Snorkel Baby Sandy II B-24 Wreck, Laura Island, Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands

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"Baby Sandy II" is a B-24J-1-CO Liberator serial number 42-73013. On December 29, 1943 took off from Tarawa Airfield (Hawkins) piloted by 1st Lt. Ivan M. Osborne on a bombing mission against Taroa Airfield in Maloelap Atoll. The weather was good. After releasing their bombs, the formation was attacked by over thirty A6M Zeros. Here is a good story of what happened. This B-24 remains in6-12 feet of water at low tide on west reef of Majuro Atoll, about 1/2 mile south of Ajola Island. At low tide, the propellers can be seen above the waterline. Several other fragments of the plane are nearby including a Sperry ball turret, the belly machine gun unit with one barrel still visible. Present are the port wing, most parts of the starboard wing, the central fuselage section between the wings, and four engines. A number of small parts can be found scattered around the area. All propellers can be seen in place except for those of the No. 1 engine, which has fallen off its mounting and is resting nose down in the sand. The blades of the propellers are not bent, indicating that the pilot could feather the engines before the crash landing.

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