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Brandi Mueller was on a dive off the Marshall Islands, when she discovered something incredible: an underwater airplane graveyard! How the planes ended up on the bottom of the ocean is an even more amazing story…
Like most other underwater photographers, scuba diver and photographer Brandi Mueller always wanted to find something incredible in the ocean. Over the course of her career, while she dived in plenty of unique locations, Mueller never uncovered any buried treasure or long-lost shipwrecks. As she grew older, the photographer began to believe she would never make an iconic find.
However, that all changed when Mueller went on an ordinary dive while on vacation in the Marshall Islands. During a relaxing day dive, the underwater photographer noticed a large, strange shape on the ocean floor. As she dove down, Mueller uncovered the discovery of a lifetime: a graveyard of planes, abandoned on the seafloor. However, that was just the beginning! Soon, Mueller exposed the strange reason why the aircraft had been left behind in the first place…
While growing up far away from the ocean in Wisconsin, Brandi Mueller became obsessed with both the sea and photography. As a child, she managed to convince her parents to take several ocean-based vacations. Soon enough, Mueller also became an accomplished diver before the age of 17. “I learned how to scuba dive in New Zealand when I was 15 as a foreign exchange student,” Mueller recalled recently.
As she grew into adulthood, the young ocean explorer always dreamed of making an underwater discovery – something that would get her name into the history books. That day would come much sooner than she expected! It all started with the glimpse of something strange on the seafloor…
While Mueller’s love of the ocean came from its exotic nature to her landlocked childhood, her parents inspired her desire to become a photographer. In fact, the first camera she used was borrowed from her parents! By young adulthood, her incredible underwater pictures made her a legend among nature photographers worldwide.
With multiple photography awards to her name, as well as spreads in the likes of National Geographic and the Smithsonian, Mueller has become one of the most famous nature photographers on Earth. Despite her fame, Mueller still wanted to achieve something unforgettable. And at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, she would!
After becoming an adult, Mueller turned her love of diving and photography into a career. Right out of high school, she enrolled in the U.S. Coast Guard, where she learned to pilot a boat. After her time in the Coast Guard, Mueller began teaching diving classes, sharing her love of the ocean with many other people.
“I worked my way up to Divemaster in college and became a dive instructor right after I graduated. Working on boats while instructing and guiding, learning to be a captain just sort of happened in the progression,” she said. Of course, none of these incredible experiences would prepare her for her fantastic discovery!
Through all the years, Mueller has found her favorite spots to dive. In particular, she loves taking pictures of shipwrecks. “I love wreck diving, so Chuuk, Micronesia (formerly known as Truk Lagoon) was the site of a huge WWII battle that left many ships, planes, and other war artifacts in the ocean. The warm, healthy waters of Micronesia have transformed these ships of former destruction into “ship reefs” covered in pretty soft corals and swarming with fish and other marine life,” the photographer explained.
Still, Mueller’s greatest discovery would not happen in any of these exotic locations. Instead, the photographer accidentally stumbled upon a forgotten, historical secret in a far more tropical locale…
After working in the ocean for more than a decade, at the age of 31-years-old, Brandi Mueller decided to take a well-deserved vacation. However, instead of heading to one of her favored dive spots, she instead went to a new location: The Marshall Islands. In case you don’t know, the Marshall Islands are a thin strip of islands halfway between the Philippines and Hawaii.
During the first few days of her vacation, Mueller dove at all the typical Marshall Islands spots. About halfway through her vacation, the photographer decided to check out a new dive spot she had heard of, about five miles off the island of Roi-Namu. For many years, locals had kept this spot hidden, and Mueller wanted to know why…
Without a doubt, the Marshall Islands are a place of incredible tropical beauty. They look like a postcard! The Islands are also home to some of the most iconic diving spots in the world. Plenty of shipwrecks, reefs, and natural drop-off points dot the islands, making them picture perfect. It’s no wonder Mueller decided to dive there!
At first, Mueller’s dive off the island of Roi-Namu started off normally. She and her friends were having a great time! However, just a short while into the dive, Mueller noticed a massive, dark shape in the blue ocean water underneath her…
When Mueller first caught a glimpse of the massive, dark shapes beneath her, she could not help but feel a little scared. After all, a small part of Mueller could not help but think of sea-based monster movies like Jaws and The Meg, even though she knew they were just movies. Regardless of her fear, something deep inside convinced Mueller to dive closer to the object.
As you might imagine, when Mueller first spotted the massive shapes beneath her, she could not help but feel a shiver of fear and excitement run down her spine. On the one hand, this could be the discovery that the woman had always dreamed of! Of course, another part of Mueller could not help but think of sea-based horror films like Jaws or The Abyss. Still, convinced she had found something, she dove closer.
Could this finally be the discovery Mueller always wanted to find? There was only one way to find out. As she approached the objects, Mueller watched them take form. She spotted large, flat pieces of metal that shot out from large, steel tubes. What were these strange objects?
