The northern Kiribati atoll of Butaritari, which we visited a few weeks ago and whose Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes are to blame for all my sore joints and muscles (it's the dengue, not age), was the captured by Japan during WWII as part of a Pacific defense strategy. During U.S. attacks in 1942 and 1943, at least a couple Japanese planes were downed. The remains of one can't be missed by a visitor: it sits right on the shore next to the government station.
The other is out in the lagoon.
On our last day, I asked a local man to guide us to the plane so we could take a look. Here's a short video, I'll guess the only video in existence (?), of the plane:
I can upload more footage if there is interest.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Video of wrecked WWII plane in Butaritari, Kiribati
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3 comments:
Nice footage. A bit cloudy at times, but still cool to see. What depth is the plane at? Looks to be about 10m or so.
The plane is at only 6-8 m depth. The visibility is poor in shallow parts of the lagoon; waves mix up the sand and cloud everything. That's just about the clearest footage one can get.
I've done a bit of diving around small wrecks off the BC coast. It really is amazing how much life they attract.
Thanks for posting the footage.
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