B-29 Central Wing Section

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Inverted central wing section of a B-29 bomber at 370m off Saipan. The scour patterns are very obvious aft of the wing and around the engines. Engine number 3 is suspected to be behind the wing trailing edge near the back center of the debris pile. American-produced B-29 Superfortress bomber aircraft flew missions against Imperial Japan in the Pacific Theater from air bases in the Marianas Islands from November 1944 until the end of WWII. Mechanical failures forced many B-29s into the ocean surrounding Saipan and Tinian, but no losses in deep water were located until 2016, when a NOAA exploration cruise investigated sonar targets in the Saipan Channel, between Saipan and Tinian. Disarticulated wreckage from a B-29 was located at 370m over a large area of the seabed. Telepresence-enabled, non-invasive exploration from NOAA’s ship Okeanos Explorer allowed scientists on shore to view live streaming video and to work collaboratively to guide the investigation.