A nondescript building on sprawling Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, Calif., houses a treasure trove of aviation history. Among the antique aircraft stored within the building is the last remaining example of an early-model Douglas SBD-1 Dauntless dive bomber, currently undergoing restoration by the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum.
On a cold November day in 1942, a student naval aviator was returning to Illinois’ Naval Air Station Glenview from USS , a training carrier operating on Lake Michigan. He never made it. A civilian reported seeing an airplane silently glide down for a “perfect landing” a few miles offshore of Chicago. The Navy searched,
