This Diver Spotted The Outline Of A Plane In The Pacific – And Came Across A Truly Thrilling Sight

The site of Mueller’s dive is pretty far-flung, too. You see, the plane can be found inside the Kwajalein Atoll, which is home to one of the world’s largest lagoons. And the atoll’s nearest neighbor, Honolulu, is around 2,100 miles away. That meant finding the plane was practically like grabbing the proverbial needle in a haystack.

It’s not like this was a regular thing for Mueller, either. Later, she admitted that diving is “pretty slow going most of the time.” But there’s an upside. “You have a lot of time to take in what’s around you and observe,” Mueller added. This is handy, as Mueller is also an avid photographer. She wants to “[share] the beauty of our planet, particularly the underwater realm.”

“The ocean is incredible. The more time you spend underwater, the more things you see,” Mueller said. And she’s certainly clocked up some hours in the ocean! An experienced diver, Mueller has been a boat captain and a dive instructor in such idyllic locations as Hawaii and Turks and Caicos.

Mueller told Adventure Sports Podcast, “I don’t really remember what it felt like to not dive.” Fast-forward to today, and she has explored the waters of more than 30 countries. Pretty impressive! But the plane may be the most surreal underwater sight she will ever come across.

The unusual wreck lies in the soft sand at the bottom of the lagoon. Even though it’s partially submerged, its outline is distinctly recognizable. And Mueller is excited to take in the bizarre sight. She swims towards the stricken craft, whose propeller has wedged itself into the lagoon floor.

“Diving on shipwrecks seems normal. You expect ships to have sunk,” Mueller later told the Daily Mail. But diving on airplanes was much more unusual. “Planes don't belong in the water. They belong in the sky,” she added. Well, she does have a point!

So, how did the plane end up at the bottom of the lagoon? Could it have crashed? Well, it appears to be undamaged. In fact, it is in near-perfect condition. That aluminum coating has hardly rusted at all.

And if you thought that coming across one underwater plane was extraordinary enough, the lagoon is actually home to over 150 of them! Across two square miles, there’s a so-called “airplane graveyard” here. “It’s incredible to be in this different world,” Mueller told Adventure Sports Podcast, adding, “I find them so fascinating!”

Mueller added that the scene looked as though “someone took toy airplanes and threw them in the sand.” But these planes are much bigger than toys, with some measuring up to 53 feet in length and boasting a wingspan of 67 feet. We’re not sure how easy these big boys would be to fling about!

Given their remote location, the airplanes are rarely seen. Mueller wasn’t sure if anyone had ever spotted all 150 of them. But visitors have to be quick. If you descend to the wrecks with scuba gear, you have only 20 minutes underwater before your air tank runs out.

“I always have this feeling of, ‘I need more time, swim faster, I want to see more!’” Mueller admitted to Adventure Sports Podcast. But one spot she frequently returned to with her scuba gear is referred to as “13 Planes.” Why? Well – you’ve guessed it – you can see 13 aircraft in a single dive.

Still, Mueller is glad that the planes are in the lagoon, as she is able to scuba dive to their depth of 130 feet. If they were on the other side of the island, it wouldn’t be so easy. The ocean gets very deep very quickly, meaning you’d need a submarine to see any planes there. But while these craft may look eerie, their new home has actually given them a fresh lease of life.

Mueller described the ocean as “someone else’s, or something else’s, world,” and ocean life has certainly embraced the planes. Basically, as the diver explained, the craft have become a sort of artificial reef. Coral flourishes on their shells, and fish, turtles, and even sharks come to pay them a visit.

Mueller described seeing tiny glassfish that “swarm so tightly they block the view of whatever is behind them. They just fill up the whole cockpits of these planes, and you can’t even see inside them.” Lionfish make use of the planes, too.

”They love areas where the propellers rest in the sand. Three or four can almost always be seen, sometimes resting right on the blades,” Mueller said of the lionfish. But what happens when they get a bit hungry? Well, they simply “move upward just a bit to partake in the cockpit buffet of glassfish.” Sounds like a wonderful day out to us!

And we don’t even need to go underwater to see these eerie planes in their new habitat. You see, Mueller hasn’t just explored the airplane graveyard for herself. She’s combined her love of diving with her passion for photography and has published images of the stunning relics.

The rare images allow everyone to visit the airplane graveyard. Mueller said, “They’re in such a remote location, and it’s so hard to get to that I want to show people.” The extraordinary pictures show the planes at the bottom of the lagoon. And in some shots, a black-and-white filter lends them an even more haunting air.

Mueller later said that the planes “should have flown more, lived longer.” She’s even described some of the aircraft as looking “like they could take off at any moment!” So how did they end up at the bottom of the Pacific? And how have they remained in relatively pristine condition?

Well, the lagoon is also an underwater World War II museum of sorts. And the airplanes in the graveyard didn’t crash – they were dumped. Mueller explained, “They weren’t shot down, they didn’t crash there. They were loaded up on a barge and thrown into the water.” That’s right. At the end of WWII, around 150 American airplanes were dropped into the lagoon.

In August 1945 the U.S. only had one goal remaining: to get the troops back safely. And while the planes had played an important part in winning the war, they were simply not as important as reuniting families. They were heavy and outdated, too, and were no longer needed.

The airplane graveyard boasts seven different types of airplanes flown by the Allies, and Mueller has photographed every kind! There are Douglas SBD Dauntlesses, PBJ-1 Mitchells, Grumman TBF Avengers, Grumman F4F Wildcats, and Curtiss C-46 Commandos as well as a Vought F4U Corsair and a Curtiss SB2C Helldiver. That’s quite the collection!

