious, is here,

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off of California's Anacapa Island.

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These two targets here represent a mid-air collision between two torpedo bombers.

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On the morning of February 22, 1945, a squadron of Avengers took off from the naval air station in Oxnard, California.

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Each plane had a three-man crew on board.

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Flying over Anacapa Island, they were practicing torpedo runs critical to the war effort,

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when two of the planes collided.

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According to a report by the commanding officer, pilot Dennis P. Ruhl's plane ducked suddenly,

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and then flew right up into the aircraft of pilot John Buckley.

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Ruhl's plane went down south of the island, and Buckley's plane crashed to the north,

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where he and another crew member survived.

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That wreckage has now been located.

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The second plane on the southern side of the island, it's never been found.

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Josh, this is a search for three individuals.

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We've got the pilot Dennis Ruhl, we've got the bomber Ernest Williams,

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and we've got the radio men Russ Guzetta.

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All three have been missing from their families for over 70 years.

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Dennis Ruhl's family received the following message from the commander of his unit.

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I realize how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to comfort you.

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Exhaustive searches were initiated, but no report of his recovery was made.

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A month after the accident, Russell Guzetta's bereaved parents contacted their local paper,

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noting that no details of the crash were released.

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A desperate appeal for more information on the fate of their missing son.

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Now, 75 years later, project recover hopes to answer that plea.

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If they collided in midair, one would think, well, it must be close to the plane that's been recovered, right?

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You would think big airplane, bigger ocean.

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Look how long it took to find that Titanic.

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We still haven't found Malaysian air.

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And to be honest, nobody's been really charged with that mission to go after these training losses.

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So the question is, how do you find it?

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So the way we're going to find this is using not only all that high-tech equipment that I showed you downstairs,

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but we really got to do due diligence in all the historical documents to really set up our search areas.

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To understand the crash itself.

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Exactly. Before we can undertake our mission, we have to really understand in all detail their mission on that fateful day.

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In order to solve the mystery of the missing Avenger, I need to get in front of one and decipher the accident itself.

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Luckily, there happens to be an Avenger just 20 minutes down the coast on the deck of the USS Midway.

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Commissioned in 1945, this 1,000-foot-long airport on the ocean served until 1992,

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offering critical support during the Vietnam War and as the flagship in Operation Desert Storm.

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Now, like a lot of 76-year-olds, she's retired to sunny San Diego.

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I head down the flight deck to meet historian and naval veteran Carl Zingheim.

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Carl.

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Hey.

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Hey, Josh.

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How are you, man?

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Welcome aboard.

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Hey, thank you. Happy to be here. And look at this, the Avenger.

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You know, my first reaction to being up close to it is how big it is.

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I think the photos don't really do it justice.

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This is the largest single-engine aircraft to routinely operate in World War II at squadron strength.

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Why so big?

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You needed a big engine to do a big job, and quite literally, they start with a large R-2600 engine and built the rest of the airplane around it.

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Right. And that big job, I assume, is dropping these.

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That's a 2,000-pound torpedo, a delicate instrument in its own right.

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And it is live, right? This is leftover.

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It better not be.

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So, okay, I get it. You need a lot of power, and it looks like a pretty big wingspan to pull that off.

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How important was this plane to the U.S. in World War II?

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Critically important. This was a huge step up for naval aviation at the time, because now you finally had a torpedo plane that could keep up with the other aircraft so you could have a combined strike.

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Previous torpedo plane was just too slow, and you had disjointed attacks.

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With a top speed of about 275 miles per hour, the powerful Avenger lived up to its name, raining fire and fury on Japan's Navy.

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They sank the super battleships Yamato and Musashi, as well as 30 submarines to help win the war in the Pacific.

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But the torpedo bomber's most innovative feature was its signature Stow Wing.

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How cool is that?

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Awesome, isn't it?

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Oh, my word.

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Look at that.

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That's so badass.

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Probably one of the cleverest ways of putting an aircraft away on a carrier deck.

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For deployment on aircraft carriers, including this one, it cuts the plane's 54-foot wingspan in half when they move it below deck.

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Let's talk about this incident out at Anacapa, right?

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I'm trying to understand this. We know there was a mid-air collision out there.

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Do you suspect that that might be because of how the aircraft flies or because of what they were trying to do with it?

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It's a very forgiving aircraft to fly.

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It's got such a large wing area, you don't have much to worry about in terms of instability or losing control of the aircraft.

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It probably was down to what they were attempting to practice.

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The dropping a torpedo under combat conditions is the most demanding attack in all of naval aviation.

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Even in a big, stable bomber like the Avenger, delivering a torpedo on target took some serious skill.

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The torpedo is still the most potent single weapon of destruction against enemy shipping, but only if used properly.

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And according to reports from the Anacapa Island crash, pilots Ruhl and Buckley were perfecting a complicated new attack called an Anvil Maneuver.

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Squadrons of bombers would approach a ship from both sides so that whichever way the ship turned, it faced a torpedo strike.

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So the planes are flying kind of toward each other?

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Essentially.

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It does seem like understanding that maneuver is the key to figuring out both the collision and where these planes crashed.

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We could speculate all day about what happened, but to really understand it, you have to fly in one.

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Which I assume is impossible. I don't think this thing's lifting off the deck anytime soon. How many of these are even left?

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Maybe a handful, but one of those is nearby.

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That flies?

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That flies.

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What's it like to be a new pilot flying an 80-year-old Avenger? I'm about to find out.

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I meet pilot John Maloney on the wing as he makes final preparations for takeoff.

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How you doing?

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Good, how you doing?

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I'm Josh.

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John, how you doing?

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Great to meet you. You want a fly or am I flying?

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No, it's probably better.

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Probably best if you fly, John.

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Alright.

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I'll be back here, yeah?

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Yeah.

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Like a glove.

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I squeeze into the navigator's seat, thankful that I'm not in the even more claustrophobic tailgunner position.

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Whoa, look at this!

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It's rock and roll.

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This historic aircraft is about to fly its first mission in decades.

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Our directive?

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To reconstruct the accident, to learn how it happened,

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and solve the mystery of where the lost Avenger lies.

