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Sonar Search for the Coleman B-24 Crew (Uncle's Plane)

Mark Noah, Patrick Ranfranz, Cherie Ranfranz and Yapese guides after returning from searching for the Coleman crew with sonar in October 2008.

We were pleased to be joined by Mark Noah from the non-profit History Flight organization for part of the trip. Mark provided invaluable help during the trip. Mark's organization purchased a side scanning sonar unit in the summer for the purpose of helping us locate my uncle's plane on Yap. I can't thank Mark enough for taking the time and interest to dedicate resources to my search trip and spend a significant amount of time trying to help me find my uncle's plane. A number of people have contacted me over the years with thoughts about helping but Mark was the first to take an active step forward and bring the equipment we needed to Yap. Due to some issues with the airlines Mark ended up leaving some of his equipment including a magtometer (underwater metal detector) in his car at the Miami airport. We spent countless hours running the sonar up and down the SE coast trying to find the plane. This resulted in a number of cases of sea sickness and some interesting conversation as we baked in the tropical sun running the sonar off the island. In the end we put a lot of time into the sonar search with Mark throughout the trip but did not locate the Coleman crew. However, we did identify a number of targets that we'll need a sonar expert to interrupt. One of these targets could be the plane!

We teamed up with a marine biologist by the name of Brian Green and the Manta Ray Hotel dive shop manger, Jan Sledjens, to checkout some of the deeper sonar targets we could dive. Brian and Jan made deep dives to a few of the sites (200-250 feet) with us while I stopped at "about" 130 feet. I think I went a few feet beyond what I wanted to hit. Brian has the ability to use a re-breather but he was waiting for some replacement parts during our trip. Brian and Jan agreed to continue to dive my uncle's crash site location after we departed. Brian will spend some significant time diving the site at deep depths with his re-breather. Brian is very likely going to be the one who discovers my uncle's plane with his re-breather or the one-man submarines he might be bringing to Yap in the near future for his marine biology work.

In the end I truly believe that Brian and/or Jan will find my uncle's plane and the Coleman crew. I can't thank everyone (Mark, Brian, Jan, etc.) for all their help. I was so pleased to see how dedicated they were to help us during the trip and moving forward. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with this group and appreciate all the help. Please see the following pictures taken over a number of days showing our sonar search and deep diving attempts.

Please feel free to submit comments about the airstrip to Pat at: pat@missingaircrew.com

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sonar2_06	sonar2_07	sonar2_08	sonar2_09	sonar2_10
sonar2_11	sonar2_12	sonar2_13	sonar2_14	sonar2_15
sonar2_16	sonar2_17	sonar2_18	sonar2_19	sonar2_20
sonar2_21	sonar2_22	sonar2_23	sonar2_24	sonar2_25
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sonar2_36	sonar2_37	sonar2_38	sonar2_39	sonar2_40
sonar2_41	sonar2_42	sonar2_43	sonar2_44	sonar2_45
sonar2_46	sonar2_47	sonar2_48	sonar2_49	sonar2_50
sonar2_51	sonar2_52	sonar2_53	sonar2_54	sonar2_55
sonar2_56	sonar2_57	sonar2_58	sonar2_59	sonar2_60
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sonar2_66	sonar2_67	sonar2_68	sonar2_69	sonar2_70

Diving Pictures:

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sonar1_06	sonar1_07	sonar1_08	sonar1_09	sonar1_10
sonar1_11	sonar1_12	sonar1_13	sonar1_14	sonar1_15
sonar1_16	sonar1_17	sonar1_18	sonar1_19	sonar1_20
sonar1_21	sonar1_22	sonar1_23	sonar1_24	sonar1_25
sonar1_26	sonar1_27

Yap Island Sonar Search

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sonar3_06	sonar3_07	sonar3_08	sonar3_09	sonar3_10
sonar3_11	sonar3_12	sonar3_13	sonar3_14	sonar3_15
sonar3_16	sonar3_17	sonar3_18