Missing military aircraft aren’t the only thing BentProp discovers on Palau. “We do find these odd things,” Scannon says. “One time we were out in the jungle and I found a piece of luggage full of clothes. It had popped open and spread out [but] was no more than 10 years old.”

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BentProp also found a Japanese urinal near some caves that team members nicknamed “the General’s urinal” because a luxury item like that would only have been used by someone of senior rank. BentProp searchers have discovered well-preserved Japanese helmets as well as unexploded ordnance, which they steer clear of for obvious reasons. In fact, BentProp’s volunteers are careful not to collect or disturb anything they find. As Scannon puts it, “Any artifacts, debris fields or ordnance we find, we leave alone. We want to be good guests of the country.”

When asked how he came up with the organization’s distinctive name and logo, Scannon recalls discovering a lost Corsair in 1999 with a similarly bent prop that stuck in his mind. The image later became the basis for both BentProp’s name and its damaged four-bladed logo.

BentProp’s volunteers come from a variety of backgrounds and include a retired F-18 pilot, a former Hollywood stuntman, a military historian, a computer geek and an active-duty Marine captain previously stationed in Iraq. Volunteers range in age from 21 to well into their 60s, but the most important credential for membership is the ability to bring value to the mission.

“Everyone has to have a skill,” says Scannon. “I’m an MD, and we have navigation officers as well as land and water safety officers.” You also have to have a high degree of tolerance for the jungle, heat and regular doses of disappointment.

BentProp has approximately 30 volunteers doing a variety of tasks. Some of the most active members include Dan O’Brien, Clem Major, Jennifer Krasny-Power, Reid Joyce, Flip Colmer and Val Thal. Potential volunteers are interviewed by phone and, if they make the initial cut, are introduced to other volunteers for consideration. BentProp is definitely not a one-man show.

“I attach a lot of importance to my team members,” Scannon says. “They contribute every bit as much as I do, and probably more.”

BentProp has inspired similar efforts in Yap and other western Pacific islands. Asked how long he plans to search for missing aircraft, Scannon responds: “I don’t have a retirement date, but I’d like to think as long as necessary. What we’re doing has a life beyond me…and will ultimately expand.”

In the meantime, Scannon remains committed to completing BentProp’s task of finding as many missing aircraft as possible. To date, he has visited Palau 15 times and completed 13 search missions, yet he is still hungry to locate what he considers two of the biggest unfound targets: the last of four B-24 bombers shot down along with eight crew members by a Japanese fighter, and another Corsair that crashed in the jungle and is likely to be a target in BentProp’s February 2008 mission. Though Scannon has a pretty good idea of where the Corsair crashed, BentProp’s search for missing aircraft continues to be an enormous challenge.

“There are still 40 to 50 potentially findable aircraft [around Palau],” he says. “But there’s a great deal of variability due to the unknowns. How many are really out there? We don’t know. We’re just going to have to keep looking.”

To learn more about the BentProp Project see www.bentprop.org. To make a tax-deductible nonprofit donation visit www.bentstarproject.org, or to order the Last Flight Home DVD visit www.lastflighthome.org. John J. Geoghegan is director of the Siloe Research Institute in Marin County, Calif., and writes frequently about aviation, science and underwater exploration. He last wrote for Aviation History about the airship USS Macon in the May issue.

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