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Unbelievable! This is sick!

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Ah!

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In 1945, two Avenger torpedo bombers collided off the coast of California's Anacapa Island.

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One of them, and its three-man crew, is still missing.

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Now, I'm flying in an identical plane to investigate the crash and find the lost Avenger.

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This thing gets up near fast.

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Yeah, I thought it was about that six-wheels wing.

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It's got a big engine there too.

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Unbelievable!

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Packing a whopping 1,800 horsepower, the Avenger's right R2600 twin-cyclone engine has us cruising above the clouds in no time.

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There's a better view than this, I haven't seen it.

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Oh, amazing!

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This is sick!

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Huh!

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It really does feel staple.

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I mean, it's just an absolutely smooth ride up here in this thing.

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It lets the facility when you drop a car on it.

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It's like riding in a Cadillac up here. I mean, it's smooth.

231
00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:50,000
Affectionately nicknamed the Turkey, the Avenger was built like a truck, and she handles like one.

232
00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:54,000
Go ahead, grab that stick to feel how heavy that thing is.

233
00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:58,000
And I'm flying an Avenger.

234
00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:04,000
You can't see it, John, but I'm current from here to here.

235
00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:10,000
Somebody pinched me. I am actually piloting an airplane from World War II.

236
00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:15,000
And John wasn't kidding about the heavy stick. This bird could use some power steering.

237
00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:18,000
Do you want to grab someone's arm?

238
00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:23,000
Unbelievable! What a thrill!

239
00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:24,000
What a thrill!

240
00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:31,000
Okay, she's all yours.

241
00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:35,000
You're flying an Avenger for a big project.

242
00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:37,000
Plus, it's luggage.

243
00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:39,000
That's something that is really interesting, right?

244
00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:42,000
Because I guess every design advantage is also a disadvantage.

245
00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:49,000
And one of the disadvantages of these big, beautiful wings is they really hurt your sight lines underneath you.

246
00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:54,000
It's easy to see how the plane's design may have contributed to the accident.

247
00:16:54,000 --> 00:17:02,000
We know from declassified reports that a squadron of pilots were practicing a newly devised attack called the Anvil Torpedo Maneuver.

248
00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:07,000
Suddenly, one of the planes, being flown by Dennis Ruhl, did something unexpected.

249
00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:13,000
We know that Ruhl's plane, the Avenger that's lost, dipped out of the formation.

250
00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:15,000
He must have something going on in the cockpit.

251
00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:23,000
I was thinking the same thing. Maybe he was already struggling with some sort of problem with the plane and that's why he dipped down.

252
00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:29,000
Whatever the cause, the aircraft suddenly disappeared from the view of the nearest plane, flown by John Buckley.

253
00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:37,000
So when Ruhl's plane dipped out of formation, Buckley would have had almost no ability to see where he was underneath him.

254
00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:39,000
Yeah, he was having a hard time.

255
00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:45,000
Then Ruhl pulls back up, smashing his plane into Buckley's tail section.

256
00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:51,000
He collides with Buckley's plane, that's what causes the accident.

257
00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:57,000
It's strange that he would have done that because he must have had a clear view coming up on Buckley's tail.

258
00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:59,000
He's probably distracted from where he was.

259
00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:04,000
How bad would the damage have to have been to the tail section to just take this thing out completely?

260
00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:09,000
The elevator's taken out and you lose the ability to rotate the plane.

261
00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:13,000
So you have to take one hit, but it's not as it's called.

262
00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:18,000
Unable to recover, both Avengers crash into the Pacific.

263
00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:30,000
Buckley manages to escape, but Dennis Ruhl and his crew, Ernest Williams and Russell Guzetta, disappear, never to be seen again.

264
00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:36,000
I really have a whole different view on this accident now that I'm up here.

265
00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:44,000
We're searching for a lost adventure, but we're also searching for these three individuals to sit where they sat and what is effectively an identical aircraft.

266
00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:46,000
It really pricks it home.

267
00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:52,000
I now have a better sense of how the accident happened.

268
00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:57,000
After all, finding a wingman suddenly lost below you is nearly impossible.

269
00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:03,000
As for what happened inside Rules Cockpit, that I'm less certain of.

270
00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:16,000
To dive deeper into this cold case, I get back on the road and drive 200 miles north up the Pacific coast from San Diego to Ventura, California.

271
00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:22,000
There, I take a ferry to Anacapa Island and paddle out to the scene of the accident.

272
00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:26,000
Welcome to the Channel Islands.

273
00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:33,000
These eight lonely spits of land are perched just off the coast of Southern California.

274
00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:48,000
They're absolutely stunning, but this could also be a place of wild oceans and terrible storms, which is why these islands are home to more than 300 reported shipwrecks and airplane crashes.

275
00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:56,000
I'm out here to meet Project Recover Historian Colin Colburn, who's asked me to meet him up there at the old lighthouse.

276
00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:00,000
Now all I need to do is figure out how to get up there.

277
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:03,000
Probably an elevator out here, right?

278
00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:14,000
Surrounded on all sides by 200-foot cliffs, the only way on or off the island is a steep and seemingly endless staircase.

279
00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:20,000
You got this! You got this!

280
00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:28,000
Okay. Okay, where's the lighthouse?

281
00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:30,000
Oh, come on!

282
00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:42,000
Aside from tens of thousands of birds and a lonely ranger station, no permanent residents have called Anacapa home since the lighthouse was automated in 1966.

283
00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:50,000
Project Recover Historian Colin Colburn has asked me to meet him here to reveal new intel that could make or break our search.

284
00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:53,000
Hey Josh, good to see you as well.

285
00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:54,000
You're a hard man to find.

286
00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:59,000
I know, I dragged you all the way up here to Anacapa Island because this is where the accident actually happened.

287
00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:01,000
Right here in this airspace?

288
00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:02,000
Absolutely.

289
00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:06,000
And I'm guessing that Anacapa today probably looks a lot like it looked in 45?

290
00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:07,000
Absolutely does.

291
00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:09,000
Most of these structures are exactly the same.

