VARIOUS PIECES OF Col. KELSEY's P-38 INCLUDE: 1.PLEXIGLASS, 2. ENGINE PARTS, 3. MELTED ALUMINUM 4.AIRCRAFT SKIN WITH ARMY GREEN PAINT

Tony Moore first became interested in finding the P-38G (42-12937) crash site after seeing a photograph of the wreck in a book about the P-38 Lightning. The accompanying text gave a fair idea of the location and the photo provided some landmarks. The P-38 had crashed on a hillside, adjacent to several small pine trees. There were some buildings nearby.

A SMALL PIECE OF THE P-38's AIRCRAFT SKIN STILL SHOWING REMNANTS OF ITS DISTINCTIVE ARMY GREEN PAINT

On 19 September 1996, Pete Merlin joined Tony to search for the P-38G crash site. The quickly identified the proper hill and found that the pine saplings were now mature trees. They were surprised to see that a few of the closest man-made structures were still present. It was easy to align the old photograph and positively identify the impact point.

Although close to developed urban areas, the site yielded a number of P-38 parts. These included external skin with army green paint, structural fragments, and pieces of equipment. It wasn't much, but it was all that remained of this historic airplane.