Mud delays efforts to extract WWII plane from lake

[August 20, 2010]  SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Salvage divers say thick mud slowed their efforts to pull out a rare WWII dive bomber from a San Diego reservoir.

Crews will resume their efforts to extract the Helldiver on Friday.

After working all day Thursday, divers couldn't remove enough mud and debris to enable the plane to be lifted out of the water.

Relatives of the two-man crew waited at the reservoir's edge to see the plane that crashed there in 1945 after the engine failed during a training exercise.

The SB2C Helldiver is one of only a handful still in existence. If it can be restored, it will be displayed at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Fla.

A former Army ranger who has rescued 33 planes for the museum says there is zero visibility at the bottom of the reservoir.

[Associated Press; By JULIE WATSON]

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