292
00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:13,000
Including this lighthouse up here, which was the Coast Guard Lookout Station.

293
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:20,000
Having had a chance now to fly in one of these planes, I have a sense of the way they were maneuvering up there. You're the historian though.

294
00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:22,000
How does history help us unlock this case?

295
00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:28,000
I've made a pretty big break and we were able to actually locate the accident report. This is it, right here.

296
00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:29,000
So where was this?

297
00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:32,000
These are actually held at the National Archives. Wow!

298
00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:38,000
So the report actually reveals what happened to the two aircraft in the collision from Ensign Buckley.

299
00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:39,000
His own statement.

300
00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:40,000
That's right.

301
00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:44,000
You don't get more eyewitness than a statement from the guy that was hit by the missing plane.

302
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:45,000
Absolutely.

303
00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:49,000
Buckley's statement confirms the second hand accounts of the crash.

304
00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:54,000
Rules propeller hit the tail of his plane, critically damaging both aircraft.

305
00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:57,000
But there's an even bigger revelation in the accident report.

306
00:21:57,000 --> 00:21:59,000
There were eyewitnesses.

307
00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:07,000
Coast Guard officers on duty in the lighthouse watched as the stricken Avengers collided and went down on either side of the island.

308
00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:15,000
The other incredible thing that we get from this accident report are the actual compass bearings and distances offshore,

309
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:18,000
where these Avengers crash from the perspective of the Coast Guard in the lighthouse.

310
00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:19,000
That's huge.

311
00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:26,000
It's absolutely huge. Ensign Buckley's plane crashed 300 degrees from the lighthouse about 100 yards offshore.

312
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:27,000
And so where is that?

313
00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:28,000
So that's actually right out that way.

314
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:29,000
Right that way?

315
00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:30,000
Yes.

316
00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:32,000
Okay, so Buckley's plane goes down over there.

317
00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:34,000
That's a known wreck somewhere out there.

318
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:44,000
But when it comes to the lost Avenger, the accident report says Ensign Ruhl's plane did not recover in any manner and made a glide straight into the water about 400 yards,

319
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:49,000
bearing 170 degrees true from Anacapa Island lighthouse.

320
00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:51,000
It's actually right out that way.

321
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:52,000
That way.

322
00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:54,000
This is kind of a smoking gun.

323
00:22:54,000 --> 00:23:02,000
If this is accurate, then 400 yards out on that bearing, there should be a lost World War II plane right out there, 400 yards offshore.

324
00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:16,000
I'm searching for an Avenger torpedo bomber that collided with its wingman and disappeared off of Anacapa Island.

325
00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:25,000
Historian Colin Colburn just made a huge break in the case, unearthing an eyewitness account of where the lost Avenger went down.

326
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:27,000
This is kind of a smoking gun.

327
00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:35,000
If this is accurate, then 400 yards out on that bearing, there should be a lost World War II plane right out there, 400 yards offshore.

328
00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:38,000
So where does that leave us?

329
00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:42,000
Well, from here we can actually test the accuracy of these eyewitness reports.

330
00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:45,000
And we can do that because we know where Buckley's plane is.

331
00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:47,000
We have a baseline sitting out there.

332
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:48,000
Absolutely.

333
00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:53,000
Diving the known wreck may help us solve the mystery of the lost Avenger.

334
00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:58,000
Does the distance from shore and bearing off the lighthouse match the Coast Guard account?

335
00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:03,000
And is the damage to the tail of the plane consistent with Buckley's description of the collision?

336
00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:10,000
Okay, so we start with the known wreck and then take that data and hopefully find the lost wreck.

337
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:11,000
That's the hope.

338
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:12,000
All right.

339
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:15,000
To help with that, Project Recover has arranged a vessel to take you out there.

340
00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:16,000
Bigger than my kayak?

341
00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:18,000
Slightly bigger than your kayak.

342
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:24,000
Colin wasn't kidding.

343
00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:28,000
Project Recover is working off of the research vessel Shearwater.

344
00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:38,000
This 62-foot catamaran was custom built by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration to conduct mapping and research in the Channel Islands.

345
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:47,000
We motor out to the coordinates of the known Avenger wreck, where I link back up with Project Recover co-founder Eric Terrell and his team on the top deck.

346
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:50,000
Hey, Josh, let me introduce you to Heidi.

347
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:51,000
Hey, an analyst.

348
00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:52,000
Nice to meet you.

349
00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:53,000
Pleasure.

350
00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:54,000
Andrew, our lead archaeologist.

351
00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:55,000
Nice to meet you as well.

352
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:58,000
So, okay, directly underneath us should be an Avenger.

353
00:24:58,000 --> 00:24:59,000
That's correct.

354
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:09,000
Accidentally discovered by divers, the location of the wreck was officially catalogued by the National Park Service in 1996.

355
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:11,000
Let's start by talking about where we are.

356
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:15,000
We've got Anacapa Island right here, and there's our lighthouse.

357
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:19,000
So the report puts the wreck at 300-degree bearing.

358
00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:22,000
Kind of take a look at where we are right here.

359
00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:27,000
We see that the bearing lines up almost perfectly to what the historical report is telling us.

360
00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:29,000
And the distance from the lighthouse?

361
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:31,000
The distance in the wreck is as 100 yards.

362
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:35,000
Now, I'm no expert, but we are way more than 100 yards from that lighthouse.

363
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:36,000
Way more.

364
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:38,000
We are sitting at about 1800 yards from the lighthouse.

365
00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:40,000
Okay, so that's off by a factor of 18.

366
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:41,000
Yes.

367
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:42,000
So that's hugely inaccurate.

368
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:43,000
Big time.

369
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:44,000
This is really common.

370
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:46,000
Fog of war, chaos.

371
00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:48,000
The angles are often very accurate.

372
00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:51,000
Distances are generally horribly wrong.

373
00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:55,000
So what does this data tell us about the lost Avenger on the other side of the island?

374
00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:58,000
It's probably going to be on an accurate bearing on that side,

375
00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:00,000
but we probably want to think about moving a greater distance from shore

376
00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:02,000
than what the historical record is telling us.

