Why There Are 100+ Sunken WW2 Warplanes At The Bottom of Lake Michigan

Do you know that over a hundred WWII planes rest at the bottom of Lake Michigan? Here’s the story of recovering these rare warbirds at the bottom of the lake and why they got there in the first place.

The Lake Michigan Experiment

When WWII broke out and with German and Japanese submarines patrolling the coastal waters, training carrier pilots in the safety of Lake Michigan made a lot of sense.

Commander Whitehead was given a go-signal to put his plan in action. There was no time to build carriers so conversion of existing ships was the only viable option.

What was unique was that Whitehead wanted to convert passenger ships into carriers, and do the entire operation in Lake Michigan. 

The Reason

The US Navy then trained 15,000 carrier pilots on two makeshift ‘flattops’, both former coal-fired, side-wheel passenger steamers.  The SeeandBee was renamed the USS Wolverine and the Greater Buffalo was commissioned as the USS Sable.

Unfortunately, not every pilot can successfully land on the pitching decks of USS Wolverine and USS Sable. Described as a controlled crash, landing on a carrier in the ocean is one of the most difficult and dangerous things a Navy pilot will ever do.

As a result, many of these planes went to the bottom of Lake Michigan. A crash on Lake Michigan in the winter can be life-threatening with hypothermia as one of the leading causes of death.

Exploring the Depths of Lake Michigan

Army veteran Taras Lyssenko and his partner Alan Olsen of A. and T. Recovery, have been fishing the waters of Lake Michigan for over 30 years. The duo has found the resting place of some 70 aircraft and recovered 40 of them.

On one particular day, they spotted a Grumman Wildcat.

37 Wildcats went into Lake Michigan during the wartime Navy training operation. This one particular plane is resting upside down, and the team knew its condition when it recorded sonar images and video using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV.)

They flipped the aircraft right side up and suspended it just beneath the surface for the long, slow, tow to the shore. They tow it underwater since wave action on the surface can cause further damage.

When the Wildcat was finally retrieved on the dock after 68 years, it looked nothing like its former self. However, it will eventually be restored to full museum quality and put on display at Chicago’s Navy Pier.