The lost Corsair: The search for a Korean War legend and its missing pilot

US Navy and Marine Corps pilots called the F4U Corsair the “The Widowmaker.”

Not because it was responsible for shooting down more than 2,100 Japanese planes in World War II, but because it was tricky to handle; so powerful that if its pilot adjusted the throttle too quickly the torque from its 18-cylinder engine could flip it over and send it crashing, upside down, into the sea.

Japanese ground troops called it “Whistling Death,” for the sound it made during bombing and strafing runs, a role that would become even more important during the 1950-53 Korean War.

In Korea, 494 Corsairs would be lost, including one flying off the aircraft carrier USS Essex on February 21, 1952.

It was never seen again. Until, maybe, now.

Scuba diver Kim Kyung-soo has 25 years’ experience in the waters off Korea and elsewhere. But what he saw one day in May 2025 was a mystery to him.

Leading a group of divers into the waters off Yangyang, South Korea, Kim dropped anchor at a well-explored diving spot. But a strong tidal current pushed the anchor into even deeper waters, he told CNN.

“When we reached 45 meters (148 feet) depth, I couldn’t see the seafloor. I was swimming around in that depth when I saw a dark object on the floor,” Kim recalled.

“I couldn’t see the exact shape, but it had a long cylindrical form like a submarine. Not too big though… I thought it could be a small submarine from North Korea.”

Kim was curious. But the object was at least another seven meters (23 feet) below him, and a deeper descent was too much of a risk for his inexperienced students.

So, he left his curiosity behind with the unknown object in the water.

Carrier Air Group Five was operating off the east coast of Korea that Thursday in February ’52, flying off four aircraft carriers – USS Valley Forge, USS Antietam, USS Philippine Sea and the Essex.

The air group had been on station just a few days when combat orders came in for February 21. It would launch 85 combat sorties, flying close-air support for ground troops and photo reconnaissance, as well as strikes against enemy supply lines and installations.

Defense Media Agency

It was cold and snowy, but combat reports show the planes of Carrier Air Group Five made an impact that day: “The Air Group cut railroad tracks in 33 places, 6 trucks were destroyed, 11 buildings destroyed, 1 barracks burned, 25 railroad cars destroyed and 25 were damaged.”

The price to the US Pacific Fleet was two aircraft lost.

That afternoon, an AD-4 sustained battle damage. The Essex sent out help, a Corsair to escort the Skyraider back to the carrier. But the weather was as much an enemy as the North Koreans or the Chinese.

Naval History and Heritage Command

An “F4U crashed into the sea shortly after entering a snow storm while escorting a battle-damaged AD,” Pacific Fleet records state.

“Probable cause, pilot … disoriented in snowstorm. Not recovered; listed as killed in the line of duty,” a report from the Essex’s commanding officer states.

“Usually when you tell people you saw something (underwater) they don’t believe you. They say, ‘Don’t lie! You must be mistaken,’” Kim, the scuba diver, said.

But one of Kim’s students, An Hyun-jin, listened, believed and searched.

And searched. And searched.

An, who owns a dive shop and has been diving for more than five years, would go back under the waves looking for what Kim saw more than 10 times until …

“When I found the propeller, I was really surprised that Kim was not wrong about seeing something; like wow, there really is a plane, and my heart started beating fast,” An told CNN.

But it took a while longer to find that mysterious cylinder, which would turn out to be the forward fuselage of a plane. They got close and, without touching the aircraft, moved the sediment to reveal the distinctive inverted gull-shaped wings, leading them to believe it was a Corsair.

Kim knew the significance of preserving and documenting such findings, having participated in several recovery works with nonprofit organization Global Underwater Explorers in Europe, and the South Korean government at Chosei Coal Mine in Japan’s Yamaguchi prefecture, where more than 130 Koreans were killed in 1942, during the Japanese colonial period.

He led an 11-person crew diving to the site, armed with devices for measuring the wreckage and rendering it into a three-dimensional model.

In photos and videos captured by the divers and seen by CNN, the plane appears embedded in the seafloor, rusted and covered in barnacles, as could be expected after decades under water.

The tail had been torn away and is nowhere to be seen. There’s no propeller or cockpit canopy.

But it has the profile of a Corsair, its distinctive wings and long nose that covered that powerful engine offering clear indicators of the model, according to a CNN comparison of the pictures alongside historical photos and blueprints.