377
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:05,000
Right, because that distance may be just as inaccurate over there.

378
00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:06,000
Exactly.

379
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:08,000
So in terms of the known wreck underneath us, what's the plan?

380
00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:10,000
Well, we would love to get some imagery.

381
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:14,000
And if we can get a lot of very high resolution photographs that overlap in all directions,

382
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:19,000
then we can use photogrammetry, which is a technique which will allow us to align those photos

383
00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:23,000
and give us a 3D representation, a model of what the wreck looks like today.

384
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:24,000
Got it.

385
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:27,000
Get lots of photos of the wreck, use that to build a 3D model.

386
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:29,000
Exactly, and that information will allow us to be able to understand

387
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:32,000
if the crash site really is consistent with the wreck reports.

388
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:35,000
So, Heidi, you're diving down or?

389
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:36,000
The water is a little cold.

390
00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:37,000
I think it's your turn.

391
00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:38,000
Yeah.

392
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:42,000
We've only just met, Heidi, but you're really catching on to how this always goes for me.

393
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:49,000
I gear up and dive in.

394
00:26:55,000 --> 00:27:01,000
The frigid water bites through my thick wetsuit, but the real danger of this dive is depth.

395
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:06,000
The plane rests at nearly 120 feet, which means I only have a limited amount of bottom time

396
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:09,000
before I have to surface to avoid decompression sickness.

397
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:12,000
I've got to make every second count.

398
00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:15,000
Josh, do you copy?

399
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:19,000
I am not so copy, and I am following the anchor line down.

400
00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:22,000
How's the view? How's the water temp?

401
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:25,000
The water is freezing. Visibility is not great.

402
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:28,000
Maybe 10 or 15 feet tops.

403
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:31,000
Not able to see the bottom at this point.

404
00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:33,000
Keep heading down the anchor line.

405
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:36,000
We're really close to the wreck. You should see it right away.

406
00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:41,000
Top sign, this is Josh. I am approaching the bottom.

407
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:44,000
No sign of the wreck.

408
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:47,000
Josh, we're about 10 yards from the wreck to the west.

409
00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:50,000
So just keep coming that direction, and you should point it.

410
00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:54,000
Copy that. I'll leave the anchor line and head on the line. Stand by.

411
00:27:56,000 --> 00:28:02,000
Besides a lone crab, who is definitely not happy to see me, this place is a desert.

412
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:08,000
Did we anchor too far off the target? The clock is ticking. I have to find this plane.

413
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:13,000
I got it. I see the wreck.

414
00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:22,000
Absolutely incredible.

415
00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:29,000
Josh, what's the condition?

416
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:32,000
The condition is amazing, actually.

417
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:35,000
The entire aircraft appears to be here.

418
00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:41,000
Both wings are attached. You can clearly make out the fuselage.

419
00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:44,000
It's in great shape, considering what it's been through.

420
00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:49,000
All right, good copy. Go ahead and take your photographs. You've got limited time at the bottom.

421
00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:05,000
The thousands of photographs I take will be digitally stitched together to create a 3D model for detailed forensic study topside.

422
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:12,000
The outline of the plane is so clean, all the big sections of intermissing, the whole fuselage section is collapsed in.

423
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:17,000
Not surprising, given it's a lot of aluminum and just natural degradation down there.

424
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:22,000
I've circled the plane a couple times. I got a couple photos here.

425
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:24,000
Hey Josh, how's your bottom time?

426
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:28,000
I've only got a couple of minutes left before I'm going to need to start surfacing.

427
00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:33,000
Copy that. Be sure to focus on the tail section if you can. That's where it was hit.

428
00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:37,000
We'll do, I'll take another pass on the tail, and then I'm coming up.

429
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:44,000
There's not much left. It's really just an impression. I'll document everything I can.

430
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:45,000
Yeah.

431
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:03,000
As I move in close, I'm struck that this is more than just a wreck. It's a memorial.

432
00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:12,000
The pilot and radio man survived the crash, but tail gunner Lawrence Werks didn't make it.

433
00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:18,000
The round impression at the rear of the cockpit is all that's left of the turret where he sat.

434
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:26,000
Okay, topside, I am headed to the surface. I'll meet you at the back of the boat.

435
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:28,000
Copy that.

436
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:37,000
After a brief decompression stop on the anchor line, I make my way to the surface.

437
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:41,000
Hey Josh, how'd the dive go?

438
00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:50,000
Oh man, spectacular. All this talk about these two Avengers, where they were, the men that were in them,

439
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:58,000
to go down there and see one of them, takes the whole thing from a story to a piece of history, really.

440
00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:03,000
No, I get it, Josh. Seeing those wrecks in person just really connects you to the site.

441
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:05,000
Really powerful to see it down there.

442
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:08,000
Great, let's get you on board and let's start data processing.

443
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:14,000
While I dry off, Heidi begins rendering the photos of Buckley's Avenger.

444
00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:20,000
A few hours later, we head inside the cabin to take a look.

445
00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:23,000
Okay, Heidi, what do we got?

446
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:26,000
Well, you collected a whole bunch of images and they look amazing.

447
00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:27,000
We got good data.

448
00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:29,000
We did. It looks really good. You want to see it?

449
00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:30,000
Yes, I'm dying to see it.

450
00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:31,000
Here we go.

451
00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:36,000
After nearly eight decades of silence, the known wreck has a new story to tell,

452
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:40,000
revealing clues that could lead us to the lost Avenger.

453
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:43,000
This is incredible.

454
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:44,000
Look at that.

455
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:55,000
I've joined forces with Project Recover to hunt for a World War II Avenger torpedo bomber.

456
00:31:57,000 --> 00:31:59,000
I got it. I see the wreck.

457
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:03,000
After photographing the known wreck of the plane it crashed into,

458
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:08,000
a forensic 3D model has been constructed that might lead us to the missing plane.

459
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:10,000
We got good data.

460
00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:11,000
We did. It looks really good. You want to see it?

461
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:12,000
Yes, I'm dying to see it.

462
00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:15,000
That is amazing.

463
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:18,000
Look how much detail we have here.

