GoPro released a video Friday on the work done by a group called BentProp project to find U.S. warplanes that crashed near Palau during World War II. The short film explains how researchers have used underwater drones and even GoPro cameras to held scavenge the bottom of the ocean to provide some closure for the families of the service members who flew aboard the aircraft.
Pat Scannon started searching for old U.S. warplanes when he found the wing of a B-24 back in 1993. He has since spent his time searching for more planes and the service members in them in the waters near the Pacific Island chain that sits south of Guam and west of the Philippines.
Scannon's team, BentProp works with the Defense Department's Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command to verify the aircraft and service members the team finds and inform family members. Scannon said he estimates that up to 80 MIAs could still be found in the waters near Palau.
He explained that the advancements in technology have significantly helped his team cover more ground -- highlighting the work of underwater drones that are also used by the Office of Naval Research (ONR). Scannon's team has also worked with a team from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of Delaware.
The film has incredible visuals and an interesting explanation of the continued search for MIAs decades after wars are over.
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