Rare WWII Plane Flies Again 80 Years After Being Recovered From Lake Washington
KING 5 Seattle / YouTube
From Wartime Loss to Hidden Relic
More than eight decades after it was discarded in Lake Washington, a World War II Curtiss SB2C Helldiver has returned to the sky. Its comeback began in 1945, when the naval air station at what is now Seattle’s Magnuson Park received the aircraft only months after it entered service. A hard landing left the Helldiver damaged. Naval crews stripped usable parts and used the fuselage for fire-training drills, soaking it in fuel and setting it alight so firefighters could practice. When training ended, the remains were hoisted onto a crane ship and dropped into 150 feet of lake water, where they were forgotten.
Four decades later two local teenagers, intrigued by scattered records of sunken planes, decided to raise one of the forgotten aircraft. On July 15, 1984, nineteen-year-old Matt McCauley and a friend used air-filled floats to bring the Helldiver’s corroded shell to the surface. Their all-day effort drew a small crowd but little press until the U.S. Navy asserted ownership. After a legal dispute, the young salvors prevailed and sold the aircraft to a private collector the following year.
A Rare Aircraft Returns to Flight
The Helldiver’s path from salvage to flying machine spanned many years. Of the 7,140 SB2Cs built between 1943 and 1945, only a few survive and just three are airworthy. Restoration specialists eventually rebuilt the plane using both original and newly fabricated parts, carefully returning it to operating condition.
Matt McCauley, whose fascination with aviation history began in high school, watched as the same aircraft he once lifted from the lake took flight again in Colorado. For him, seeing the Helldiver rise before a crowd of aviation enthusiasts was deeply rewarding. Over time he and his team recovered five Navy planes from Lake Washington, including other Helldivers, but he insists the work was never for profit. It was about preserving history and bringing forgotten machines back into view.
Today the restored SB2C flies as a rare witness to the era of carrier-based dive bombers, linking the quiet waters of Lake Washington with the roaring skies of World War II.
Keep going for the video below:
