PB4Y-2

On August 26th, 1956 a PB4Y-2(redesignated PY4-2) BuNo 59695 went down just a few hundred yards offshore Sandpoint NAS into Lake Washington. To read more regarding the accident click here.

The wreck of the PB4Y-2 is located in 154 FFW just half a mile from a popular boat launching facility and public park. The same land 50 years ago used to be a naval air station where many other planes such as the PB4Y-2 would begin their patrols and exercises.Very few people today understand that a WWII era Bomber exists so close to the shores of Lake Washington, Seattle. Those that know of the existence of this wreck are accomplished techinical scuba divers.

The PB4Y located at the bottom of Lake Washington is one of the last surviving models of the Consolidated-Vultee(Convair) PB4Y-2, only 736 were built. These aircrafts served in many fronts during WWII, The Korean war and in the Cold war. Their primary role was during WWII, where it had a direct effect in the Atlantic ocean patroling the seas for German submarines, as well as throughout the pacific campaign between 1943 and 1945. During the post war years, additional aircraft were converted for other specific reasons. In 1951 the the bomber designation was dropped, and the various versions were redesignated as P4Y -2(Lake Washington wreck), P4Y-2B, P4Y-2S, or the P4Y-2K. However, the original model designation is typically used when referring to the aircraft.

With permission from the Naval Historical Center in Washington D.C., the GoFishFilms diving crew set out to establish the easiest and most cost effective way to access the aircraft over the 5 days of filming and photo shot of the wreck. While usually dives such as these are conducted using a diving vessel, it was decided that for better protection of the site to attempt a search for the aircraft from shore using DPV's, upon encountering the wreck we would lay a thin guideline from the wreck to an undisclosed location near shore. Two of the divers using a compass heading towards the coordinates and using the underwater bathymetry along the shore were able to locate the site within 25 minutes, within 45 minutes upon descent towards the bomber a line was established to an undisclosed location underwater near the shore of the park.

The intent of the extensive filming and photography of this wreck site is to bring to the general public and not just technical divers a better knowledge of the site, the overall condition of the aircraft, how it relates to the community. We are also hopeful that through a detailed description of our diving techniques and methods the diving community will be better informed of the wreck site, the preservation of the aircraft and safer method of reaching the wreck. We are currently working on the editing of the DVD and should become available during the summer of 2007. Please visit our films page for a preview of the DVD"PB4Y-2, Underlight"here.