During World War II , in July 1944 , an American torpedo bomber embark on a fight commission . It was shot down , and its three crew members were declared missing in action ( MIA ) . NowCNN reportsthat the TBM-1C Avenger aircraft — and the remains of its passengers — have been located at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean , near the island nation of Palau . The TBM-1C Avenger will be turn over to the U.S. government , which will key the plane ’s work party based on their deoxyribonucleic acid , hot dog tags , and dental record .
The discovery comes good manners ofProject RECOVER , a collaborative scientific endeavor that uses archival enquiry and sonar applied science to encounter MIA aircraft and members of the armed forces . The mathematical group studies pic , interviews with veterans , and historic document to work a harsh guess of where a plane crashed . Underwater robot then locate potential wreck sites , and diver explore the ocean floor for more cue . In turn , they divvy up their findings with the Department of Defense ’s Defense POW / MIA Accounting Agency ( DPAA ) , which contacts the family of missing soldiers to permit them cognize their loved 1 have been observe .
One of the project ’s founders is Eric Terrill , an oceanographer from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California , San Diego . “ The grandness of our mission is reinforced with each newfangled breakthrough of a missing aircraft , " Terrillsaid in a statement . “ But this is more than reconnecting with history ; it ’s about locating the missing to start the U.S. regime to convey them home for a proper interment . With potential recovery sites around the world , Project RECOVER and its team of researchers and volunteers are expand to escalate its searches using modern science and technology . "
Project RECOVER has expend the past few years looking for the TBM-1C Avenger . Butaccording to CBS News , it ’s just one of wads of U.S. fighter planes submerge in Palau ’s waters . The others are site in coral reefs or hidden by Rhizophora mangle wood . In the hereafter , Project RECOVER hopes to key these wrecks — and others — to facilitate the judgment of veterans ' sept .
" We have identified 100 case worldwide that are suited for recuperation , and over 200 families have reached out asking for help with MIAs , " Terrill told CNN .
[ h / tCNN ]
All photograph courtesy of Eric Terrill , Mark Moline / Scripps Oceanography at UC San Diego
