Applying Aircraft Accident Investigation to the Archaeological Examination of WWII F6F-3 Hellcat

Abstract Aircraft accident investigators are professionals who are called to accident scenes, be they military or civilian, to analyze the causes. Accident investigators attempt to recreate the circumstances of the aircraft accident by studying wreckage distribution, damage patterns on the wreckage, and the physics involved so they may provide guidance for safer future air travel. Many of the field and laboratory techniques used by aircraft accident investigators, such as site mapping and wreckage identification, align closely with established archaeological methodologies. This study considers a Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat shot down during the Battle for Saipan in June 1944 that was subsequently excavated over the course of three field seasons during partner missions by East Carolina University and the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency to locate the remains of the pilot. The Hellcat is used as a case study to test how aircraft accident investigation methods can be applied in archaeological research to examine the aircraft wreck site, recreating the aircraft accident, and creating a better understanding of the site’s distribution. Ultimately this research aims to reaffirm the value of interdisciplinary approaches to archaeology and proposes a number of field and analytical approaches for archaeologists studying aircraft to adopt in the future.