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The XP-5Y was a sea plane meant to be the ultimate air carrier.

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Why do you want to find this plane?

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It's one of a kind. I mean, literally.

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Two prototypes, one scrapped, one in the ocean.

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We are seeing recently declassified footage of the crash.

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Is that the coast?

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It looks like it is.

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So we may have a geographical marker here.

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Entirely possible.

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Oh, there's something there.

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There could be a big engine sitting down there.

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You want to go diving?

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Okay, let's rock and roll.

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It feels like the shape of a wing.

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This is an aircraft, friend.

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Don't look down. Don't look down.

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You're in.

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Car OV is in.

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Okay, let's see what it sees.

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Just passing 300 feet.

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That looks like it could be a plane.

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Is that a star?

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That's a Navy star right there.

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Well, in case you're wondering why I'm floating in the Pacific Ocean

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just off the coast of San Diego,

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I am not just here for a swim.

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I'm here because this is the last known location

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of a top secret experimental record breaking airplane,

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a massive aircraft known as the XP-5Y.

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Commissioned at the end of World War II,

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the Convair XP-5Y was bigger than today's 737

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and could carry more than 100 servicemen or 24 tons of cargo,

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all while landing on the water.

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This flying boat wasn't just huge though.

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She was fast,

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smashing transcontinental records

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and paving the way for the age of the jumbo jet.

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Only two prototypes and 11 service models were built.

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After the war, all were scrapped, save one.

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Nearly 70 years ago, during a daring test flight in the skies above,

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the last surviving XP-5Y suddenly went into a free fall.

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Thanks to courage and quick thinking,

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every member of its crew successfully parachuted out of the dying aircraft.

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They landed here in the Pacific,

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where they were rescued by a US Coast Guard helicopter.

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Speaking of which, a little help!

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One o'clock is level.

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Ready for bridge.

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There's an unlocksing.

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Coming down.

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Hey man, thanks for the lift!

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Grab hold please.

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I'm in. I'm in!

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So, while all the men were rescued,

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the XP-5Y wasn't as lucky.

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She disappeared beneath the waves,

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where she's been lost for nearly three quarters of a century.

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But that may be about to change.

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This plane is the only one of her kind,

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nothing short of a priceless aviation relic.

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How and why she crashed is a mystery,

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but a new clue has been recently declassified,

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giving explorers their best chance yet to find this lost treasure.

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The hunt for the secret seaplane is on!

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Let's punch it!

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Hey, fam.

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My name is Josh Gates.

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Hello!

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Explorer.

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Here goes nothing.

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Adventurer.

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Woo hoo hoo!

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Oh, that's a long way down.

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

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I'm alive for now!

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With a degree in archaeology and a passion for the unexplained,

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I travel to the ends of the Earth,

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investigating the greatest legends in history.

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They rock and roll.

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This is Expedition Unknown.

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My journey begins far from the waters of San Diego,

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and of all places, Oregon,

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here at the Evergreen Aviation Museum.

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If you love flying, this is Paradise.

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From honoring the birth of flight

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to cutting-edge stealth fighters and space rockets,

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this collection of aircraft is awe-inspiring.

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But there's one plane here that could be a big help

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in learning about the vanished seaplane.

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And I do mean big.

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Wow.

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Say hello to the Hughes H-4 Hercules,

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better known as the Spruce Goose.

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A one-of-a-kind American icon

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built by the eccentric genius Howard Hughes

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during the Second World War.

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Here to tell me how the Spruce Goose

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is going to help me find the XP-5Y

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is the museum's long-time aviation expert, Bud Vardy.

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Welcome aboard.

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Man, thrilled to be aboard.

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Good to see you.

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Is it okay if I'm just speechless for a few minutes?

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I'm an aviation geek,

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so I have seen a million pictures of this plane.

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It is so much bigger in person.

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Josh, the wingspan on this aircraft is 320 feet.

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A full football field, well into each end zone.

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And maybe the craziest thing about this plane,

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it's painted so that it looks metallic,

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but it is called the Spruce Goose for a reason.

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It is a wooden aircraft.

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It is the largest wooden plane ever built.

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It is the largest seaplane ever built,

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and it is the largest propeller-driven plane ever built.

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In short, it's large.

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Huge.

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Would you like to go up to the cockpit?

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That's possible.

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We can do it.

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Oh, please.

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Let's go.

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I might cry.

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I might cry.

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I will go over here.

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You have a seat in Howard Hughes' pilot's chair.

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No.

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Absolutely.

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Really?

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Yes.

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Come on.

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That's what we're here for.

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Oh, my word.

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Oh.

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Howard Hughes sat right here.

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He sat right here.

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He sat right here.

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He sat right here.

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He sat right here.

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He sat right here.

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He sat right here.

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He sat right here.

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He sat right here.

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He sat right here.

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He sat right here.

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He sat right here.

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You saw what happened.

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Howard Hughes sat right here.

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This is where he sat, and everything

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you see and touch is original.

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Unbelievable.

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Yeah.

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Okay.

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Why?

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Why build a seaplane that is this big?

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The first part of the world war II,

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we were losing a lot of ships to German U boats

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as we tried to get supplies across to Europe.

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We had to do something about it.

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It was proposed that we build a fleet of giant flying boats.

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In 1945, the Navy put out a request for an enormous seaplane,

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able to soar over submarines and avoid bombed-out airstrips by landing on the water.

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The race was on to build a prototype design, and the spruce goose was Hughes' contribution.

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But adjusting for inflation, this $300 million goose laid an egg.

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The Navy rejected his proposal because it was too big, too slow, and too expensive.

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But it did fly.

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One time, 1947.

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Although the war had ended by the time he'd finished building the Hercules,

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on November 2nd, 1947, he took it into California's Long Beach Harbor,

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where Hughes surprised the press in attendance.

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It's 70, it's 75, and something momentarily he cuts out,

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and I believe we are airborne.

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We are airborne, ladies and gentlemen.

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The spruce goose flew, albeit just above the water,

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and for a mere 30 seconds before returning to its hangar, never to fly again.

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So even though this behemoth made it off the water, he never got that Navy contract.

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So who did?

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Convair, one of his competitors. They built the XP-5Y.

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Right, this is the plane that I'm looking for, the lost seaplane.

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Exactly. The XP-5Y was a seaplane meant to be the ultimate air carrier.

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Now there are none of them left, but we do have the next best thing for you here.

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You do?

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We do.

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The next best thing is one of the XP's predecessors,

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a smaller model that already had 10 years of service

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when the Navy put out the call for a new super seaplane.

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Josh, this is the Convair PBY Catalina, a workhorse from World War II.

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And so Convair gets this contract from the Navy, they beat out Hughes.

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Yes.

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And so what do they do? They modify this design?

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They took this aircraft and supersized it.

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And that's the XP-5Y.

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You're right.

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The XP was a 64-tonne colossus with a 139-foot fuselage

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and a wingspan about the size of the Statue of Liberty.

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Powerful enough to take off from a dead stop in water in 30 seconds,

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the twin turboprop engines were especially efficient at moving air,

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saving enough fuel to make the XP capable of carrying an entire unit of troops across the Atlantic.