464
00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:26,000
Like CSI World War II, this model allows Eric to reconstruct a play-by-play of the moment of impact.

465
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:30,000
Take a look at the wing and we can see the damage where it hit the water.

466
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:32,000
It's lost some of the aluminum skin along here.

467
00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:34,000
That might have been torn away during the accident.

468
00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:40,000
Probably cartwheeled in, probably hit port wing and the plane's right side up.

469
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:44,000
If you look at the after-action report, it calls out how it was an immediate water landing

470
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:45,000
and didn't call it a water crash.

471
00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:46,000
That's right.

472
00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:52,000
And that's not the only new intel we gather that will aid our search for the lost Avenger.

473
00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:57,000
The one thing that jumped out at me when I was down there is the tail section, which is in a much worse shape.

474
00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:00,000
It's just almost completely gone.

475
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:05,000
Because Rule's plane came up and his propeller actually connected with that horizontal stabilizer there.

476
00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:07,000
So that might have been destroyed in flight even.

477
00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:14,000
If the tail section of the known wreck was shredded in flight, one can only imagine the damage done to the propeller

478
00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:17,000
and canopy of the plane that hit it.

479
00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:21,000
There's a good chance that pilot Dennis Rule was killed instantly.

480
00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:25,000
It's amazing to see this because it won't really be around forever.

481
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:28,000
You know, I mean the actual wreck is eventually going to be consumed by the ocean.

482
00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:29,000
Sure.

483
00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:32,000
I mean we're seeing that here and it's very rapidly degrading now.

484
00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:33,000
Right.

485
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:38,000
If you look around the site, you see how the sediment has a really different texture to it.

486
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:41,000
That's because a lot of these sites have become artificial reefs.

487
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:44,000
Life has sort of taken hold in this area.

488
00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:45,000
I call it the halo effect.

489
00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:50,000
So let's talk about how this helps us moving forward looking for the lost Avenger.

490
00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:53,000
Look how flat this is to the seafloor.

491
00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:57,000
It's not very proud so we need to keep that in mind when we're looking for different sonar targets.

492
00:33:57,000 --> 00:33:59,000
Right, it's not really raised up.

493
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:01,000
It's just, it's got a really, really low profile.

494
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:04,000
This whole elevation, it might be maybe at most three feet off the seabed.

495
00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:08,000
So that's going to tell us in the acoustic data how big of a shadow it might be throwing down on the seafloor

496
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:13,000
when we're trying to discriminate rocks and other debris from the airplane crash.

497
00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:19,000
The lost Avenger which sustained heavy damage may be in far worse shape.

498
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:24,000
If all that's left is scattered debris, the wreckage will blend in with the natural rock formations,

499
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:27,000
making it nearly impossible to find.

500
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:29,000
Now we've got another one to find.

501
00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:30,000
Yeah, absolutely.

502
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:38,000
Armed with intel from the known wreck, we reposition the sheer water on the south side of Anacapa Island.

503
00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:43,000
The Coast Guard eyewitnesses stated that the lost Avenger made a glide straight into the water

504
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:49,000
at a bearing of 170 degrees and crashed roughly 400 yards from the lighthouse.

505
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:52,000
This will be the center of our search grid.

506
00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:54,000
Time to scan.

507
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:55,000
Yep.

508
00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:58,000
We're now on the opposite side of the island and we're roughly on that 170 degree.

509
00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:04,000
We're about on that bearing right now, so we really need to set up a scan area to look at that whole region south of the lighthouse.

510
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:06,000
So we got a lot of ocean to cover here.

511
00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:09,000
So the way to do that is we use the underwater robots.

512
00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:12,000
These are AUVs, autonomous underwater vehicles.

513
00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:14,000
Our scans today, they're going to be a four hour mission each.

514
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:18,000
So if we get them all in the water four hours later, they come back with data and hopefully...

515
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:19,000
Hopefully our target's in there.

516
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:20,000
Hopefully we got a plane.

517
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:21,000
Yes.

518
00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:22,000
Okay, let's do it.

519
00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:28,000
Eric and I break out the big guns, or more accurately, torpedoes.

520
00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:29,000
We're down.

521
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:31,000
Okay, in the water.

522
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:37,000
We gingerly lower Enzo and Magnum into the drink, followed by Scout.

523
00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:42,000
Scout costs roughly half a million dollars to build.

524
00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:43,000
Got speed.

525
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:47,000
But according to her track record, she's worth every penny.

526
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:49,000
Scout holds the record for the most number of aircraft found.

527
00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:50,000
Which is how many?

528
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:51,000
Eight.

529
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:52,000
Wow, okay.

530
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:53,000
Hopefully today, nine.

531
00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:54,000
I'm sad that I'm up.

532
00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:55,000
All right.

533
00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:56,000
It's up to you, Scout.

534
00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:02,000
The distance in the accident report for the known wreck was wildly inaccurate.

535
00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:07,000
So Eric's team has programmed these sonar-equipped drones to cast a wide net.

536
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:15,000
The AUVs will run four mile-long tracks on the south side of the island and scan more than two miles offshore,

537
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:19,000
covering eight and a half square miles of ocean on this mission.

538
00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:25,000
Diving a search zone this size would take months, but the robots can do it in a day.

539
00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:29,000
Depth-rated up to 2,000 feet and fully automated to avoid obstacles,

540
00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:34,000
the bots glide through the water blasting out sonar pings to map the bottom.

541
00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:40,000
Meanwhile, we hunker down for the hardest part of this hunt, waiting.

542
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:53,000
Four tedious hours later, we pull the AUVs back on deck

543
00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:57,000
and gather at Heidi's Monitor to review the data.

544
00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:00,000
So, okay, how'd we do?

545
00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:03,000
We can see the lanes here as the vehicles mow the lawn.

546
00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:06,000
Those vertical stripes are the vehicles driving back and forth underwater.

547
00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:09,000
Okay, so what's in the data?

548
00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:11,000
There's a couple of very interesting targets in this dataset.

549
00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:12,000
Really?

550
00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:13,000
Yes.