As they made those photos last year, the divers knew they were on to something.

They shared their findings with South Korea’s defense agency for recovery and identification, one of only two government agencies in the world dedicated to identifying those killed in action.

Impressed with the divers’ find, the South Koreans shared the detailed documentation of the plane with their American counterparts at the Hawaii-based Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), who were aware of a Corsair that crashed into the water after returning from combat action in 1952, and the pilot never heard from again.

In short order, the Yangyang mission became a priority for the Americans.

The sun beat down on the rigid-hulled rubber boat as Meghan Mumford stood tall over the other five people aboard. An underwater forensic archaeologist, she scanned the sea, trying to pinpoint the best spot to drop an underwater drone, whose sensors could help confirm Kim’s find.

Mumford felt the weight and responsibility of her job. “I think it’s truly an honor to bring answers and repatriate our servicemembers and our heroes not only to our nation but specifically to their families,” she said.

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The US Army once ruled Pyongyang and 5 other things you might not know about the Korean War

The DPAA says 7,354 Americans are still missing from the Korean War, among more than 80,000 from all actions since World War II. Multiple thousands of descendants and relatives are still waiting for answers.

DPAA goes wherever it has credible evidence and a chance of providing relatives with closure, juggling searches in 46 countries to try to put resources where they’ll have the best chance of finding identifiable remains. The Yangyang site fits the bill.

Locating and recovering remains require a long process, starting with interviewing local residents or witnesses, digging through historical records, and carefully excavating bones and artifacts for DNA analysis at the agency’s Hawaii lab before returning them to the remaining relatives.

DPAA team leader Spencer Jefferson, a US Army captain, told CNN that the agency wouldn’t notify families that remains have been found until bone tissue has been found and tested at its own lab.

“From there, we can positively identify who exactly this is,” he said.

The weather was “oddly calm,” noted Commanding Officer Choi Seong-woo when CNN joined DPAA and its South Korean counterpart in August on their mission to verify the Yangyang wreckage.

After sailing about half an hour, Choi’s navy yard utility boat slowed and hovered – never fully stopping as the water was far deeper than the length of the anchor.

Charlie Miller / CNN

Fishing nets were obstacles for Mumford’s team as they tried to scan the ocean floor with two underwater drones.

Once the drones were safely in the water, the team spent five hours scanning the sea floor – and confirmed there was indeed an aircraft below them.

Team leader Spencer agreed that, based on the photos taken by the divers, the wreckage has all the signs of being a Corsair.

“This has the potential of being something we’re looking for … the shape, and the different engine compartments and things like that,” he said.

Corsairs entered service in 1942, and more than 12,500 were delivered to the US military by 1952.

While the F4U was designed to be operated off carriers, in its early years the US military had trouble figuring out how to do that in practice, according to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.

So, it made its mark flying off airstrips on Pacific islands, in air-to-air combat but also as a fighter-bomber in battles over Guadalcanal and the Solomons, the museum says.

It also notes the most heralded operators of the Corsair, Marine Fighting Squadron 214, also known as the “Black Sheep Squadron.”

The unit – cobbled together from pilots without units – shot down or destroyed more than 200 Japanese planes from August 1943 to January 1944.

Its exploits inspired the 1970s TV series “Black Sheep Squadron,” bringing new fame to the Corsair.

Those victories flying off island airstrips might have been the final legacy of the Corsair, but British Royal Navy pilots figured out how to fly it off carriers, according to the museum.

It would be incorporated into the US carrier fleet by 1944, and in the 1945 Battle of Okinawa, Corsair pilots were instrumental in blunting Japanese kamikaze attacks on American warships, earning the nickname “Angels of Okinawa,” the museum says.

Koreans didn’t have a specific name for the Corsair. US fighter planes were called “Sseksseki” for the sound they made zooming by.

But the Corsair was still a force on the war. In the first 10 months of combat, 82% of ground-support missions were flown by Corsairs, according to the Vought Heritage Foundation.

The pilot on one of those missions, flown during the frigid Battle of the Chosin Reservoir in late 1950, recalled the action in a 2000 essay for the US Naval Institute’s Naval History magazine .

Marine pilot Lyle Bradley and a wingman were tasked with supporting the 15,000 men of the First Marine Division, who were surrounded by several Chinese divisions.