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When converted for use as a flying tanker,

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it was the first aircraft to refuel four planes simultaneously in mid-air,

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and that's not even close to all of the XP's accomplishments.

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It set two world records.

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The first was endurance of a seaplane of over eight hours on one tank of gas,

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the second was cross-country, six hours, 403 miles an hour,

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a record that still stands for a seaplane.

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And that's about what it takes us to get across the country today.

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Yes.

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So the XP is clearly a great plane. What happened to it?

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Well, we were in the jet age, the plane was huge, the Navy just decided to move on.

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Okay.

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They scrapped them all.

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Literally scrapped them.

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Except for one which crashed off the coast of San Diego in July of 1953.

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On July 15th, the prototype seaplane helmed by Navy test pilot Don Girmarad

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was flying off the coast of San Diego,

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and then quite suddenly it plummeted out of the sky.

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And why did that plane crash?

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Josh, we just don't know.

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The Navy said nothing.

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Convair was mom on the subject, and the crew had sworn to secrecy.

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Okay.

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But we've done some digging, and we have uncovered a recently declassified accident discussion memo

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from Convair.

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Okay.

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Where they actually interviewed the members of the crew.

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Wow.

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And Josh, here's the report.

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It's the only first-hand account we have of the crash.

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According to the crew's testimony in the document,

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nine crewmen plus pilot Don Girmarad were asked to test the limits of the plane,

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pushing it to 340 miles an hour when the aircraft suddenly shuttered

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and the instruments went haywire.

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Girmarad was unable to control the pitch of his aircraft,

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which began a series of zooming climbs and abrupt dives.

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Thinking quickly, he diverted the seaplane over the water to avoid crashing into San Diego,

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and made the decision to abandon ship.

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He instructed the other nine men to jump out of the doomed prototype at 10,000 feet of altitude,

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where they parachuted into the ocean.

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As for Girmarad, he made sure everyone else was out before bailing himself at 2,000 feet,

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which was 500 feet below the limit for his shoot.

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Fortunately, it opened in time.

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The seaplane crashed into the water, while all 10 of its crew were picked up by Coast Guard search and rescue,

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having miraculously survived a historic plane wreck.

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And the plane?

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The plane sank about six miles west of Point Loma.

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Point Loma sits near the entrance to San Diego Harbor,

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and without GPS, the estimate was that the plane sank about six miles west of the point.

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But nothing was ever found there, and since the plane was traveling in excess of 300 miles per hour

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and flew erratically for 20 minutes before crashing, the true location of the target is a mystery.

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But there is something else that just came to light that might help us find it.

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Okay. What do you got?

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Josh, welcome to the Evergreen Theater.

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Wow. Should I have brought popcorn? Are we watching a movie today? What are we doing?

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Well, sort of. Actually, we have something pretty spectacular.

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We are seeing recently declassified footage of the crash of the XP-5Y in 1953.

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The crash?

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The crash. The one and only.

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Where was this footage?

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It was in an archive in San Diego just gathering dust, and it just recently came to light.

260
00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:07,000
And it shows the actual incident?

261
00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:08,000
Absolutely.

262
00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:09,000
Who filmed it?

263
00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:12,000
There's a Navy chase plane up there, and they filmed the whole thing.

264
00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:13,000
Can we see it?

265
00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:14,000
We can.

266
00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:15,000
Roll the footage.

267
00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:23,000
Okay, Josh, the man on the right is the pilot, Don Gerberad.

268
00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:25,000
Okay, so this is our guy, the main test pilot.

269
00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:27,000
Right. Getting prepared for the flight, I'm sure.

270
00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:34,000
Josh, the entire malfunction and crash took about 24 minutes, but only one minute of the film survives.

271
00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:36,000
All right, so our plane is where?

272
00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:38,000
It's about upper center.

273
00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:39,000
There it is. That's the XP right there.

274
00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:40,000
Yes, that's it.

275
00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:42,000
And it looks like it's climbing?

276
00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:44,000
Well, it looks like it's going up and down.

277
00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:46,000
At this point, he had lost control of his elevators.

278
00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:55,000
He was oscillating up and down, and soon you will see he'll take a dive down, and we think that is the final dive.

279
00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:58,000
Right, it's starting to turn, and it's starting to come straight down.

280
00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:01,000
And then you'll see the crash splash right there.

281
00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:03,000
Look at that huge spray of water.

282
00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:05,000
That was a huge aircraft.

283
00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:09,000
And there, we think is the pilot. He was probably the last one out.

284
00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:12,000
Wow, I just can't look at the disturbance in the ocean though.

285
00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:13,000
Yes.

286
00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:14,000
Big crash.

287
00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:15,000
Big crash.

288
00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:17,000
Now, Josh, I'm going to show the film again.

289
00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:19,000
I want you to focus on something different this time.

290
00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:20,000
Okay.

291
00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:23,000
Josh, look past the plane. What do you see?

292
00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:25,000
Is that the coast?

293
00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:26,000
It looks like it is.

294
00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:28,000
So we may have a geographical marker here.

295
00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:30,000
Entirely possible.

296
00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:34,000
And if it could be cleaned up, we might be able to pinpoint exactly where that plane is.

297
00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:35,000
You may have a marker.

298
00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:36,000
Can I borrow your film?

299
00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:37,000
You got it.

300
00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:40,000
Hey, thanks man. This is incredible.

301
00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:41,000
A pleasure.

302
00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:49,000
This film is a game changer, giving us our first clues to locate the vanished aircraft.

303
00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:58,000
To pinpoint where the XP crashed, a forensic video investigator can compare the coastline off San Diego today to the footage from 1953.

304
00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:03,000
The only problem? Getting aerial photographs for the comparison.

305
00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:12,000
I head from Oregon back down to San Diego, where luckily, I recently made some new friends who might be able to lend a hand.

306
00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:24,000
About six complete.

307
00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:25,000
Roger that.

308
00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:26,000
Roger.

309
00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:28,000
Okay, let's rock and roll.

310
00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:35,000
So somewhere underneath us, to the bottom of that ocean, is the XP-5Y.

311
00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:37,000
Now we just got to find it.

312
00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:48,000
Okay, we're coming out past Point Loma here. We can see the lighthouse.

313
00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:53,000
That's where these guys were rescued after the accident.

314
00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:57,000
Coast Guard picked them up, brought them in there to the lighthouse station.

315
00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:11,000
I'm in a Coast Guard J-Hawk helicopter searching for the XP-5Y, a historic prototype seaplane that crashed somewhere off the coast of San Diego in 1953 and has never been found.

316
00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:24,000
We're about to photograph the coastline so a forensic video analyst can compare it to recently discovered footage of the crash and hopefully pinpoint the location of this missing aviation legend.

317
00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:30,000
One of the real challenges here, of course, is figuring out exactly where that plane was.

318
00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:37,000
These guys were flying at 115% of the capacity of this aircraft, so over 340 miles an hour.

319
00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:41,000
That means that every 10 seconds they were in the air, they're covering a mile.

320
00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:47,000
So this crash went on for more than 20 minutes as this plane oscillated up and down.

321
00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:50,000
They could have covered a huge amount of distance in that time.

322
00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:57,000
We're currently 6.4 miles west of the coast, so the distance is correct.

323
00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:58,000
Copy that.

324
00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:02,000
Now if I want to get a better shot, can I get out of this seat?

325
00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:06,000
Absolutely, you can connect your gunners belt here. It's one of these deck rings.

326
00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:08,000
Good to go.

327
00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:11,000
Okay, gunners belt's attached. I'm coming out of the harness.

328
00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:18,000
Don't look down. Don't look down.

329
00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:27,000
With a nylon belt connecting me to the chopper, I angle myself toward the edge of the open door to take hundreds of photos of the coast.

330
00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:32,000
Great view of Point Loma there. Let's see what we can get here.

331
00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:44,000
I think we look a little too close to shore here. Let's try to move off a little bit further on the next path.

332
00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:45,000
Right.

333
00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:54,000
We take run after run at various altitudes and distances from the coast to try to get a close match for the crash footage.

334
00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:57,000
That looks real good right in there.

335
00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:07,000
Okay, good pass. Let's try it again a little further out and maybe a little higher up.

336
00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:09,000
Roger.

337
00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:19,000
Alright guys, we got a ton of footage here. I think we got it. We're ready to head back when you are.

338
00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:22,000
Alright, we'll head back. Thanks.

339
00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:28,000
The chopper returns to Terraferma landing at the nearby US Coast Guard air station.

340
00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:40,000
While my team takes the photos to a forensic investigator to begin analyzing the data, I've found another researcher who claims he might already know where the lost sea plane is hiding.

341
00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:46,000
And here in San Diego, there is only one place to meet if you want to talk about Navy airplanes.

342
00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:51,000
Kansas City barbecue, the legendary watering hole from Top Gun. That's right.

343
00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:53,000
I'm having a maverick moment.

344
00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:08,000
Joining me in this target-rich environment is an award-winning wreck hunter whose team has discovered over 15 sunken planes and ships, Brett Eldridge.

345
00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:10,000
Brett.

346
00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:11,000
Josh.

347
00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:12,000
Nice to meet you man.

348
00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:13,000
Nice to meet you as well.

349
00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:15,000
I hear you're a guy who knows a lot about wrecks.

350
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:16,000
I do know a lot about wrecks.

351
00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:18,000
So, I've come to the right man then.

352
00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:19,000
I think you have.

353
00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:24,000
So, a funny feeling we have a joint interest in a particular wreck. The sea plane, the XP-5Y.

354
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:25,000
The XP-5Y.

355
00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:27,000
Why do you want to find this plane?

356
00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:29,000
Because it's one of a kind. I mean, literally.

357
00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:30,000
Yeah.

358
00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:32,000
Two prototypes, one scrapped, one in the ocean.

359
00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:34,000
Yeah, there is only one of these planes.

360
00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:36,000
One. Anywhere in the world.

361
00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:40,000
Okay, so, I understand you might have a lead as to where it is.

362
00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:41,000
Let me show you.

363
00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:46,000
So, what we're looking at here is some bathymetry data.

364
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:49,000
This is the topography of the bottom of the ocean off the coast here.

365
00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:50,000
Right off the coast of California.

366
00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:51,000
Okay.

367
00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:54,000
And right here, you can see a little unique bump.

368
00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:55,000
Something's there.

369
00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:56,000
Something is there.

370
00:19:56,000 --> 00:20:01,000
I've looked at a lot of bathymetry data, but there's something about this one that sticks out to me.

371
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:02,000
Okay.

372
00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:03,000
It could be aviation related.

373
00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:04,000
Big enough to be the whole plane?

374
00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:06,000
No, not big enough to be the whole plane.

375
00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:09,000
But, you know, when airplanes hit the ocean, it's like hitting concrete.

376
00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:10,000
Right.

377
00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:11,000
And things break off of them.

378
00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:15,000
So, this very well could be a piece of debris from the XP-5Y.

379
00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:16,000
Maybe an engine.

380
00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:17,000
Maybe an engine.

381
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:18,000
It's about the right size.

382
00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:19,000
Okay.

383
00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:21,000
And are there any charted wrecks at that location?

384
00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:23,000
There's nothing that we know about in that location.

385
00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:25,000
Nobody's ever looked at this.

386
00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:26,000
What's the depth on it?

387
00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:27,000
This is about 60 feet deep.

388
00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:28,000
Okay, so it's diveable.

389
00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:29,000
It's diveable.

390
00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:31,000
I think we need to go investigate that.

391
00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:32,000
Do you want to come dive it with me?

392
00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:34,000
Are you asking me to be your wingman?

393
00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:36,000
You could be my wingman anytime.

394
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:37,000
There it is.

395
00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:38,000
There it is.

396
00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:39,000
All right.

397
00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:40,000
You got a boat?

398
00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:42,000
I got a boat and I got some dive gear.

399
00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:43,000
Is it a fast boat?

400
00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:45,000
Because I do feel the need.

401
00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:46,000
The need for speed.

402
00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:47,000
Yeah.

403
00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:48,000
Okay.

404
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:49,000
I'm going to do this all day if we don't get out of here.

405
00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:50,000
Should we go buzz the tower?

406
00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:51,000
Let's go do it.

407
00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:52,000
All right.

408
00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:53,000
Take me to sea or lose me forever.

409
00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:54,000
Brett, come on.

410
00:20:54,000 --> 00:21:06,000
Fresh out of Top Gun references, we cruise almost an hour out onto the Pacific to Brett's

411
00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:07,000
target.

412
00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:14,000
We're going to get to the bottom of the ocean.

413
00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:23,000
Where we gear up and drop in.

414
00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,000
Man, that water is brisk.

415
00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:26,000
Sure is.

416
00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:28,000
Good news is we're right above the target.

417
00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:32,000
We need to follow the shot line down and the object should be right there.

418
00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:34,000
Heading down now.

419
00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:39,000
Bad news is that there's a strong current here and these waters are a known great white

420
00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:45,000
shark breeding area, which I guess I'd feel slightly better about if I could see them.

421
00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:54,000
Passing 20 feet and visibility is just dropping off a cliff having a hard time seeing anything.

422
00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:57,000
This is quickly turning into a dangerous dive.

423
00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:02,000
If we lose this guideline, we could be carried by the current far away from our boat.

424
00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:06,000
As I mentioned, we're descending on a blind collision course with an object that could

425
00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:07,000
be anything.

426
00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:12,000
Passing 50 feet, we should be near the bottom.

427
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:13,000
I'm there.

428
00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:14,000
It's dark.

429
00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:15,000
It's like zero visibility down here.

430
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:16,000
I'm feeling around near the line.

431
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:17,000
I'm going to see if there's anything in the sand.

432
00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:18,000
Okay.

433
00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:19,000
I'm doing the same.

434
00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:20,000
Some of the worst conditions I've ever seen.