551
00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:14,000
Okay, what do we got?

552
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:18,000
So here's one of the particular targets that's very high interest to us.

553
00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:25,000
We see very sharp sonar returns, very sharp angles to the geometry of the target.

554
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:26,000
Yeah.

555
00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:30,000
It's particularly interesting because it is just sitting by itself in an otherwise barren place, right?

556
00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:31,000
Yeah.

557
00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:33,000
That's definitely something to check out.

558
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:37,000
We put a pin in our first target and run through more promising hits.

559
00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:40,000
I mean, that looks a little more rock-like, don't you think?

560
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:45,000
Yeah, it does, but it's still sitting by itself out on an open plane.

561
00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:46,000
It's got some relief to it.

562
00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:51,000
There certainly wouldn't be an entire aircraft, but if this airplane broke up in flight,

563
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:54,000
this could be some portion of aviation debris.

564
00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:55,000
Okay, sure, yeah.

565
00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:59,000
I mean, anything that's out there that's isolated like this feels like it's worth looking at, right?

566
00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:00,000
Yeah.

567
00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:05,000
Nothing screams, I'm an airplane with unmistakable features like wings or a tail,

568
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:09,000
but to the trained eye, these sonar targets tell a story.

569
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:11,000
You can see these really bright returns.

570
00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:12,000
It looks almost white on the screen.

571
00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:13,000
Right.

572
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:16,000
That usually indicates certain kinds of rock or metal.

573
00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:19,000
You got a nice long, linear feature that could be something like the fuselage.

574
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:21,000
You have two smaller things, just the south of that.

575
00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:25,000
Maybe that's something like the engine that came apart off of the fuselage.

576
00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:31,000
And we see fish around it, which means it's been colonized by marine life.

577
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:35,000
Well, it reminds me of the existing wreck in that it's sort of low profile,

578
00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:39,000
there's not a lot showing, and there's a lot of scatter there, so it could be a debris field.

579
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:40,000
I mean, that's huge.

580
00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:42,000
I think it's definitely worth taking a look.

581
00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:43,000
How deep are these targets?

582
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:47,000
So these targets range anywhere from 180 feet to about 220 feet.

583
00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:49,000
Okay, so too deep for us to dive.

584
00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:51,000
We're going to have to send the ROV down.

585
00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:53,000
Sure. Okay. Let's send a robot.

586
00:38:53,000 --> 00:39:00,000
Back on deck, Eric and I ready a remote underwater vehicle to take a closer look at the first target.

587
00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:03,000
Eric, I can't help but notice that this ROV is named Barry.

588
00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:06,000
Yeah, one of our favorite singers, Barry Mantelow.

589
00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:09,000
So in honor of Barry, we've named our robot.

590
00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:11,000
Why is it really named Barry?

591
00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:15,000
You know, we wanted a really kick-ass name, Barracuda.

592
00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:16,000
Yeah, I can see that.

593
00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:19,000
Barry kind of is short for Barracuda.

594
00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:24,000
How about, you know, I don't want to tell your business, but how about just Barracuda,

595
00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:26,000
which is a way cooler name than Barry?

596
00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:29,000
To be honest, I've lost all control of naming of these robots.

597
00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:30,000
Somebody else did this?

598
00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:31,000
Yes.

599
00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:32,000
Okay, fair enough.

600
00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:33,000
Is Barry ready to go?

601
00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:35,000
I think Barry's ready to go.

602
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:40,000
To make sure Barry's voyage into the depths is as smooth as his crooner namesake,

603
00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:42,000
we rig a drop weight to a cable.

604
00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:43,000
Wins down.

605
00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:48,000
This will help the ROV hold position against the currents on the bottom.

606
00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:50,000
Okay, weights in the water.

607
00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:52,000
Barry follows.

608
00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:56,000
All right, lower your sound.

609
00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:57,000
Okay, ROV is in.

610
00:39:57,000 --> 00:40:04,000
And we carefully lower the ROV tether and weighted cable, securing the lines together as we go.

611
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:05,000
Here we go.

612
00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:06,000
Okay.

613
00:40:06,000 --> 00:40:08,000
What's your depth, Bob?

614
00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:09,000
90.

615
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:10,000
He's at 90?

616
00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:12,000
Does he have bottom lock?

617
00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:13,000
Yes.

618
00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:14,000
He's on the bottom?

619
00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:15,000
Yeah, let's go have a look.

620
00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:16,000
Okay, let's go see what's down there.

621
00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:22,000
Once again, we gather around the monitor as ROV pilot Bob Hess closes in on the target

622
00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:25,000
nearly 200 feet below us.

623
00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:33,000
Looks like something right there.

624
00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:34,000
Yeah.

625
00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:38,000
Yeah, let's go towards that.

626
00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:42,000
A large man made object looms into view.

627
00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:44,000
Is this the lost Avenger?

628
00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:46,000
Something there.

629
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:52,000
We're about 10 meters in front of us.

630
00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:53,000
Whatever it is.

631
00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:54,000
We got something.

632
00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:55,000
We got structure.

633
00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:56,000
Yeah.

634
00:40:56,000 --> 00:40:58,000
What are you?

635
00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:00,000
Look at that.

636
00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:11,000
At the USS Midway aircraft carrier in San Diego, I got a chance to kick the tires and light

637
00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:12,000
the fires.

638
00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:15,000
Mustang, this is Maverick.

639
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:17,000
I got a bogey on my tail.

640
00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:19,000
I can't shake him.

641
00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:21,000
Goose, I can't shake him.

642
00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:23,000
We're caught in the jet wash.

643
00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:25,000
Goose, I'm losing control.

644
00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:27,000
I'm losing control.

645
00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:28,000
Ha!

646
00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:29,000
Ha!

647
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:37,000
Sir, I apologize, but the museum's closing.

648
00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:40,000
Sorry, Goose, it's time to buzz the tower.

649
00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:42,000
Sir, that's a mannequin.

650
00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:43,000
Talk to me, Goose.

651
00:41:43,000 --> 00:41:44,000
Sir.

652
00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:45,000
Goose!

653
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:47,000
Ha ha ha ha ha!

