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    • Aviators Down! The Search for Tuskegee and Free French World War II Aircraft in Lake Huron

    Metadata Updated: October 19, 2024

    Nearly 200 military aircraft were lost in the Great Lakes during World War II (WWII). The vast majority of losses occurred in lower Lake Michigan where Navy aviators attempted to qualify for carrier takeoffs and landings. The Army also lost pilots and aircraft in Lake St. Clair and Lake Huron. Dozens of foreign pilots including French and Norwegian exiles training in North America were also lost over waters in the Great Lakes. Although many of the WWII aircrafts wrecked in the Great Lakes have been recovered, the majority have not yet been found. The goals for this project were to emphasize the importance of WWII-related cultural heritage within and adjacent to Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary; develop archaeological survey methodologies to locate and characterize small, disarticulated aircraft sites; and create and develop new partnerships between NOAA and other academic and governmental agencies that will facilitate the exploration and characterization of Lake Huron's maritime and aviation heritage. Funding for this project was provided by NOAA Ocean Exploration via its Ocean Exploration Fiscal Year 2017 Funding Opportunity. Data contains multibeam, side scan sonar, and field images collected between 27 June and 26 September, 2018 in Alpena, Oscoda, and Iosco counties, Michigan. Fieldwork was conducted during daylight hours out of Alpena, Harrisville, and Tawas City, Michigan.

    Access & Use Information

    License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

    Downloads & Resources

    Dates

    Metadata Date March 14, 2023
    Metadata Created Date October 19, 2024
    Metadata Updated Date October 19, 2024
    Reference Date(s) June 26, 2018 (creation)
    Frequency Of Update notPlanned

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from NCDDC OER

    Other Data Resources

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Date March 14, 2023
    Metadata Created Date October 19, 2024
    Metadata Updated Date October 19, 2024
    Reference Date(s) June 26, 2018 (creation)
    Responsible Party NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (Point of Contact); Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR), Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary (TBNMS) (Principal Investigator)
    Contact Email
    Guid gov.noaa.ncei:AviatorsDown2018_Products_COLLECTION
    Access Constraints
    Bbox East Long -83
    Bbox North Lat 44.75
    Bbox South Lat 44.25
    Bbox West Long -83.4
    Coupled Resource
    Frequency Of Update notPlanned
    Harvest Object Id 20049cc3-71c1-43ef-a3af-2e929d0d2830
    Harvest Source Id 0eb61eac-016f-4f95-a6c3-2974339749bb
    Harvest Source Title NCDDC OER
    Licence Access Constraints: No access constraints Use Constraints: No use constraints.
    Lineage Processing Steps
    Metadata Language eng; USA
    Metadata Type geospatial
    Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-83.4, 44.25], [-83.0, 44.25], [-83.0, 44.75], [-83.4, 44.75], [-83.4, 44.25]]]}
    Progress completed
    Spatial Data Service Type
    Spatial Reference System
    Spatial Harvester True
    Temporal Extent Begin 2018-06-26
    Temporal Extent End 2018-09-26

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