435
00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:21,000
It is just so murky.

436
00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:22,000
What happened?

437
00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:26,000
I just ran into something with my face.

438
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:27,000
Are you okay?

439
00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:28,000
I think so, yeah.

440
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:31,000
My mask and regulator's good.

441
00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:35,000
The question is, what did I hit?

442
00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:36,000
I don't know.

443
00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:37,000
Can you feel it?

444
00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:38,000
It's something that's not right.

445
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:39,000
I'm not sure.

446
00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:42,000
I'm just going to try and get the camera to the right direction.

447
00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:44,000
It's just a little bit more than that.

448
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:45,000
I'm not sure.

449
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:46,000
I'm not sure.

450
00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:47,000
I'm not sure.

451
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:48,000
I'm not sure.

452
00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:49,000
I'm not sure.

453
00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:50,000
I'm not sure.

454
00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:51,000
I'm not sure.

455
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:52,000
I'm not sure.

456
00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:53,000
I'm not sure.

457
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:54,000
I'm not sure.

458
00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:55,000
I'm not sure.

459
00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:56,000
I'm not sure.

460
00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:57,000
I'm not sure.

461
00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:58,000
I'm not sure.

462
00:22:58,000 --> 00:22:59,000
I'm not sure.

463
00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:00,000
I'm not sure.

464
00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:01,000
I'm not sure.

465
00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:02,000
I'm not sure.

466
00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:03,000
I'm not sure.

467
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:04,000
I'm not sure.

468
00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:05,000
I'm not sure.

469
00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:06,000
I'm not sure.

470
00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:07,000
I'm not sure.

471
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:08,000
I'm not sure.

472
00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:09,000
I'm not sure.

473
00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:10,000
I'm not sure.

474
00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:11,000
I'm not sure.

475
00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:12,000
I'm not sure.

476
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:13,000
I'm not sure.

477
00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:15,000
This is an aircraft, Brett.

478
00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:25,000
You can feel the fuselage here.

479
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:26,000
It's a plane, for sure.

480
00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:27,000
Yeah, no doubt.

481
00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:28,000
Amazing.

482
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:32,000
Okay, let's keep tracing the edge to see what we find.

483
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:34,000
In the waters off of San Diego,

484
00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:36,000
salvage expert Brett Eldridge and I

485
00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:38,000
are looking for the wreckage of a top-secret

486
00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:41,000
aviation prototype that crashed nearby.

487
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:44,000
The only one of its kind is still in existence.

488
00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:47,000
We've found a plane, but is it the plane?

489
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:51,000
I'm following the wing with my hands.

490
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:55,000
It feels pretty compact.

491
00:23:56,000 --> 00:24:02,000
I don't know, Brad, a lot of the wing is buried in the sand, but even so,

492
00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:06,000
I think this is too small to be our plane.

493
00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:10,000
It's not the XP. Much smaller, probably a single-seater.

494
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:13,000
I think I'm at the lip of the cockpit.

495
00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:14,000
Can you feel this?

496
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:18,000
This is where the canopy cover would have attached the back of the cockpit.

497
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,000
It's strange. It gets narrow in the back.

498
00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:28,000
Yeah, it tapers. Unique design. I'm trying to get as much footage as I can.

499
00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:32,000
Then let's head back up the line and compare notes.

500
00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:35,000
Yeah, I'm right behind you, Josh.

501
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:42,000
Let's go.

502
00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:49,000
Okay, that was a challenge.

503
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:50,000
Epic?

504
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:53,000
Epic. But maybe some of the worst visibility I've ever had on a dive.

505
00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:56,000
The only way I knew there was a wreck down there is I smashed into it with my face.

506
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:57,000
Yeah, exactly.

507
00:24:57,000 --> 00:24:59,000
But it's definitely a wreck.

508
00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:00,000
It's definitely a wreck.

509
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:03,000
You can tell the rust. You can tell the debris.

510
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:05,000
Yeah, it's a plane. Definitely a single engine, yeah?

511
00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:06,000
Yeah, for sure.

512
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:09,000
Having said that, I didn't see an engine or a propeller.

513
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:10,000
No, neither did I.

514
00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:12,000
But you could tell the shape of the cockpit.

515
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:17,000
Yeah, and you were pointing out this kind of the way it seems like it kind of tapered in the back.

516
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:19,000
It goes back to like a little point, right?

517
00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:22,000
Yeah, that might be enough diagnostics to figure out what it is.

518
00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:24,000
But yeah, we weren't going to be reading serial numbers that bad.

519
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:25,000
No, no, for sure not.

520
00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:27,000
No. Nobody knows that plane is there.

521
00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:28,000
No, nobody.

522
00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:29,000
Us and the guy who put it in the drain.

523
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:30,000
Yeah, exactly.

524
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:32,000
So there's a mystery down there.

525
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:34,000
It's not the XP-5Y.

526
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:36,000
The XP-5Y. Not big enough.

527
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:37,000
It's a trailer story.

528
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:40,000
So, should we get out of this water before it rains?

529
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:41,000
Yeah, let's get out.

530
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:42,000
Okay, let's do it.

531
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:43,000
Come on.

532
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:48,000
Using our hazy footage, Brett is going to do his best to identify the plane.

533
00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:50,000
We'll reconnect later.

534
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:56,000
But while he begins his research, I move the investigation back to shore to the Point Loma lighthouse.

535
00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:03,000
After the XP-5Y's pilot Don Girmarad and his crew leapt from the plummeting plane,

536
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:08,000
this is where all nine men were brought by Coast Guard search and rescue.

537
00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:12,000
Today, I'm at the lighthouse with a very special visitor,

538
00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:14,000
Paul Girmarad, the pilot's son.

539
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:17,000
How old were you when this happened?

540
00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:19,000
I was probably six years old at the time.

541
00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:23,000
Were you aware on some level that your dad had a dangerous job?

542
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:26,000
Yeah, I was aware that he had a dangerous job.

543
00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:27,000
Yeah.

544
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:30,000
I could always tell easily by looking at my mom.

545
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,000
There'd be some days where she was just off.

546
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:36,000
I wouldn't say anything, but you could just tell she was off.

547
00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:40,000
And when my father came home that night, he got a very long hug.

548
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:41,000
Wow.

549
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:44,000
When did you realize not just that your father had a dangerous job,

550
00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:47,000
but kind of what he had done in this particular accident?

551
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:50,000
He made sure every other guy got out and checked the plane.

552
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:51,000
Yes.

553
00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:54,000
And when you look at the footage of the crash,

554
00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:58,000
it's kind of remarkable that anybody survived, let alone everybody.

555
00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:02,000
My father was, I'd say, a really modest person.

556
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:04,000
If he was standing here talking to you today,

557
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:07,000
I don't think he'd be telling you he was a hero or anything like that.

558
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:10,000
That was just part of the day's work.

559
00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:16,000
I did bring with me a report which came from one of the guys that was on the flight,

560
00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:17,000
but Davies.

561
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:19,000
So he was the flight engineer on the flight,

562
00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:22,000
and this is the statement that he made after the accident.