As Mueller swam closer to the ocean floor, she needed to take a short break. Thought her excitement and fear, the photographer had forgotten to ready her camera! Soon enough, though, Mueller had prepared her camera to take pictures of whatever she found on the Pacific Ocean floor.
When Mueller started swimming again, she could hear herself breathing heavier and heavier through her scuba gear. She was audibly excited about her find! As the photographer approached the ocean floor, Mueller noticed that the metal tubes seemed to have colorful emblems painted on them. Even then, the photographer had no idea she was swimming above one of the most incredible underwater discoveries of all time!
As Brandi Mueller dove down deeper and deeper, the truth suddenly dawned on her: she was looking at an airplane! Swimming closer, Mueller realized that the plane was incredibly old. Just how old, she had no idea – but Mueller knew she had found something important! The closer she got to the plane, the more questions arose in her mind: why had someone left a plane all the way down here? And why had no one uncovered it before?
Through it all, Mueller had no idea that the first plane was just the beginning of her amazing discovery. What she found next would make the photographer one of the most famous underwater explorers of all time…
As Mueller swam around the plane, taking photos, she noticed another massive shape in her peripheral. It was another plane! Incredibly, as the photographer swam to the next plane, yet another appeared. There were hundreds of planes hiding at the bottom of the ocean! Mueller’s heart started pounding in her chest. While Mueller always dreamed of making an incredible discovery, she never knew she’d find an entire underwater graveyard!
“They [now] call it the Airplane Graveyard,” Mueller later told The Daily Mail. As she continued to take pictures of the planes, she noticed something bizarre about these particular, old airplanes…
As Mueller continued to explore and photograph the underwater airplane, she began having more and more questions about her find. Most of all, she wanted to know how the planes arrived in their watery grave. From her first impressions, the aircraft looked like they came from World War II or the Korean War. It seemed impossible that they all could have been shot down so close to one another.
Then, Mueller noticed something even stranger: there were absolutely no human remains in the airplanes. Not only that, but, despite some rust, the planes were in almost perfect condition: no bullet holes, burns, or signs of explosions. Something was not right about this underwater graveyard…
Brandi Mueller took pictures of the planes, knowing no one would ever believe her without photographic evidence. After all, despite some barnacles and rust, the aircraft remained in pretty good condition. Most were entirely intact, with only a few minor scratches and scrapes here are there. “They should have flown more, lived longer, but they were sunk in perfect condition,” Mueller explained to The Daily Mail.
While Mueller could not understand why anyone would dump perfectly good airplanes into the ocean, she loved how sea life had reclaimed the objects on the seafloor. And judging by the barnacles and sea life on the planes, they had been there for some time. But just how long would surprise everyone, even the most knowledgeable historians…
As you can see in Mueller’s incredible images, hundreds of beautiful fish swim around the airplanes. In her stunning photos, Mueller managed to capture how the algae, coral, and fish have reclaimed the manmade aircraft.
Meanwhile, Mueller thinks that the planes are also nature’s way of honoring fallen heroes. “Seeing how it can take huge chunks of metal and grow life on that metal is pretty amazing,” Mueller explained. “World War II was the most deadly war in history, and I like to think of the marine life as decorating the graves of people who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country.”
From our safe seats, these photos look peaceful, almost dreamlike. However, they were actually pretty dangerous to capture – some of them could have toppled over! Thankfully, Brandi Mueller is no amateur oceanic photographer! After dicing in more than 50 countries, she had the skills to capture the airplanes in all their underwater beauty.
Still, even Mueller thought she was dreaming sometimes! Some of the airplanes hid beneath a layer of sand, making them look like a lurking shark, fin and all. Other planes stood straight on their noses, like a statue! At the end of the day, the photographer could not believe her final airplane count…
As Mueller took more pictures of the underwater planes, she focused on evidence she believed could help historians identify the aircraft. Still, as incredible as the images were, the photographer could not shake the feeling that something was wrong with the underwater graveyard. “Seeing planes underwater is strange, planes don’t belong in the water, they belong in the sky, so it feels weird to dive on them. But amazing and special, too,” Mueller later recalled.
Before returning to the surface, Mueller counted more than 150 airplanes in the underwater graveyard. Thankfully, landside, Mueller’s images would help historians uncover the strange truth of the long-lost airplanes
As Mueller developed her photographs, she could not wait to share them with the rest of the world. However, as she developed the images, a question continued to creep into the back of her mind: should she even share the photos with anyone else? What if the pictures got her into trouble? So, the photographer decided to research the planes before posting her find on the internet.
While doing some research on the planes, Mueller quickly realized that the aircraft had to come from World War II. Soon, she was nose-deep in books and websites on military history. That’s when the diver found out she had solved one of the biggest mysteries of the Second World War!
It certainly took quite a bit of digging. However, Mueller eventually found out that, after World War II, the American military had used the Marshall Island as its personal dumping ground. In fact, historians and archeologists had been looking for the exact disposal location for decades. And now Mueller knew precisely where it was!
