Solomon Islands · Solomon Islands · Wreck
Corsair Fighter Wreck
A Corsair upright on the sand at 54 m, dived only by tech teams
Area photo: Leonard Clifford · CC BY 2.0
An F4U Corsair that ditched off Munda during 1943 or 1944 and was found upright on flat sand at 54 m, propeller and canopy gone. It is a technical dive rather than a recreational one and is visited only occasionally, but the airframe still reads clearly as an aircraft, with soft coral spread over its upper surfaces.
Also known as F4U Corsair, Munda.
Where it is and how deep
No published position for this site — the map shows Solomon Islands and its other sites; operators know the mooring.
The dive
This is a deep dive on a small target, and since the discovery it has been dived only occasionally and only by technical divers. The Corsair sits upright on a flat sandy seafloor at 54 m, which makes it a straightforward thing to work once you are on it — nothing overhangs it and there is no reef relief to lose it against — but the depth sets the terms of the dive: short time on the bottom, planned gas and a decompression obligation on the way back up.
What is left reads clearly as an aircraft. The propeller is missing, most likely broken off when the plane ditched, and the cockpit canopy is gone as well, leaving the cockpit open. The fabric that covered the flaps, ailerons and tail has rotted away, so those surfaces are down to their frames, while the upper surfaces of the airframe have taken on some soft coral growth. One circuit of the aircraft is the dive; there is no second feature to move on to.
The wreck
- Vessel
- F4U Corsair
- Type
- Fighter aircraft
- Sunk
- 1943
- Cause
- Ditched off Munda, most likely returning with battle damage
- Lies
- Upright on a flat sandy seafloor at 54 m
The aircraft ditched off Munda on southern New Georgia during 1943 or 1944, and the pilot was likely rescued. Which Corsair it is remains open: it was assigned to a US Navy fighting squadron, a US Marine Corps fighting squadron or an RNZAF squadron, and the strongest reading is a Marine F4U that came back damaged from a raid on Rabaul or from the Cherry Blossom Patrol. A number of F4Us ditched off Munda, which is precisely why the identification cannot be closed.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair |
Season follows Solomon Islands: April–November dry season is calmest; December–March brings cyclone risk and rougher seas.
Know before you go
- At 54 m the wreck sits well beyond recreational depth and every dive on it carries a decompression obligation, which is why it is left to technical teams with the gas and training for it.
Sources
- F4U Corsair ditched off Munda on New Georgia — Pacific Wrecks
- Diving Solomon Islands — Dive The World
In The Logbook
- Air, nitrox or trimix: which gas, and when?Gear & kit · 15 min read
- WWII wrecks you can dive, by theatreWrecks · 7 min read
More dive sites in Solomon Islands
Cave & cavern
A guideline swim in the dark that exits onto a soft-coral wall
Wreck
Masts above the surface, a three-level engine room below
Similar dives elsewhere
A near-intact Flying Fortress on white sand at 45 m
Wreck
L2D 'Tabby' (Japanese-built DC-3)
Subic Bay · Philippines
An inverted Japanese DC-3 copy, found in 2013
An upright WWII Japanese wreck reserved for technical divers
A ship at 50 m that a typhoon stood back upright