Devastator Tbd

Putting aside the fact that this plane is federal property, is this plane lost, misplaced, or abandoned?

In 1943, During World War II, a Navy TBD-1 Devastator crashed eight miles of the coast of Florida. The entire crew survived and there is no indication that any efforts were made to locate the plane by the Navy. Collector Doug Champlin, the owner of an airplane museum in Arizona, spent approximately $130,000.00 to recover the plane. The problem has to do with ownership. He claims to be the owner of the lost/abandoned plane. The Navy claims ownership and wants to put the plane in the National Museum of Naval Aviation at Pensacola, Naval Air Station. The TBD-1 Devastator has significant historical value as no Devastators survived the war.

With abandoned property, it used to be considered finder's, keepers under the law, but with so much money at stake now, withe the huge finds of shipwrecked treasures, you're starting to see lawsuits by governments such as Spain that claim they are the owners.

It used to be that if a lost item was insured and declared a total loss by the insurer and a claim paid, the item became the property of the insurance company, but action must be taken, an attempt must be made to reclaim the item. You can't just sit and wait, especially hundreds of years, and then penalize the one willing to risk their financial investment and even their lives. But the stakes are enormous, and when it gets that way, everything changes.

I consider the plane lost, and with no attempt by the government to salvage it, abandoned, and the property of the party that does the work and makes the financial investment. I suspect, though, that this guy will ultimately lose the plane. He should get back every penny and then some.

Rare 1941 Color US Navy aircraft USS Enterprise San Diego

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