| Crews will enlist high-tech ocean searching and mapping gear to raise an American ``Flying Tigers’’ jet that crashed in a lake during World War II, organizers said Monday. The P-40 from the legendary squadron went down in Lake Dian near the city of Kunming, one of China’s wartime capitals, during a training missing in April 1942. The plane’s pilot, John Blackburn of Amarillo, Texas, was killed in the crash. His body was recovered shortly after the crash, but the plane has remained the lake for six decades, said the China Expedition Association, which hopes to raise the fighter by the end of the year. Association President Yan Jiangzheng said the plane lies under 16 feet of water and is covered with a deep layer of mud and silt. After recovery, the plane will be sent to America for repairs. But it will eventually be returned to China, the association said. The Tigers fought on behalf of China against Japanese invaders before the United States entered World War II. The group existed for only nine months, but is famous for its success in battle. |