563
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:23,000
You want to read this?

564
00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:24,000
Sure.

565
00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:25,000
Regarding your dad.

566
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:27,000
So Bud wrote, I opened my shoot.

567
00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:31,000
I was, by far, the highest shoot, and I could count seven others.

568
00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:32,000
One was missing.

569
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:36,000
It had to be the captain, because that's the kind of guy he is.

570
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:39,000
I spent 18 years in experimental flight tests,

571
00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:43,000
but I have never flown with anyone who demonstrated more cool proficiency,

572
00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:47,000
bravery, and consideration for his crew than Donald Gerberot.

573
00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:48,000
Can you tilt us up to read it?

574
00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:49,000
Yeah.

575
00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:53,000
Does that square off with your dad, would you say?

576
00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:54,000
Yeah.

577
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:55,000
That was him.

578
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:58,000
I bet I think he would have said the same for the other men that he was flying with.

579
00:27:58,000 --> 00:27:59,000
Right.

580
00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:00,000
Yeah.

581
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:02,000
I feel very honored to be able to tell part of your dad's story.

582
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:03,000
Well, I appreciate it, yeah.

583
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:05,000
And I hope very much that this plane gets found.

584
00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:06,000
Yeah.

585
00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:07,000
I got my fingers crossed for it.

586
00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:08,000
Yeah.

587
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:09,000
You'll be fine.

588
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:10,000
What a pleasure.

589
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:11,000
Thank you so much.

590
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:12,000
Yeah, great to meet you.

591
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:13,000
Yeah.

592
00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:19,000
The bravery and the humanity of Don Gerberot is an inspiration to keep searching for his missing plane,

593
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:21,000
and there's momentum to be had.

594
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:29,000
As I leave the lighthouse, I get word that we have the results of the forensic analysis of the coastline images that I shot earlier.

595
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:39,000
I head to the nearby San Diego Air and Space Museum, built to honor the region's contributions to aviation.

596
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:48,000
Inside, I find investigator Mike Primo, who has more than a decade of experience in forensic video and image analysis.

597
00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:49,000
Michael.

598
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:50,000
Josh.

599
00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:51,000
Nice to see you again.

600
00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:52,000
Good to see you again.

601
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:53,000
How you been?

602
00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:54,000
Doing well.

603
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:55,000
Good.

604
00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:56,000
How about you?

605
00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:57,000
I'm great.

606
00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:01,000
So based on what we sent you, based on whatever you were able to do with the original film, were you able to help narrow down this search?

607
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:10,000
I was doubtful when we started, but through image enhancement methodology, yes, we were able to uncover class characteristics that normally to the human eye wouldn't have been detectable.

608
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:13,000
Meaning we may be able to figure out where this plane crashed?

609
00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:15,000
Geographically, yes, absolutely.

610
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:16,000
All right, that's huge.

611
00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:18,000
So take me through it.

612
00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:20,000
What did you see in the footage and what did you find?

613
00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:23,000
The very first step is we analyze the unknown, which is the film.

614
00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:26,000
As we're watching this video, it's shaky.

615
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:30,000
There's noise involved from the degradation of the film.

616
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:34,000
And the camera is trying to follow this aircraft.

617
00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:38,000
As it pans to this scene, we see pretty clearly some sort of ridgeline.

618
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:40,000
Yes, that was my first impression too.

619
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:41,000
There's something behind this plane.

620
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:43,000
Yes, absolutely.

621
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:46,000
So there's our unknown mountain ridgeline.

622
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:47,000
Yes.

623
00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:52,000
And in order to see these peaks more clearly, we equalize the contrast.

624
00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:55,000
Right, and we can see them quite clearly here now.

625
00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:56,000
Yes.

626
00:29:56,000 --> 00:30:03,000
Based on the images that you sent us that you had captured directly behind Point Loma, this appears to be the Otay Mountain Ridgeline.

627
00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:04,000
The Otay Mountain Ridgeline.

628
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:05,000
Okay.

629
00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:08,000
And so we think that this could be the top of Otay Mountain.

630
00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:10,000
That's correct.

631
00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:11,000
Okay, that's huge.

632
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:17,000
We may not know exactly where we are in relation to that peak, but we certainly know we're not 50 miles up the coast.

633
00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:18,000
Absolutely.

634
00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:22,000
So the question is, can we get any more specific as to where this plane might have crashed?

635
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:23,000
I think that we can.

636
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:26,000
Josh, let's go ahead and look at the footage.

637
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:29,000
Yes, so we're back to the crash footage here. Where am I looking?

638
00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:38,000
So as you're watching the video, as the camera pans around the plane, there is a perpendicular line that was detected amongst what looks to be like a shoreline.

639
00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:41,000
This perpendicular line is strange.

640
00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:44,000
Oh, this is what you're talking about here. This dark line here.

641
00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:45,000
Correct.

642
00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:56,000
By carefully enhancing the footage, Michael has found a unique feature, a dark line that resembles water jutting inland from the coast, and within that water, what looks like a sliver of land.

643
00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:58,000
So is there a place that matches this?

644
00:30:58,000 --> 00:30:59,000
There is.

645
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:04,000
Just north of Point Loma and the Ridgeline, a place known as Mission Bay.

646
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:15,000
Mission Bay is a manmade 2000 acre saltwater inlet developed in the late 1940s as a recreational water park north of Point Loma.

647
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:25,000
You can very easily make a case that that's exactly what you're seeing here, that that's the entrance to the harbor and the river, and that this over on the left is Mission Bay itself.

648
00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:32,000
The artificial islands and waterways of Mission Bay are clearly a close match to the historic footage.

649
00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:35,000
So if that is Mission Bay, then where's our plane?

650
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:38,000
Somewhere between Mission Bay and Point Loma.

651
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:39,000
Which is a distance of how far?

652
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:41,000
Approximately six miles.

653
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:45,000
Okay, that gives us a real bounding box on either end.

654
00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:57,000
The original search area focused on the waters off Point Loma, but this analysis of the crash footage draws us six miles north to an area between four and eight miles from shore.

655
00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:07,000
This is a big deal because it gives us an actual targeted search area, which is something that we've never had in this investigation for three quarters of a century.

656
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:08,000
Right.

657
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:13,000
And so somewhere in that six miles by four to eight miles, there should be a plane.

658
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:14,000
There should be a plane.

659
00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:16,000
That's huge.

660
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:17,000
Thanks, man.

661
00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:18,000
Thanks for the opportunity.

662
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:19,000
Incredible.

663
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:31,000
We may be closer than ever to finding the XP-5Y, but searching this much ocean is still a daunting task and I'm going to need some help.

664
00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:42,000
I link back up with underwater investigator Brett Eldridge, who leads me down a local dock to meet renowned marine surveyors Dave Carlisle and Chris Catalano of Orca Maritime.

665
00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:46,000
So for this case, we have some really cool new forensic data.

666
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:51,000
So I'm hoping you guys have some awesome technology on board that can help locate this plane.

667
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:52,000
We do, Josh.

668
00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:53,000
We have some pretty powerful sonars.