And Mueller found it fascinating to delve into the awesome history behind the planes. She said, “I love that we can go dive something that’s 75 years old that has this story behind it of a war.” For sure, the planes in the graveyard played an essential role in that fierce conflict.

All of the planes at the bottom of the lagoon had once flown in the Pacific War between the Allies and the Japanese Empire. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had destroyed America’s Pacific Fleet, and in the wake of that infamous assault the Japanese military began to take control of islands in the South Pacific. But over time, one by one these isles started to come back under American power as the U.S. Navy staged a comeback.

A total of nearly 50,000 U.S. troops participated in the battle to grab the Marshall Islands from Japan. This victory gave American forces a staging post from which it could strike at the Japanese mainland itself. And in August 1945 nuclear bombs were dropped onto Hiroshima and Nagasaki, rapidly heralding the end of the war.

Mueller said, “It’s so weird to see planes underwater and think they were flying 75 years ago!” She said she found it somehow more special that the planes didn’t crash into the lagoon. According to her, they looked as though they could return to the skies at any moment – ready for duty once again.

And the Douglas SBD Dauntless is the most common plane you’ll find in this part of the Pacific. Mueller said, “You can pretty much drop in anywhere in what we call the graveyard, and you’ll see random SBD planes scattered down in the sand.” This model was created from 1940 to 1944 and given the nickname of “Slowly but Deadly.” The SBD had a maximum speed of 255 mph, leaving it vulnerable to the rapid Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero, which could reach 350 mph.

Despite this, the SBD was popular. The aircraft was extremely agile, making it harder to shoot down. And 1942’s Battle of Midway was one of the biggest moments for the SBD, as pilots in the planes dealt lethal blows to a number of Japanese aircraft carriers. But it definitely wasn’t the only type of craft in the lagoon.

There were also 11 PBJ-1 Mitchells in the airplane graveyard. The Navy and the Army had about 800 spare PBJs, which were claimed by the Marines and adapted to fit their needs. The ‘1’ stands for the modifications made by the Marines to the standard aircraft.

Mueller said of the PBJ-1s, “They are so cool. They’re gigantic.” She’s right! These planes are each over 50 feet long and have a wingspan of almost 70 feet, which can make a diver feel very small. And according to the folks who flew them, they were particularly great at jungle and small island landings. One example has landed on the lagoon floor upside-down, exposing the bomb doors, and Mueller said this made it ideal for exploring.

There are also two Grumman TBF Avengers in the airplane graveyard, and their positions are mirrored opposites – one is upright and one is upside down. Measuring just over 40 feet long and with a 54-foot wingspan, this plane was one of WWII’s heaviest single-engine aircraft. Its gross weight is not far short of eight tons!

The Grumman TBF Avengers are also Mueller’s favorite planes to dive, according to video footage she uploaded to YouTube. Brought into service in 1942, they were the first craft to have stow-wing technology. This meant the wings could fold back onto the fuselage. Pretty neat!

Another graveyard dweller with an impressive record is the Vought F4U Corsair. It’s instantly recognizable from its wing, which is bent at the middle like a gull’s. This is an important feature, helping the plane reach speeds over 400 mph. That made it America’s fastest aircraft when it went into service. 

The Corsair was so successful that it was still flown after the war had ended. In fact, the United States used it all the way up to 1953! And according to Mueller, the lagoon version was also very popular among the lionfish population. She remembered, “There always tended to be a couple of lionfish down by the propeller on the nose of the airplane.”

The Grumman F4F Wildcat is another important airplane, and it was arguably America’s only truly successful fighter until the introduction of the Corsair in 1942. It helped that the Wildcat could achieve an impressive 320 mph, making it nearly as speedy as a Japanese Zero. And pilots said this small and mighty craft – measuring just 28 feet with a wingspan of 38 feet – was incredibly maneuverable. Even better, it could take a lot of flak while remaining airworthy.

But there’s only one Curtiss SB2C Helldiver in the graveyard. No surprise, really, as this type of plane wasn’t as popular among pilots as the Douglas SBD it was designed to replace. Despite being faster than the SBD, it apparently wasn’t as easy to fly, as its long nose got in the way when taking off and landing! All the same, the Helldiver had some success in the Marianas and in the Philippines as well as in the skies over Taiwan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.

And speaking of Curtiss-made planes, only about 3,000 of the C-46 Commando were ever created. The aircraft evolved from the non-military airline DC-3s, so it naturally played a major role in transporting lots of cargo and passengers. The plane thrived when taking routes over wide sweeps of mountains and ocean. 

The Commando was particularly good at flying over the Himalayas – or “The Hump” as they were dubbed by pilots. It could survive rough landings and extreme weather, making it great in the Pacific theater. But, today, the passengers on board the lagoon aircraft are a little different, with sponges and fish enjoying the interior of the plane. And thanks to Mueller, you can see all these planes for yourself.

Yep, Mueller has compiled her photographs into a book called The Airplane Graveyard: The Forgotten WWII Warbirds of Kwajalein Atoll. And the stunning images are accompanied by accounts of the planes’ exploits compiled by military historian Alan Axelrod. His fascinating insight gives us more details of the roles these awesome machines played in WWII.

Mueller’s account is pretty amazing, and she clearly hankers to get back in the atoll's waters again. She admitted to Adventure Sports Podcast, "I start to get crabby if I haven’t been underwater in a certain amount of time.” We’re sure that we’ll hear about more of her adventures soon! Maybe they’ll even be as incredible as the airplane graveyard.