654
00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:49,000
Goose!

655
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:51,000
No!

656
00:41:57,000 --> 00:42:01,000
We're trying to stop the Navender and its three-man crew lost in the waters off of Anacapa Island

657
00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:06,000
during a World War Two training mission.

658
00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:16,000
We've sent an ROV named Barrie, 200 feet beneath the waves, to lay eyes on a promising sonar target.

659
00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:17,000
We got something.

660
00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:18,000
We got structure.

661
00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:20,000
Yeah.

662
00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:22,000
What are you?

663
00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:25,000
And max life.

664
00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:26,000
Look at that.

665
00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:30,640
With the brights cranked up, we can see our target in stunning detail.

666
00:42:30,640 --> 00:42:31,840
It's a boat.

667
00:42:31,840 --> 00:42:35,280
It is not an airplane, but that looks like a shipwreck.

668
00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:36,880
Okay, so what are we looking at here?

669
00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:38,720
It's fiberglass, yeah?

670
00:42:38,720 --> 00:42:39,920
Yeah, okay.

671
00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:41,360
10 meters in length.

672
00:42:41,360 --> 00:42:42,920
And so what do you think?

673
00:42:42,920 --> 00:42:43,920
Not new, new.

674
00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:46,320
It's got a lot of growth on it, a lot of corrosion.

675
00:42:46,320 --> 00:42:48,000
How long do you think that's been down there?

676
00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:50,560
I'd say probably 20 or 30 years.

677
00:42:51,840 --> 00:42:54,400
And an old fishing boat, yeah.

678
00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:55,600
Is that the engine?

679
00:42:55,600 --> 00:42:56,480
Yeah.

680
00:42:56,480 --> 00:42:57,440
That might have been a window.

681
00:42:57,440 --> 00:43:00,480
It might have been like a forward cabin that's collapsed in.

682
00:43:00,480 --> 00:43:01,440
Is there writing on there?

683
00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:01,840
There is.

684
00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:03,920
See, it's upside down.

685
00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:07,200
That's awesome, guys.

686
00:43:07,200 --> 00:43:10,480
We have a $30,000, 30 megapixel stills camera.

687
00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:11,280
Hey, guys.

688
00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:12,480
Try to shoot with iPhone.

689
00:43:12,480 --> 00:43:13,600
Play with your cell phone.

690
00:43:13,600 --> 00:43:16,160
J-E-F-F-R-I-E-S.

691
00:43:16,160 --> 00:43:17,040
Jeffries.

692
00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:19,120
The great sailing vessel Jeffries.

693
00:43:19,120 --> 00:43:21,280
Well, it's being looked at by Barry, the ROV.

694
00:43:21,280 --> 00:43:22,000
That's true.

695
00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:22,560
Fair.

696
00:43:22,560 --> 00:43:24,160
Don't be hard on Jeffries.

697
00:43:25,680 --> 00:43:29,360
It turns out Jeffries Boat Company built custom sport fishers.

698
00:43:29,360 --> 00:43:31,920
And if you're interested in a gently used model,

699
00:43:31,920 --> 00:43:34,560
I've got one for you just off of Anacapa Island.

700
00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:38,480
One target down, a half a dozen more to go.

701
00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:42,560
We pull up the ROV, motor to our second site,

702
00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:44,880
release Barry back into the briny depths.

703
00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:46,560
OK, ROV's in.

704
00:43:47,360 --> 00:43:49,440
And glue our faces to the monitor

705
00:43:49,440 --> 00:43:51,840
as we approach the next object of interest.

706
00:43:56,160 --> 00:43:57,200
Oh, oh, oh.

707
00:43:57,200 --> 00:43:57,760
Something there.

708
00:43:57,760 --> 00:43:58,720
What is it?

709
00:43:58,720 --> 00:44:00,160
Something coming out of the darkness there.

710
00:44:01,120 --> 00:44:02,960
All right, looks like the target's to the left here.

711
00:44:04,320 --> 00:44:05,280
Oh, there it is.

712
00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:06,800
Yeah.

713
00:44:06,800 --> 00:44:09,280
Finally, we home in on something man-made.

714
00:44:09,840 --> 00:44:11,600
It's long, whatever it is.

715
00:44:11,600 --> 00:44:12,160
Yeah.

716
00:44:12,160 --> 00:44:13,280
And that could be a fuselage.

717
00:44:14,400 --> 00:44:17,120
It's hard to tell because it does look like whatever is here.

718
00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:18,560
It's just encrusted and buried.

719
00:44:18,560 --> 00:44:21,600
But you would expect to see some debris that just jumps out.

720
00:44:21,600 --> 00:44:24,000
Typically, especially with the aluminum on the aircraft,

721
00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:27,360
we typically don't have a full encrustation like this.

722
00:44:27,920 --> 00:44:30,560
God, you think you should be one thing poking through somewhere

723
00:44:31,200 --> 00:44:33,040
to give you a hint as to what it is?

724
00:44:33,040 --> 00:44:35,600
If this was a fuselage, it's like where are the wings?

725
00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:36,560
Where is it?

726
00:44:36,560 --> 00:44:38,480
It feels like there'd be more of a debris field around it.

727
00:44:38,480 --> 00:44:38,880
Agreed.

728
00:44:38,880 --> 00:44:39,360
Yeah.

729
00:44:39,360 --> 00:44:40,560
Is that just rope?

730
00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:42,960
So if that's rope, that's probably not a good sign.

731
00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:43,360
Agreed.

732
00:44:44,320 --> 00:44:46,400
I think this is a ghost net sunk in the area.

733
00:44:46,400 --> 00:44:47,440
And we're seeing structure to it

734
00:44:47,440 --> 00:44:49,120
because it's all just clumped up in the bottom, you think?

735
00:44:49,680 --> 00:44:51,520
I don't think this is our airplane, guys.

736
00:44:51,520 --> 00:44:52,240
I don't either.

737
00:44:52,320 --> 00:44:55,920
I just love to see one piece of man-made something

738
00:44:55,920 --> 00:44:58,320
other than that piece of line down there, you know?