669
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:55,000
We have a multi-beam sonar.

670
00:32:55,000 --> 00:33:03,000
We have a side scan sonar and we have the vessel sonar, as well as a ROV capable to a thousand feet with high definition cameras.

671
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:04,000
Okay.

672
00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:05,000
So that plane's down there.

673
00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:06,000
We're going to find it.

674
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:07,000
Let's go do it.

675
00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:08,000
I like his attitude.

676
00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:09,000
Let's go to sea.

677
00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:10,000
Come on.

678
00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:24,000
The boat speeds out to sea toward the search zone established by our photo analysis.

679
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:33,000
And before long, we're parked right in the middle and deploy Orca Maritime's impressive sonar to scour the sea floor.

680
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:37,000
So our sonar unit is up and running.

681
00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:38,000
Yep.

682
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:40,000
We're in the right spot here based on the forensic data.

683
00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:43,000
That's six miles offshore behind the Otey Mountains there.

684
00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:45,000
So what do we do?

685
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:48,000
So right now we're going to make a track and then set up a grid for Dave to follow.

686
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:51,000
I'm going to create a long lane and then I'm going to duplicate it.

687
00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:52,000
Okay.

688
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:53,000
And Dave will follow those lanes.

689
00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:54,000
So we just zigzag back and forth.

690
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:55,000
Yep.

691
00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:56,000
Okay.

692
00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:57,000
Mowing the lawn.

693
00:33:57,000 --> 00:33:58,000
Exactly.

694
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:00,000
The more times we pass, the more data we get.

695
00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:01,000
Perfect.

696
00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:02,000
Okay.

697
00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:03,000
So how long is this going to take?

698
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:04,000
It's going to be a while.

699
00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:06,000
You didn't even give it a amount of time.

700
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:07,000
That's a bad sign.

701
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:08,000
Should we take it now?

702
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:09,000
Yeah, okay.

703
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:10,000
We'll be on the deck.

704
00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:11,000
I'll call you when I need you.

705
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:12,000
Here we go.

706
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:20,000
Covering our entire search zone takes long, tedious hours.

707
00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:30,000
Time which Brett and I use to maximum productivity.

708
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:31,000
What can I say?

709
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:39,000
We're becoming one with San Diego's other sea mammals.

710
00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:41,000
Okay guys, we got data.

711
00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:42,000
I think we got something.

712
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:43,000
Okay, here we go.

713
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:44,000
Here we go.

714
00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:50,000
Okay, so what do we got?

715
00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:53,000
Well, we processed all the data and I think we got some things.

716
00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:54,000
You do?

717
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:55,000
Yeah.

718
00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:56,000
All right, what do we got?

719
00:34:56,000 --> 00:34:57,000
This is the first one.

720
00:34:57,000 --> 00:34:58,000
Oh, there's something there.

721
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:03,000
Let's take a look.

722
00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:08,000
I mean, that is a clear sandy bottom with some piece of wreckage on it.

723
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:14,000
I'm with a team conducting a sonar sweep of a newly established search zone near Mission Bay, California,

724
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:20,000
looking for the secret sea plane known as the XP-5Y, the only one in existence.

725
00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:27,000
Now, the crew of Orca Maritime has found a promising hit on the ocean floor.

726
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:28,000
That's definitely interesting.

727
00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:29,000
Yes, that's debris, right?

728
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:30,000
That's debris.

729
00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:32,000
That could be a big engine sitting down there.

730
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:33,000
I think we have to check that out.

731
00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:34,000
So that one's a for sure?

732
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:35,000
So let's mark that.

733
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:36,000
What else you got?

734
00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:40,000
The next target, I kind of put together a 3D model to kind of see where things stick up off the bottom.

735
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:41,000
Okay.

736
00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:43,000
And you can kind of see it stands out, yeah.

737
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:46,000
And you can see there's something sticking up off the bottom about five feet.

738
00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:47,000
Five feet off the bottom?

739
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:48,000
Yeah.

740
00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:52,000
So these spikes that we see coming up, that's wreckage rising off the bottom.

741
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:54,000
That's what I'm hoping, yeah.

742
00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:58,000
And this is over a larger area here, so this may be a bigger piece of wreckage.

743
00:35:58,000 --> 00:35:59,000
What do you think?

744
00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:00,000
Is that a plane?

745
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:01,000
It could be a plane.

746
00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:02,000
I'm feeling good about that.

747
00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:04,000
Well, certainly size-wise, this is the biggest thing we've seen.

748
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:06,000
This one's the deepest at 660.

749
00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:07,000
660 feet?

750
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:08,000
Yeah.

751
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:09,000
Okay.

752
00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:10,000
So we've got really interesting targets here.

753
00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:11,000
Absolutely.

754
00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:12,000
You want to go diving?

755
00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:15,000
Uh, it's a little deep for me.

756
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:16,000
Me too.

757
00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:27,000
At nearly 700 feet deep, these sonar hits are out of reach of even technical divers, but Dave has a solution, as I learn when we approach the first target.

758
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:29,000
So we're about how far off this target?

759
00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:32,000
We're about 100 feet off the target approaching it quickly.

760
00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:39,000
We hover over the sonar anomaly, then bring out the star of our show.

761
00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:41,000
This is our VLBV 300.

762
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:42,000
Let's talk about it.

763
00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:43,000
What's on board here?

764
00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:48,000
All right, so the main point of interest is going to be our forward-looking sonar, and that's going to paint a pretty picture of what we hope to be a plane when we get down there.

765
00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:51,000
So this has its own independent sonar system on board?

766
00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:52,000
That's correct.

767
00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:58,000
We have two functioning cameras, two work lights, we have six vector thrusters, we have a grabber arm if we need to recover something.

768
00:36:58,000 --> 00:36:59,000
Should we see if that's what happens?

769
00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:00,000
Sure, let's do it.

770
00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:01,000
Let's do it, come on.

771
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:06,000
All right, going in.

772
00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:07,000
Going in.

773
00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:14,000
You're in.

774
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:15,000
ROV's in.

775
00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:16,000
Okay, let's see what it sees.

776
00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:17,000
Here we go.

777
00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:19,000
Our robot is away.

778
00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:22,000
Next stop, the bottom of the ocean.

779
00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:28,000
Okay, so the ROV's got sight of the line there, and so now it's just descend-descend, right?

780
00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:30,000
Yup, now it's just a waiting game, yeah.

781
00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:35,000
Downward thruster is up to about 70%, so I don't want to go too fast, I don't want to lose a line.

782
00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:39,000
So just passing 300 feet?

783
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:41,000
Yeah, we're about halfway there.

784
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:42,000
Okay.

785
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:44,000
And we're right about 400 feet now.

786
00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:46,000
Yup, coming up on 400 here.

787
00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:48,000
It looks cold and dark.

788
00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:51,000
Definitely looks dark, it's a little spooky down here.

789
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:58,000
There's something about watching ROV footage live that is actually really exciting, because it feels like a horror film.

790
00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:01,000
Like anything could come out of that darkness.

