Researchers found on the coast of Rio Grande do Norte a piece of a US military plane that crashed in the region 80 years ago and was used in World War II.
The aircraft, identified as a Catalina twin-engine seaplane, was heading for a US base in the state capital, Natal, when it crashed. There were 10 people on the plane at the time of the accident, and only three survived, rescued by Brazilian fishermen.
The wreckage was found by diver Paul Bouffis, who was teaching a class in the region, and passed the information about the carcass to the Centro Cultural Trampolim da Vitória, which studies the passage of Americans through the state of Rio Grande do Norte during the Second World War.
In an interview with TV Globo, the institution’s curator, Fred Nicolau, stated that the existence of the plane was known, but its location was unknown. “He said he had found a ‘thing’ there, but it wasn’t a plane. So he sent me the pictures, I looked and [disse que] in fact it’s junk, it doesn’t look like anything”.
Nicolau says that he went to search his own collection and found a piece of scrap also from a Catalina. ”I went to see other pictures of the plane and I was sure [que era aeronave americana]”, he stated.
According to Nicolau, reports at the time pointed out, among the causes of the plane crash, the low visibility conditions. “It was raining, it was night, there was no moon, low ceilings and zero visibility,” he says.
According to Nicolau, there are other aircraft wreckage scattered along the coast of the state. “We knew that this plane existed, just as we know that ten others crashed here on the coast between the war and the post-war period. The guys who already found these planes keep it a secret. I tried hard to find the other planes.”
Nicolau said that he had already informed the Navy and the American authorities about the find, but argues that the most correct thing would be to leave the carcass in place.
