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The continuing story of the Thai Air Force Dakota's, sunk off Phuket by end November 2008 for creating an artificial Reef from old warrior planes.
The ex-USAF Vietnam C-47's, that we described in the earlier Avionart Newsletter about the Thai Dakota Sinking Operations were to be sunk from a pontoon in the Thai waters, less than a mile from the west coast off Phuket.
There was a lot of delay in this operation, due to poor weather/ sea conditions, but it finally happened in the last week of November 2008.
We had an agreement made to remove all wingtips from the Dakota's, that were waiting so long at the harbour, to be shipped to their final submarine graveyard.
Due to the long haul transport and some rough handling or earlier removal, there were only 4 wingtips still mounted on the main wings of 5 C-47's.
Those 4 wingtips had to be removed with great care, but the intended removal of some 120 screws, that hold the wingtip to the mainwing, stalled due to corrosion.
We had no other way than to use the torch and with very great care , were able to take 2 wingtips apart, without damage to the wingtips.
The sinking operation by itself finally went wihtout any further problems, but all airframes and wings had to be pierced/holed, in order to avoid air to be trapped inside the fuselage or wings. Such air trappings can cause serious buoyancy and unbalance in the sinking, making the airframe to roll, once under water, not a good idea when you try to lower such plane intact, to a depth of 20-25 meters, with a concrete cradle underneath, that should be anchored on the sea bottom.
Corrosion, bad weather, long waiting, we thought we had seen it all, well ... not so, new challenges and surprises were to come our way.A clash between the Diver's Association and a local Organisation, that co-financed the sinking operation, was to break out and the latter party got it arranged, that no further removal of the last 2 wingtips was allowed for us, from that one C-47 airframe, who had them still on.
Amazed and disappointed, but there was not much we could do against so many parties involved in the operation, we sort of lost sight over who is who..
The ordeal was not yet over , with finally only 2 wingtips saved from the sinking, we had to deal with another party, that turned out to be the real Owner of the aircraft.
The C-47's were handed over by the Americans to the Thai Air Force in 1975 , at the end of the Vietnam Conflict, in a Military Aid Program (MAP).
This virtually means that Americans keep control over their military goods, and forbid any re-export without their consent, and that is for good reasons.
Now, with 2 wingtips of a 1944 built aircraft, that since long has been phased out from the US Military Services, this rule still applies and I had to contact the US Embassy in Bangkok, to see if I could get some dispensation for that rule, in order to make a re-export possible.
Big wheels keep on running, but some go faster than others, those wheels are pretty slow, and sofar the wingtips are still out there in Phuket , as I believe.We tried to lubricate the wheels, no good idea to try this, it has its own pace and maybe , one day, we get in touch with the right man, who releases the wingtips for export.
As Dakota Hunter, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but life is always exciting in the search for the lost and the last Dakota.
Hans Wiesman. Note: Up until today, May 2010, we have no news yet from the US Embassy in Bangkok, they have more important problems to handle out there after the political turmoil.
Worse, of the 5 Dakota Airframes sunk, 3 are reported to be lost and gone, maybe due to the strong currents, and / or poor execution of the anchoring on the sea bed. The 10+ Dakota Airframes still left on the Thai Air Force Base will probably not have the same fate , it remains unknown what is going to happen with those Vietnam Vets'.