739
00:44:58,320 --> 00:45:00,000
Do we want to move on to the next target?

740
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:00,800
Yeah.

741
00:45:00,800 --> 00:45:01,760
All right, let's do this.

742
00:45:02,960 --> 00:45:06,000
We repeat the same process all afternoon.

743
00:45:06,000 --> 00:45:07,120
All right, let's go to target four.

744
00:45:08,720 --> 00:45:09,760
Reposition boat.

745
00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:10,880
ROV's going in.

746
00:45:11,520 --> 00:45:14,880
Drop ROV and anxiously watch the monitor.

747
00:45:14,880 --> 00:45:15,920
Should be coming up on it.

748
00:45:15,920 --> 00:45:16,880
Oh, there's some fish on it.

749
00:45:18,160 --> 00:45:20,880
But ultimately, the results are the same.

750
00:45:20,960 --> 00:45:22,960
If the Avenger broke up on impact,

751
00:45:22,960 --> 00:45:25,120
finding bits of debris in these rocks

752
00:45:25,120 --> 00:45:27,200
is like finding a needle in a haystack.

753
00:45:30,640 --> 00:45:32,560
To rule out every possibility,

754
00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:35,680
we even run the AUVs on the north side of the island,

755
00:45:35,680 --> 00:45:37,520
near the known Avenger wreck site.

756
00:45:38,240 --> 00:45:42,080
All told, we scan more than eight square miles of ocean,

757
00:45:42,080 --> 00:45:44,480
investigating targets everywhere we go.

758
00:45:45,040 --> 00:45:45,920
Looks a lot like rocks.

759
00:45:46,480 --> 00:45:47,920
There's some of the other rocks.

760
00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:50,160
Yeah.

761
00:45:50,880 --> 00:45:53,120
But the lost plane remains a phantom.

762
00:45:53,760 --> 00:45:55,600
Exhausted and frustrated,

763
00:45:55,600 --> 00:45:57,360
we have run out of places to look.

764
00:46:01,520 --> 00:46:03,600
All right, we've scanned the south and we've scanned the north.

765
00:46:04,160 --> 00:46:05,200
No sign of an Avenger.

766
00:46:05,760 --> 00:46:07,120
This is the way it goes sometimes.

767
00:46:07,120 --> 00:46:07,200
Yeah.

768
00:46:07,200 --> 00:46:09,280
You exhaust all your options.

769
00:46:09,280 --> 00:46:10,800
You do a thorough job,

770
00:46:10,800 --> 00:46:13,040
and you still don't turn up the target you're looking for.

771
00:46:13,040 --> 00:46:16,240
We have one example where, after a large survey,

772
00:46:16,240 --> 00:46:17,520
much is like what we've done here.

773
00:46:18,240 --> 00:46:20,480
A year later, we found some anomalies in the data.

774
00:46:20,960 --> 00:46:22,560
And ended up finding aircraft in it.

775
00:46:22,560 --> 00:46:22,800
Really?

776
00:46:22,800 --> 00:46:25,920
So this missing aircraft could actually be in our data set right now,

777
00:46:25,920 --> 00:46:27,600
and we just haven't exhausted it.

778
00:46:27,600 --> 00:46:28,480
We never give up.

779
00:46:28,480 --> 00:46:28,800
Right.

780
00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:30,080
We're going to keep going back.

781
00:46:30,080 --> 00:46:31,520
We're going to keep looking at the data.

782
00:46:32,080 --> 00:46:34,000
And if we have to come back with more vehicles

783
00:46:34,000 --> 00:46:35,920
and different technology, then that's what we'll do.

784
00:46:38,240 --> 00:46:40,400
It's easy to think about these as airplanes,

785
00:46:40,400 --> 00:46:41,840
but this is really a story about people.

786
00:46:41,840 --> 00:46:42,400
Yeah.

787
00:46:42,400 --> 00:46:45,360
And there are three guys that are somewhere

788
00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:47,760
out off of this island waiting to be brought home.

789
00:46:48,880 --> 00:46:50,720
Guys, it's been an absolute pleasure.

790
00:46:50,720 --> 00:46:51,760
It really has.

791
00:46:51,760 --> 00:46:53,920
Thank you so much for letting us come out here and see what you do.

792
00:46:53,920 --> 00:46:57,520
It's a ton of work, and it's really important work, though,

793
00:46:57,520 --> 00:46:58,480
so I appreciate it.

794
00:46:58,480 --> 00:46:58,880
Yeah.

795
00:46:58,880 --> 00:47:00,080
Unfinished business.

796
00:47:00,080 --> 00:47:01,280
We've got to keep at it.

797
00:47:01,280 --> 00:47:01,840
Absolutely.

798
00:47:05,680 --> 00:47:09,440
Dennis Ruhl, Ernest Williams, and Russell Guzzetta

799
00:47:09,440 --> 00:47:12,560
are still missing, but they are no longer forgotten.

800
00:47:13,200 --> 00:47:16,320
In-depth research and cutting-edge forensics

801
00:47:16,320 --> 00:47:19,600
revealed the details of what happened that fateful day

802
00:47:19,600 --> 00:47:20,960
in 1945.

803
00:47:22,880 --> 00:47:25,440
And with Project Recover working the case,

804
00:47:25,440 --> 00:47:28,480
the Lost Avenger may take flight again soon.

805
00:47:28,480 --> 00:47:31,680
But this story is bigger than the crew of just one plane.

806
00:47:32,320 --> 00:47:35,440
It is estimated that more than 18,000 souls

807
00:47:35,440 --> 00:47:38,240
were lost in training accidents during World War II.

808
00:47:39,040 --> 00:47:40,720
Because they never saw combat,

809
00:47:40,720 --> 00:47:43,120
they are not officially considered MIAs.

810
00:47:43,680 --> 00:47:46,320
And an effort to find them is long overdue.

811
00:47:46,320 --> 00:47:50,480
It is my hope that more searches will be carried out

812
00:47:50,480 --> 00:47:53,680
so that the soldiers who gave their lives for this country

813
00:47:53,680 --> 00:48:00,800
will no longer be left behind.