791
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:04,000
500 feet?

792
00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:07,000
There's the bottom right there.

793
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:08,000
Yup.

794
00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:09,000
Oh, there it is.

795
00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:11,000
Well, we got crabs.

796
00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:12,000
Got crabs.

797
00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:13,000
Got crabs.

798
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:14,000
Lots of them.

799
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:15,000
Wow, look at that.

800
00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:19,000
If the ROV feed is a horror film, then I guess these are the monsters.

801
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:25,000
Hoping to find the monster of a plane wreck next, we continue scanning the bottom.

802
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:34,000
So far, a lot of little divots in the sand, but nothing associated with any debris.

803
00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:35,000
No, not yet.

804
00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:38,000
I haven't seen anything that would indicate plane debris yet.

805
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:40,000
Something right here for sure.

806
00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:42,000
Yeah, you can definitely see something there.

807
00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:47,000
Right, big bright returns sticking up off the bottom, so that's almost dead ahead of us.

808
00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:49,000
See that?

809
00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:51,000
Oh, something there.

810
00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:52,000
There's definitely something there.

811
00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:53,000
Is that wreckage?

812
00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:59,000
This is clearly not an entire aircraft, but could this be a piece of something?

813
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:01,000
Could this be part of a wing that's ripped off?

814
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:07,000
Yeah, there's nothing specific that screams airplane, but it's definitely like man-made, and it's definitely a debris field.

815
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:09,000
But it's man-made, and it feels like a frame.

816
00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:13,000
It's also hard to know if that netting or that cloth is part of this thing.

817
00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:14,000
I mean, some of it's under it.

818
00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:15,000
Yeah.

819
00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:17,000
Could that be part of the debris?

820
00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:19,000
Or did it get there after?

821
00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:24,000
You know, the other thing we often see with airplanes, Josh, is cables and wires running everywhere.

822
00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:25,000
Which we don't see here.

823
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:26,000
We don't see any of it here.

824
00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:27,000
That's right.

825
00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:31,000
I mean, that could be a hundred things.

826
00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:37,000
And even going all the way down there, hundreds of feet, putting a camera an inch away from it.

827
00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:38,000
We still can't tell.

828
00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:39,000
You still can't tell.

829
00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:40,000
That's how hard this is.

830
00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:46,000
The debris, in both size and composition, is inconsistent with aviation wreckage.

831
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:50,000
We catalog the find before moving on to the second sonar target,

832
00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:54,000
which Brett believes could be large fragments of an aircraft.

833
00:39:56,000 --> 00:40:00,000
We arrive at the next target as conditions begin to get choppy.

834
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:09,000
Once in position over the coordinates, we send the ROV down into the deep.

835
00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:15,000
So we think this targets in nearly 700 feet of water, right?

836
00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:16,000
680.

837
00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:20,000
Here we go. We're coming down on it now. 640 feet we're at.

838
00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:24,000
Man, you can hardly even see that guideline anymore.

839
00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:26,000
Fighting some tough conditions today, Josh.

840
00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:27,000
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

841
00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:31,000
Oh, that current is just moving down there, isn't it?

842
00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:33,000
She lost power?

843
00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:34,000
Yep, she lost power.

844
00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:35,000
Did the outside go out?

845
00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:36,000
Yeah, it's off.

846
00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:37,000
The whole boat trip?

847
00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:38,000
Did everything shut down?

848
00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:39,000
Did that shut down?

849
00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:40,000
Yeah, and they're both on that side.

850
00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:41,000
Flip it off.

851
00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:42,000
All right.

852
00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:43,000
Is it a fuse?

853
00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:44,000
Yeah.

854
00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:49,000
The ROV more than 600 feet below us, everything suddenly goes dark.

855
00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:50,000
That ROV is just a drift right now?

856
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:52,000
Yep, it's drifting with the current right now.

857
00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:53,000
Okay.

858
00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:56,000
I mean, we have no communication whatsoever with that thing down there.

859
00:40:56,000 --> 00:40:57,000
It's the right side, Dave.

860
00:40:57,000 --> 00:40:59,000
Check the breaker on the panel.

861
00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:03,000
This is not good because the ROV is now sitting down on this wreck without power

862
00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:05,000
and so it can get caught up in the wreckage.

863
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:07,000
So we're going to see if we can get a new fuse in here.

864
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:13,000
The crew is cool under pressure and scrambles to replace the fuse before the ROV gets snagged.

865
00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:16,000
Well, the panel's good, Dave.

866
00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:19,000
Okay, we're coming back up.

867
00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:20,000
Yeah.

868
00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:21,000
All right.

869
00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:22,000
Okay, we're rebooting.

870
00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:23,000
It's nerve-wracking.

871
00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:24,000
Yeah.

872
00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:25,000
We could be pretty hard.

873
00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:26,000
Totally nerve-wracking.

874
00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:27,000
Yeah.

875
00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:29,000
All right, here we go.

876
00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:30,000
Hold onto your butts.

877
00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:33,000
That's a Jurassic Park reference.

878
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:35,000
Doesn't matter.

879
00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:36,000
Here we go.

880
00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:37,000
Okay.

881
00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:38,000
We got lights.

882
00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:39,000
We're back up.

883
00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:40,000
Let's see if we can get a sonar image, maybe.

884
00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:42,000
We're at like 645 feet, so we're up above it.

885
00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:44,000
And we're not snagged on into the tether?

886
00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:45,000
I don't believe so.

887
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:46,000
Great news.

888
00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:47,000
Okay, great.

889
00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:55,000
With the power once again flowing and the ROV fortunately unscathed, we resume our path toward our sonar target.

890
00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:57,000
Some fish.

891
00:41:57,000 --> 00:41:59,000
Fish, that's always the sign of a wreck.

892
00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:02,000
All right, sonar, do your thing.

893
00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:03,000
What do you see down there?

894
00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:06,000
Oh, something up there?

895
00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:07,000
Yep.

896
00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:08,000
Yep.

897
00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:09,000
Something big right in front of us there.

898
00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:10,000
Look at that.

899
00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:11,000
Look at right there.

900
00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:12,000
I got a really good feeling.

901
00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:15,000
Oh, look at that.

902
00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:17,000
That looks like it could be a plane.

903
00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:18,000
That could be a plane.

904
00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:19,000
A big plane.

905
00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:20,000
Look at the wings, the tail.

906
00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:21,000
You can see the props.

907
00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:22,000
You can see the props right there.

908
00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:24,000
Look at the size of that wing.

909
00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:25,000
Big.

910
00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:27,000
That is definitely an airplane.

911
00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:31,000
This thing looks really intact.

912
00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:33,000
It's totally intact.

913
00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:37,000
What in the world is it doing down there?

914
00:42:37,000 --> 00:42:40,000
So those growths are, we think, in the cockpit area?

915
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:42,000
I think we're coming up on the prop.

916
00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:49,000
Oh, that is a star.

917
00:42:49,000 --> 00:42:51,000
That's a Navy star right there.

918
00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:52,000
That's a Navy star right there.

919
00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:53,000
It's a Navy plane.

