Nearly 50 years ago, a .50 caliber machine gun from a Navy Hellcat was recovered from the ocean floor. Shortly after it surfaced, it was transported to Dahlgren for testing. Despite having been in the salty water for a quarter century, the gun only needed cleaning and lubricant to work perfectly.
But there’s more to the story than the remarkable recovery of a machine gun lost at sea and how easily it worked after being cleaned. The gun was part of a Navy Hellcat fighter, specifically BuNo 66237. On January 12, 1944, during a flight that started at San Diego North Island, Pilot Robert Francis Thomas had to ditch the plane in the ocean roughly 12 miles from base.
Barely ten months later, Ensign Thomas would go on to become an ace during World War II. For those that don’t know, an “ace pilot” is one that shoots down five or more enemy aircraft during war. Thomas would shoot down four Japanese planes on October 15, 1944 and would take down another a few days later on October 25th. For his efforts and bravery, Ensign Thomas would be awarded the Navy Cross and the Distinguished Flying Cross.
After retiring from the Navy, Thomas would spend 30 years working for the New York Air Traffic Control Center. He died in 2009.
