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Comment by Kon-Peki | Hacker News Reader

I have no idea how to interpret that sonar image. Am I supposed to see what looks like an airplane when viewed from above? Because the Lockheed Electra didn't have swept-back wings. I don't think any airplane had swept-back wings until the 1950s.

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There’s literally a side by side diagram showing you how to look at. Not that your wings comment is wrong.

Ha, I clearly didn't scroll far enough. Thanks :)

Still, seeing as how I don't look at these kinds of images all day it's really hard for me to gauge if the sea floor is littered with false positive images that may seem to be a good match. I could also imagine a true match to also have some other confounding blob attached to it. It'd be nice to have some kind of score to summarize that aspect.

Post crash many planes have swept-back wings

Swept wings wasn't a thing until after WW2. The Me262 had swept wings because the engines came in heavier than expected, and sweeping the wings back was the easiest fix.

Read their comment again with a bit more irony :)

I meant to reply to the parent of that.

Could it be either sonar distortion or that the wings were damaged in the crash?

Speaking of which, it looks pretty intact, which means (armchair air crash specialist here) it wouldn't have crashed but done an emergency landing on the water.

That would match with the leading mis-navigation theory. She and her navigator were fine and healthy, as was the plane. They were looking for the island to land on, but had messed up the navigation and were sufficiently off-course. There were US Navy boats in the area of the island that heard their radio calls. There was no emergency -- they just reported to be searching for the land that they should've found. Presumably they flew until they ran out of fuel and likely set it down in the water as gently as possible.

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