Jet Found 50 Years After Takeoff From LAX
Tuesday, Sep 29, 2009 | Updated 11:02 AM PDT
USAF Museum
Pictured is a Lockheed T-33A, similar to the one that went missing.
It's been more than 50 years since the disappearance of a Lockheed T-33A Air Force jet trainer over the Pacific Ocean.
On Tuesday, investigators announced they found the plane's wreckage off Santa Monica. The plane -- similar to the one pictured above -- took off from Los Angeles International Airport in October 1955 with two crewmen aboard.
The information was turned over to the military's Joint Prisoner of War/Missing In Action Command and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, according G. Pat Macha of Aircraft Wrecks in the Mountains and Deserts of the American West.
The plane was spotted in April during a sonar survey for another aircraft, a missing P-51 Mustang fighter presumed lost at sea in 1944, Macha said.
In the following months, a series of dives was conducted to gather photographic evidence to help in identifying the plane. A diver saw a stamped part number on a single piece of wreckage that was later confirmed by Lockheed- Martin to have originated from a T-33, Macha said.
Remains of an Allison J-33 turbo jet engine also were found near the wreckage.
Subsequent investigation determined that the only T-33 ever reported in the area took off from LAX on Oct. 15, 1955, and was presumed lost at sea.
Macha said further investigation may turn up human remains. The missing pilots' names were being withheld, he said.
