Nantucket Sound – April 3, 1945

Nantucket Sound, Massachusetts – April 3, 1945     

Ensign Vincent A. Frankwitz

Ensign Vincent A. Frankwitz

    

The F6F-5 Hellcat flown by Ensign Vincent A. Frankwitz undergoing restoration at the Quonset Air Museum in R.I.  Photo taken June, 2008.

The F6F-5 Hellcat flown by Ensign Vincent A. Frankwitz undergoing restoration at the Quonset Air Museum in R.I. Photo taken June, 2008.

     On April 3, 1945, a flight of seven U.S. Navy Hellcats were on a training mission off the coast of Nantucket when one suffered a loss of oil pressure; an F6F-5, Bu. No. 70185.   The pilot, Ensign Vincent A. Frankwitz, notified the flight leader of his predicament, and was ordered to land at Martha’s Vineyard, and began heading that way.  While en-route, the engine seized, and he was forced to ditch in the water.  Frankwitz scrambled from the plane before it sank, and was seen bobbing in the 42 degree water for the next twenty minutes.  Rescue craft were launched, but Ensign Frankwitz succumbed to hypothermia before help could arrive, and his body sank beneath the waves.  It was never recovered.  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/260429479/vincent-a-frankwitz

     On August 13, 1993, a Massachusetts Army National Guard helicopter was flying over Nantucket Sound when the crew chief saw what he thought was an aircraft wreck on the ocean floor.  The Coast Guard was notified, and investigation revealed that the wreck was an old one, draped with fishing nets.      

A portion of the Hellcat flown by Ensign Vincent A. Frankwitz, removed during restoration, with the original blue paint still visible - Quonset Air Museum

A portion of the Hellcat flown by Ensign Vincent A. Frankwitz, removed during restoration, with the original blue paint still visible – Quonset Air Museum

      Later in 1993, the aircraft was identified by Larry Webster, an aviation archeologist and historian with the Quonset Air Museum in Rhode Island, as likely being the one flown by Ensign Frankwitz.   Divers who examined the wreck later confirmed this to be the case.    

     The  Hellcat was in remarkably good condition despite its years in salt water.  On December 4, 1993, the aircraft was raised and brought to Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, where it was carefully dismantled before it was shipped to the Quonset Air Museum for restoration.    

     As of this writing, the Hellcat is still undergoing restoration, and when it’s completed, it will serve as a memorial to Ensign Frankwitz, and all Navy and Marine airmen who lost their lives in WWII.   

     Update: The Quonset Air Museum has permanently closed.  What became of the partially restored aircraft is unknown. 

      The name of Ensign Frankwitz can be found on the Charlestown Auxiliary Landing Field  memorial in Ninigret Park, in Charlestown, Rhode Island.  

 

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