Checking in by radio with a Marine air controller on the ground, codenamed Dunkirk 1-4, the Corsair pilots heard their importance.

“We are happy to see you Corsairs. Please circle us as long as possible. You’re our link to the outside world,” Bradley quotes the controller as saying.

He would go on to give the American pilot instructions on where to hit the Chinese, and Bradley released 2,000 pounds of bombs on the target.

“Looks like a perfect hit,” Dunkirk 1-4 said. “We love you Corsair people.”

Attending a history conference in Wyoming almost 40 years later, Bradley writes, he came across the Marine air controller who was Dunkirk 1-4.

“He hugged me and exclaimed, ‘You guys saved our fannies!’”

It’s said that once you’re in the military, you gain a whole new family. And the family you leave behind when you deploy is part of that greater new family.

That’s why the aircraft wreckage at the bottom of the sea off the coast of Korea still matters.

Families are key to the DPAA’s mission.

DPAA personnel expect to be back off Yangyang in the near future. If there’s a chance the remains of that pilot are there, DPAA will keep looking.

“Somewhere beneath a modern city, on a mountain, in the middle of a minefield, or in the deep seas may lie the last trace of a life cut short by war,” says Chris Jo, the Korea liaison officer of DPAA.

“Fulfilling our nation’s promise is to leave no one behind and bring long-awaited closure to the families.”

美国海军和海军陆战队飞行员将 F4U 海盗式战斗机称为“寡妇制造者”。

并非因为它在二战中击落了 2100 多架日本飞机，而是因为它难以操控；它的动力如此强大，以至于如果飞行员调整油门过快，其 18 缸发动机的扭矩可能会使飞机翻覆，并使其倒扣坠入大海。

日本地面部队称其为“死亡之啸”，因为它在轰炸和扫射时会发出呼啸声，而这一作用在 1950-53 年的朝鲜战争中变得更加重要。

在朝鲜战争中，共有 494 架海盗式战斗机损失，其中包括 1952 年 2 月 21 日从埃塞克斯号航空母舰上起飞的一架。

它从此再也没有出现过。直到现在，或许。

金京洙是一名拥有25年韩国及其他地区海域潜水经验的潜水员。但他在2025年5月的某一天所看到的景象，对他来说却是一个谜。

金某带领一群潜水员来到韩国襄阳附近海域，在一处潜水经验丰富的潜点抛锚。但他告诉CNN，强劲的潮汐流将锚推入了更深的水域。

“当我们下潜到45米（148英尺）深处时，我看不见海底了。我当时正在那个深度游来游去，突然看到海底有一个黑色的物体，”金回忆道。

“我看不清它的具体形状，但它呈细长的圆柱形，像潜艇一样。不过个头不大……我当时想，它可能是朝鲜的小型潜艇。”

金很好奇。但那个物体至少在他下方七米（23英尺）处，对于他那些缺乏经验的学生来说，再往下潜风险太大了。

于是，他把好奇心和水中的未知物体一起留在了原地。

1952 年 2 月的那个星期四，第五舰载航空大队在韩国东海岸附近活动，从四艘航空母舰——“福吉谷”号、“安提坦”号、“菲律宾海”号和“埃塞克斯”号上起飞作战。

该航空大队驻扎仅几天，就接到了 2 月 21 日的作战命令。它将执行 85 次战斗飞行任务，为地面部队提供近距离空中支援和照相侦察，并打击敌军的补给线和设施。

国防媒体局

当时天气寒冷，还下着雪，但战斗报告显示，第五航母舰载航空大队的飞机当天取得了显著战果：“该航空大队在 33 处切断了铁路轨道，摧毁了 6 辆卡车，摧毁了 11 栋建筑物，烧毁了 1 座营房，摧毁了 25 节火车车厢，另有 25 节车厢受损。”

美国太平洋舰队为此付出了损失两架飞机的代价。

当天下午，一架AD-4攻击机在战斗中受损。“埃塞克斯”号航母派出一架F4“海盗”战斗机前去支援，护送这架“空中袭击者”返回航母。但恶劣的天气和朝鲜军队、中国军队一样，都是阻碍。

