L-19 in Green Lake

[lrogers]

I was wondering if anyone is willing to tell me
> the location of the L-19
> in Green Lake. My family and I are making the trip
> to the lake in a few
> weeks and I thought this would be the perfect
> opertunity to use my just
> repared underwater camera to catch a glimse of this awsome
> piece of history.

[VintageDiverMN]

The vis. is not very good this time of the year for UW photos in Green Lake. The City of Spicer now claims to have ownership of the L-19, and plans to bring it up and put it on a pedestal in town, bad idea, it should be left where it is. The L-19 is located about 1/2 mile straight South of the North boat launch in 40ft of water. Our club, Inland Divers Vintage Dive Club has been to the L-19 twice. SCUBA divers should contact the city of Spicer, DNR, and anyone else you can think of, and complain about bringing up the L-19. Frans Carlson

[CCRDIVER]

Please forgive me for not knowing what L-19 is.  Would you be so kind as to let me know.  Thanks. 

[LKunze]

Check out this thread. 

[shamre]

Are there restrictions on diving this site or can anyone dive it? Is a permit required?

[cweimaraner]

We have our pre-dive meeting tonight and will be briefed on the plan to recover the plane from the lake on Saturday, August 13th.  I don't know all the details but apparently the plane will be restored and put on display at the local park in Spicer.

I have dove the plane quite a bit since it was found and  it is truly a shame to remove it from the lake.  I think all the divers on the county dive team feel the same way.

I guess there will be some "Specialists" that will assist the County Dive team in the recovery.  It is not very deep, ~40 feet, but once the work starts the vis will definatly be Zero.

I'm sure all the personal belongings will be documented and removed.  There has been talk of removing the wings underwater first.  I think that the plane is pretty delicate and will sustain damage during the lifting process.

I'll do a little write-up after I know more.

[LKunze]

That's too bad.  I figured it would come to this though. 

[LRRP02]

Should be no problem if you pick in the proper areas of the plane the wings can stay on.  You would be surprised at how they are attached. What type of bags are you using to do this lift?

[LKunze]

Divers recover plane that crashed in Green Lake in 1958
Associated Press
August 14, 2005 PLANE0814


SPICER, Minn. -- Divers on Saturday recovered a single engine military plane that crashed into Green Lake during fog nearly 47 years ago, killing a Minnesota National Guard pilot.

More than 50 boats filled with curious spectators circled the site where the recovery operation was taking place, and dozens of people lined the shoreline nearly a mile way for the chance to watch as the Cessna L-19 "Birddog'' was pulled from water 40 feet deep.

The daylong recovery effort included volunteers with the Kandiyohi County dive team, Emergency Support Services Association and the Midwest Technical Rescue Training Association, both of Minneapolis.

"Actually, things went excellent,'' said Mike Roe, recently retired water patrol director with the Kandiyohi County Sheriff's office who oversaw the operations.

Divers used a large winch mounted on a pontoon boat to hoist the airplane from the bottom. They kept the aircraft submerged below a second pontoon boat which they used to tow it to shore.

The crash on Oct. 14, 1958, took the life of Captain Richard P. Carey, 36, who was returning to the Willmar airfield from Rochester when his plane went down at 12:30 a.m.

Along with recovering the plane, divers were able to retrieve some of the items carried by Carey, along with the flight log, parachutes and headphones.

Carey had been in radio contact with the Willmar air field and warned about the foggy conditions, but said he was low on fuel and needed to land.

In his last radio call, he reported that he hit something, later believed to have been seagulls. His body was recovered 13 days later.

After that, countless unsuccessful searches for the plane were made. The plane was discovered by accident on July 4, 2004 by Corey Fladeboe of Willmar and Brett Almquist of Maple Lake as they scanned the bottom with an underwater camera is search of walleyes.

The Spicer American Legion Post and the City of Spicer are planning to restore the airplane and place it on permanent display as a memorial to its pilot and all of those who have served in the Armed Forces, said Spicer Mayor Bill Taylor.

———

Information from: West Central Tribune,

[blizzardbacker]

Any of our mnscuba divers take part in this recovery?  If so, what was it like?