920
00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:54,000
Guarantee.

921
00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:55,000
Holy f***.

922
00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:56,000
Look at that.

923
00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:06,000
While hunting for the lost XP-5Y,

924
00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:09,000
I actually got the chance to fly one, sort of.

925
00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:11,000
So this moves.

926
00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:12,000
This is a simulator.

927
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:15,000
It is very dynamic, but it's not anything you can't handle.

928
00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:16,000
We'll see about that, but...

929
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:17,000
All right.

930
00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:18,000
We are ready to go.

931
00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:19,000
All right.

932
00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:20,000
All right.

933
00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:21,000
Everything out of the pockets?

934
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:22,000
Why do things need to be out of my pockets?

935
00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:23,000
It's a dynamic ride.

936
00:43:23,000 --> 00:43:25,000
People keep using that word, dynamic.

937
00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:27,000
Okay, oh boy.

938
00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:30,000
And you will start from the air.

939
00:43:30,000 --> 00:43:31,000
Okay, okay, okay.

940
00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:32,000
And I'm flying.

941
00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:33,000
There you go.

942
00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:34,000
Oh, she got some kick.

943
00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:35,000
She got some power.

944
00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:36,000
It'll move.

945
00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:37,000
Okay, hold on.

946
00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:38,000
Let me just straighten this.

947
00:43:38,000 --> 00:43:39,000
This thing really...

948
00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:40,000
It actually goes over, doesn't it?

949
00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:41,000
It really does.

950
00:43:41,000 --> 00:43:42,000
We are upside down.

951
00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:43,000
Yes, we are.

952
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:44,000
Okay, I got to just...

953
00:43:44,000 --> 00:43:45,000
Whoa!

954
00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:46,000
Okay.

955
00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:47,000
How am I doing, bud?

956
00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:48,000
Oh, here we go.

957
00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:51,000
Everything's fine, but there's no sick bags in here, are there?

958
00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:52,000
All right, Josh.

959
00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:54,000
This is where I get off.

960
00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:56,000
Oh, bud, that's good.

961
00:43:56,000 --> 00:43:57,000
Bud?

962
00:43:57,000 --> 00:43:59,000
I jumped.

963
00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:04,000
That is a Navy star.

964
00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:06,000
That's a Navy star.

965
00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:09,000
Dude, unbelievable!

966
00:44:10,000 --> 00:44:16,000
In our search for the lost XP-5Y prototype, it appears we've made a major discovery.

967
00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:21,000
A US Navy plane almost 700 feet below the surface.

968
00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:26,000
Do you know how rare this is to see an airplane this deep underwater completely intact?

969
00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:28,000
Oh, we got some ID numbers.

970
00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:29,000
Oh, oh!

971
00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:30,000
Right here.

972
00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:31,000
This is one, two, zero.

973
00:44:31,000 --> 00:44:33,000
One, two, zero, four, two.

974
00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:35,000
Do we have numbers on the XP-5Y?

975
00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:36,000
I don't even know if there would be.

976
00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:38,000
It's an experimental plane.

977
00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:39,000
This is a Navy plane.

978
00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:40,000
I mean, that's...

979
00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:41,000
Well, 100 guarantees.

980
00:44:41,000 --> 00:44:43,000
They're big wings, but it doesn't look big enough.

981
00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:45,000
The fuselage doesn't, right?

982
00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:47,000
The XP-5Y fuselage is huge.

983
00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:48,000
It's huge!

984
00:44:48,000 --> 00:44:49,000
This looks narrower.

985
00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:50,000
Yeah, for sure.

986
00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:51,000
But this isn't a small plane.

987
00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:52,000
No, no, no.

988
00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:53,000
This isn't like some little combat plane.

989
00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:55,000
No, no, this is bigger than that.

990
00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:59,000
But how is there a Navy plane sitting down there that's not our plane?

991
00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:03,000
There's no record of a large Navy plane lost out here at these coordinates?

992
00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:07,000
No, and nobody has ever seen this before.

993
00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:12,000
The physical characteristics of this wreck suggest that this can't be our plane,

994
00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:15,000
which raises an important question of its own.

995
00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:16,000
What the hell is it?

996
00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:18,000
Here's what I'm thinking.

997
00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:24,000
Big engine, huge wings, probably carrier-based single pilot.

998
00:45:24,000 --> 00:45:30,000
If I had a hazard to guess, I would go with a Sky Raider.

999
00:45:30,000 --> 00:45:35,000
The Douglas A-1 Sky Raider went into service in 1945,

1000
00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:42,000
a carrier-based torpedo bomber that served in every U.S. conflict between World War II and Vietnam.

1001
00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:46,000
It's possible this plane was once piloted in battle.

1002
00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:49,000
We might be looking at a Sky Raider.

1003
00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:52,000
Which, there's no record of one of those out here.

1004
00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:53,000
This is a mystery.

1005
00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:56,000
We're going to figure out what this is for sure.

1006
00:45:56,000 --> 00:45:57,000
We have to.

1007
00:45:57,000 --> 00:45:58,000
Yeah.

1008
00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:05,000
It's a historic discovery of the best kind, one that may tell a story we've never heard before.

1009
00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:14,000
We steam for port to put the remaining puzzle pieces of our investigation together.

1010
00:46:14,000 --> 00:46:20,000
Our search for the XP-5Y has led to not one, but two previously uncatalogged wrecks

1011
00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:24,000
now rediscovered off the coast of San Diego.

1012
00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:32,000
After extensive research, Brett was able to identify the make of the first plane we found in our near-zero visibility dive.

1013
00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:38,000
The sloped fuselage was a telltale sign of a Grumman F-8F Bearcat.

1014
00:46:38,000 --> 00:46:45,000
The Bearcat was a carrier-based fighter that was only operational between 1944 and 1952,

1015
00:46:45,000 --> 00:46:51,000
making our find an aviation geeks version of stumbling across a Mickey Mantle rookie card.

1016
00:46:51,000 --> 00:46:58,000
And as for the plane we filmed with our ROV, the tail number confirms it as a Douglas A-1 Sky Raider.

1017
00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:06,000
Records indicate that in 1963, this Sky Raider was one of 50 transferred from the Navy here in San Diego

1018
00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:11,000
to the U.S. Air Force first special operations wing based in Hurlbert Field, Florida.

1019
00:47:11,000 --> 00:47:15,000
There, it was used to train pilots for the escalating Vietnam War.

1020
00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:23,000
But how this plane returned to California to lie in 700 feet of water is anyone's guess.

1021
00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:33,000
Meanwhile, the XP-5Y remains at large, a testament to our ability to build big and accomplish the seemingly impossible.

1022
00:47:33,000 --> 00:47:39,000
Since the birth of flight, aviation innovation has advanced one aircraft at a time,

1023
00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:45,000
and testing those planes has required heroes like Don Girmarad and his crew.

1024
00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:52,000
The plane they leapt from is still out there, and with an ever-narrowing search zone, I have no doubt will soon be found

1025
00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:57,000
to take its place in the great pantheon of extraordinary aircraft.