海军历史与遗产司令部

太平洋舰队的记录显示，“一架F​​4U战斗机在护送一架战斗受损的AD飞机时，进入暴风雪后不久便坠入大海”。

“可能原因是飞行员……在暴风雪中迷失方向。遗体尚未找到；被列为因公殉职，”埃塞克斯号指挥官的一份报告中写道。

“通常当你告诉别人你（在水下）看到了什么时，他们都不相信你。他们会说，‘别撒谎！你一定是看错了，’”潜水员金说道。

但金的一位学生安贤真听了，相信了，并进行了探索。

于是我搜寻了一遍又一遍。

安拥有一家潜水店，潜水经验超过五年。他会再次潜入水下，寻找金十多次看到的东西，直到……

“当我发现螺旋桨时，我真的非常惊讶，金正恩之前看到的景象并没有错；哇，那里真的有一架飞机，我的心跳开始加速，”安告诉 CNN。

但找到那个神秘的圆柱体却花了不少时间，后来发现它原来是一架飞机的前机身。他们靠近后，在不触碰飞机的情况下，移开了沉积物，露出了独特的倒海鸥形机翼，由此推断这是一架海盗式战斗机。

金知道保存和记录这些发现的重要性，他曾多次与非营利组织“全球水下探险家”在欧洲参与打捞工作，也曾与韩国政府在日本山口县长世煤矿参与打捞工作。1942年日本殖民统治时期，有130多名韩国人在那里丧生。

他带领一支由 11 人组成的潜水队前往现场，携带了用于测量残骸并将其转化为三维模型的设备。

CNN 看到的潜水员拍摄的照片和视频显示，这架飞机似乎嵌入海底，锈迹斑斑，布满藤壶，正如在水下沉睡数十年后所预期的那样。

机尾已被撕裂，踪迹全无。螺旋桨和座舱盖也不见了。

但根据 CNN 将照片与历史照片和蓝图进行比较后发现，它具有海盗式战斗机的外形特征，其独特的机翼和覆盖着强大发动机的长机头清晰地表明了该机型。

去年潜水员们拍摄这些照片时，就知道他们发现了一些有价值的东西。

他们将调查结果分享给了韩国国防部遗体搜寻和鉴定机构，该机构是世界上仅有的两个专门负责识别阵亡人员的政府机构之一。

韩国人对潜水员的发现印象深刻，便将飞机的详细资料分享给了位于夏威夷的美国国防战俘/失踪人员统计署（DPAA）。DPAA 知道有一架海盗式战斗机在 1952 年从战斗中返回后坠入水中，飞行员从此杳无音信。

很快，阳阳任务就成了美国人的优先事项。

阳光炙烤着这艘硬壳橡皮艇，梅根·芒福德高高地站在船上其他五人之上。作为一名水下法医考古学家，她扫视着海面，试图找到投放水下无人机的最佳地点，无人机的传感器可以帮助证实金的发现。

芒福德深感自己工作的分量和责任。“我认为，能够为国家，尤其是为我们的英雄们找到答案并让他们平安回家，这真是一种莫大的荣幸，”她说。

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美军曾统治平壤，以及关于朝鲜战争你可能不知道的其他5件事

美国国防部战俘/失踪人员统计署（DPAA）称，朝鲜战争中仍有7354名美国人失踪，而自二战以来所有军事行动中失踪的美国人总数超过8万人。成千上万的后裔和亲属仍在等待答案。

DPAA（美国国防部战俘/失踪人员统计署）会前往任何有可靠证据且有可能帮助家属获得慰藉的地方，在46个国家同时展开搜寻，力求将资源投入到最有可能找到可辨认遗骸的地方。阳阳遗址符合这一条件。

寻找和找回遗骸需要漫长的过程，首先要采访当地居民或目击者，查阅历史记录，小心翼翼地挖掘骨骼和文物，送到该机构的夏威夷实验室进行 DNA 分析，然后再将它们归还给其他亲属。

美国国防部战俘/失踪人员统计署（DPAA）团队负责人、美国陆军上尉斯宾塞·杰斐逊告诉美国有线电视新闻网（CNN），该机构在找到骨组织并在其自己的实验室进行检测之前，不会通知家属已找到遗骸。

