Corsair plane wreck
While many wrecks are intentionally sunk off of the O’ahu coast to serve as artificial reefs, this wreck was the real deal.
Despite being a true plane wreck in its original location of doom, the Corsair Plane didn’t have a very dramatic end, at least as far as plane crashes go. A routine mission in 1948 ended abruptly when the WWII aircraft started to sputter. As the engine began to fail, the seasoned pilot managed to make a smooth water landing, wheels up, flaps slightly extended. The pilot was rescued bobbing nearby in his lifejacket, the plane wasn’t even damaged.
But even though the aircraft was intact, it wasn’t buoyant. Despite the soft landing, it still ended up at the bottom of the ocean. After decades underwater, the plane is no longer such a pretty corpse, but of course that’s a matter of opinion. Divers, photographers, and a unique garden eel population beg to differ.