DETROIT — A team of divers have been trolling the deep, cold waters of Lake Huron off Michigan’s Thumb for several weeks each of the past few years searching for scattered pieces of aviation — and Black military — history.
Their target is the wreckage of a World War II-era fighter plane flown by a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen that crashed during training nearly 80 years ago near Port Huron, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) northeast of Detroit.
So far, the plane’s bullet-riddled propeller and hundreds of other pieces have been recovered. Organizers this week hauled the P-39’s 1,200-pound mussel-encrusted engine from about 30 feet below the surface of the the lake which is home to scores of sailing vessels, tankers and other ships that have sank over the past several centuries.
Once restored, the engine, like other parts of the plane, eventually will be exhibited at the Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum at the Coleman A. Young International Airport on Detroit’s east side.
“We’re doing some finalizing of mapping things in terms of what all is there,” said Carrie Sowden, archeological and research director at the National Museum of the Great Lakes in Toledo, Ohio. “As we prepare for these major lifts, we’re finding all these small pieces. When we’re done we’re going to have a complete understanding where every single piece came from.”
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Tuskegee Airmen trained in Michigan
The airmen were the nation’s first all-Black air fighter squadron. They trained and fought separately from white fighter units due to segregation in the U.S. military. Their unit was based in Tuskegee, Alabama, but Michigan served as an advanced training ground during the war.
On April 11, 1944, 2nd Lt. Frank Moody, 22, of Los Angeles was flying over Lake Huron. It’s believed his machine guns were not in sync with the rotation of the P-39’s…
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