Answers, and new questions, about plane parts

External fuel tanks from a Boeing B-52D-35-BW are what have been lying at the bottom of Duck River in Normandy. Serial numbers were discovered underwater Sunday on the parts which many had believed were the remains of a World War II aircraft that crashed in the area. (Photo from the book "B-52 Stratofortress In Action") [Click to enlarge]

The mystery of what's lying in the Duck River in Normandy has been solved, and although it's not from World War II, the pieces are definitely from a warplane.

Instead of being a bomber that crashed in 1943, the large parts are actually seven external fuel tanks from a B-52 Stratofortress.

But this brings forth another mystery: Why are they there and how did they end up in the river?

Parker Lowdens from the Tennessee Fire Academy in Deason read the article in Friday's Times-Gazette about the aircraft mystery and became interested about what was lying on the river bed.

Contacting Normandy Mayor Larry Nee on Sunday, Lowdens and another person from the academy brought out scuba diving gear and swam around the underwater wreckage, looking for any clues as to what the pieces belonged to.

Lowdens found what he was looking for -- a metal tag on one of the pieces, which read EXTERNAL REMOVAL FUEL TANK - BENSON MFG - KANSAS CITY MO - 3000 GAL. This tag also contained U.S. Air Force serial numbers, manufacturer's serial numbers and even numbers for both the stock and government order.

The fuel tanks were 40 feet long and only the B-52 was large and powerful enough to lift two of the massive pieces. Both ends of the tanks had been cut off, turning the pieces into a type of culvert. The longest pieces found last week measured 37 feet long.

"They saw seven of them, possibly more," Nee said of the divers. "The paint scheme is the same," as to what is lying in the river. The huge tanks were built so that the bombers could make longer flights during the Vietnam War without having to refuel.

Nee first brought the mystery to the attention of the T-G in March of last year. At the time there were only two piece visible, both of them on the shoreline.

The first section of the fuselage that was noticeable last year is embedded in the banks of the river under a bridge built by TVA in 1971. The piece was exposed after a flood in 1995 washed soil away from the 15 foot section. Another piece was removed from the area sometime last year.

The paint scheme of the piece buried in the river bank matches photos of the massive Cold War era bomber.

But how they got there, why they were there, and who put them there is another mystery, Nee says. "It looks like someone attempted to use them as a culvert, they're all lying side by side going all the way across the river."

When the current bridge over the Duck River was built, there was only one way across, an iron bridge. Nee suggested that the aircraft parts may have been laid down and covered with earth so that heavy equipment could cross the river during the bridge's construction.

All of the fuel tanks are opened, buried in silt and there are a couple more of the pieces down stream, Nee said.

"It is an aircraft part, it is an airplane and it is Boeing," but it isn't what many speculated it was. Theories as to the identity of the pieces have ranged from a B-25 Mitchell bomber, to a B-17, even a Boeing YB-9 bomber from the 1930's.

But there's now another question: Where is the plane that crashed on a farm back in World War II?

According to Nee, the aircraft came down one summer day in 1943 onto the farm of the late Martin Glodo as he and some German P.O.W's were working the fields.

Glodo told Nee that when the plane went down, it pushed up a lot of dirt in the field. According to the story, the military came out to the crash site, removed the engines and then pushed the rest of the aircraft into the Duck River and buried it. The fate of the pilot is unknown.

Records from the time period reveal that there were as many as 50 military crash sites scattered all over Bedford, Coffee and Franklin counties during the World War II era, including some near Shelbyville and Bell Buckle.

Nee now speculates that the plane that many first thought was in the river is likely at the bottom of Normandy Lake since most of, if not all the property now underwater was farm land during World War II.

Nee also admits to being a little disappointed that the parts wasn't what everyone first thought it was, but at least the sections have been identified, he said.