“由此，我们就能准确确定这个人是谁，”他说。

8 月，CNN 与美国国防部战俘/失踪人员统计署及其韩国同行一同前往襄阳号残骸进行核实时，指挥官崔成宇注意到天气“异常平静”。

航行了大约半小时后，崔的海军造船厂工具船减速并悬停——由于水深远大于锚的长度，所以始终没有完全停下来。

查理·米勒/CNN

芒福德的团队试图用两架水下无人机扫描海底，但渔网成了他们的障碍。

无人机安全下水后，团队花了五个小时扫描海底，并确认下方确实有一架飞机。

队长斯宾塞同意，根据潜水员拍摄的照片，残骸具备所有“海盗”号的特征。

“这有可能就是我们一直在寻找的东西……它的形状，以及不同的发动机舱等等，”他说。

海盗式战斗机于 1942 年投入使用，到 1952 年，已有超过 12500 架交付给美国军方。

据新奥尔良国家二战博物馆称，虽然 F4U 的设计初衷是在航母上作战，但在其早期，美国军方在实践中却很难弄清楚如何做到这一点。

博物馆表示，这架飞机在太平洋岛屿的简易机场起飞，参与空战，并在瓜达尔卡纳尔岛和所罗门群岛的战斗中作为战斗轰炸机出战，从而声名鹊起。

报告还特别提到了最受赞誉的“海盗”战斗机操作员——海军陆战队第 214 战斗机中队，又称“黑羊中队”。

这支由没有所属部队的飞行员拼凑而成的部队，从 1943 年 8 月到 1944 年 1 月，击落或摧毁了 200 多架日本飞机。

它的英勇事迹启发了 20 世纪 70 年代的电视剧《黑羊中队》，使海盗式战斗机名声大噪。

据博物馆称，从岛屿简易机场起飞取得的那些胜利可能是海盗式战斗机的最终遗产，但英国皇家海军飞行员已经找到了从航母上起飞的方法。

博物馆表示，到 1944 年，它将被编入美国航母舰队。在 1945 年的冲绳战役中，海盗式战斗机飞行员在挫败日本神风特攻队对美国军舰的攻击方面发挥了重要作用，赢得了“冲绳天使”的绰号。

韩国人没有给海盗式战斗机起一个专门的名字。美国战斗机则被称为“Sseksseki”，因为它们呼啸而过时会发出类似引擎轰鸣的声音。

但海盗式战斗机在战争中仍然是一支重要力量。据沃特遗产基金会统计，在战争爆发后的前10个月里，82%的地面支援任务都是由海盗式战斗机执行的。

其中一次任务的飞行员，在 1950 年末寒冷的长津湖战役期间执行任务，他在 2000 年为美国海军学会的《海军历史》杂志撰写的一篇文章中回忆了那次战斗。

海军陆战队飞行员莱尔·布拉德利和他的僚机奉命支援被几个中国师包围的15000名海军陆战队第一师的士兵。

海盗式战斗机的飞行员们通过无线电与地面上的海军陆战队空中管制员联系，代号为敦刻尔克 1-4，他们听到了自己的重要性。

“我们很高兴见到你们，海盗式战斗机。请尽可能长时间地盘旋在我们周围。你们是我们与外界联系的纽带，”布拉德利引用指挥官的话说。

他随后指示美国飞行员攻击中国军队的哪个位置，布拉德利向目标投下了 2000 磅炸弹。

“看起来是一次完美的命中，”敦刻尔克1-4队说道。“我们爱你们，海盗队的人。”

布拉德利写道，大约 40 年后，他在怀俄明州参加一个历史会议时，遇到了参加敦刻尔克 1-4 号战役的海军陆战队空中管制员。

他拥抱了我，并惊呼：“你们救了我们的命！”

人们常说，一旦参军，你就会拥有一个全新的家庭。而你部署时留下的家人，也是这个更大新家庭的一部分。

这就是为什么沉没在韩国近海海底的飞机残骸至今仍然意义重大的原因。

家庭是DPAA使命的关键。

DPAA人员预计近期将重返阳阳岛。如果飞行员遗骸有可能在那里，DPAA将继续搜寻。

“在现代城市的某个地方，在山脉上，在雷区的中央，或者在深海中，可能埋葬着因战争而英年早逝的生命的最后痕迹，”美国国防部战俘及失踪人员统计署（DPAA）驻韩国联络官克里斯·乔说道。

“履行国家承诺，就是不让任何人掉队，并为遇难者家属带来期盼已久的慰藉。”