The more Mueller looked into the airplanes, the more strange history she unveiled. Incredibly, most Americans know nothing of the so-called “Operation Rollup.” But now that Mueller knew the truth, she needed to bring it to light…
As Mueller learned through her research, Operation Rollup was the American military’s way of “dealing” with excess vehicles like cars, planes, and even tanks! After World War II, the United States government wanted a cheap way to get rid of these vehicles. As you might imagine, they deemed shipping them back across the Pacific too expensive.
So, as surprising as it might sound, the government decided to simply dump the vehicles off the Marshal Island, letting them sink to the bottom of the Pacific. That explains why the aircraft were in such excellent condition: they had never been flown!
Operation Rollup went precisely as you probably imagine. The Navy loaded the tanks, planes, and cars onto multiple aircraft carriers. Then, they used forklifts to push them into the ocean. Mueller decided to name the rusty, coral-covered metal heap Million Dollar Point, calling out all the waste that resulted from Operation Rollup. However, most locals still simply call it the “Airplane Graveyard.”
Of course, Mueller was far from the only one annoyed by the incredible waste of Operation Rollup. After all, instead of pushing the planes into the ocean, they could have turned them into scrap metal. They also could have gifted them to the Marshall Island and other countries. Sadly, that’s simply not the way history went. But now they have turned into something else entirely…
After more than seven decades under the ocean’s surface, the planes have become an ecosystem all their own. They are now home to diverse, beautiful oceanic life. The planes’ surfaces have turned into colorful, coral-covered statues. So you can see why Mueller wanted to share the images with the rest of the world!
“They have been underwater for over seventy-years now and are beginning to deteriorate, so it sort of feels like I’m documenting them as they change. Eventually, there won’t be anything left of them,” Mueller said. “The ocean is amazing and resilient. It is a life force that we will probably never completely understand.”
Amazingly, a few of the planes managed to land just three feet apart from each other, without touching. Even more incredible, most of the aircraft have remained in good condition throughout the years. Only a few broken tails and wings litter the ocean floor. This is part of what makes the graveyard such a fantastic discovery. Had more planes been damaged or even destroyed, historians would likely not have been as interested.
By taking pictures of these planes from every angle, Mueller has managed to bring history to life. The photos are especially helpful for those many historians who are not ready to dive down underneath the ocean.
Sadly, while Mueller managed to find hundreds of in-tact planes on the seafloor, not everyone made it to the bottom of the ocean in perfect condition. In fact, some of the planes were destroyed before they reached the seabed! Thankfully, even the destroyed planes can still give historians a view into World War II and its aftermath.
Since discovering the planes, historians have started to understand the extent of the government’s waste after World War II. Today, historians are happier than ever with Mueller’s find…
The Airplane Graveyard of Kwajalein Atoll has over 25 ships and nearly 170 airplanes in it. The airplanes that Mueller discovered include the F4U Corsair, one of the most iconic planes of World War II. Incredibly, it landed with its nose in the sand and has somehow remained upright for more than seven decades, as you can see in the photo.
During her dive, Mueller also captured pictures of other long-sought-after American airplanes, including Curtiss C-46 Commandos, F4F Wildcats, Helldivers, and B-25 Mitchells! The photographer even snapped some photos of the legendary Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber, once thought lost to time!
As stated, the underwater airplane graveyard included the Douglas SBD Dauntless, which America made for less than five years, from 1940 to 1944. However, while only a few were made, the Douglas SBD Dauntless helped defeat the Japanese carriers at the Battle of Midway in June 1942. Ultimately, it became one of the most critical battles of World War II. However, most of the Dauntless’ eventually broke down. So finding another, even if underwater, brought a smile to the face of many military aviator enthusiasts!
Later, in the late ’40s, the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver replaced the Douglas SBD. So, the military included them in Operation Rollup.
As the news pundits are always ready to tell you: war is a highly costly endeavor. In the late ’40s, the United States spent more than $350 billion on World War II, which would be more than ten times that in today’s money! So, dumping a bunch of vehicles off the Marshall Island seemed like just another drop in the bucket. However, many feel it’s actually a massive spit in the face of taxpayers. That’s why some claimed the government kept it a secret for so long.
Since Brandi Mueller revealed her find of the airplane graveyard, things have changed for the Marshall Islands. In just a few short years, it has become quite the tourist attraction!
As you can see in Mueller’s incredible images, hundreds of beautiful fish swim around the airplanes. In her stunning photos, Mueller managed to capture how the algae, coral, and fish have reclaimed the manmade aircraft.
Meanwhile, Mueller thinks that the planes are also nature’s way of honoring fallen heroes. “Seeing how it can take huge chunks of metal and grow life on that metal is pretty amazing,” Mueller explained. “World War II was the most deadly war in history, and I like to think of the marine life as decorating the graves of people who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country.”
More recently, Mueller decided to publish all her pictures of the World War II underwater airplane graveyard into a book, entitled The Airplane Graveyard: The Forgotten WWII Warbirds of Kwajalein Atoll. In the book, readers can learn all about the airplanes, their role in World War, and all about how they ended up on the bottom of the ocean.
In The Airplane Graveyard: The Forgotten WWII Warbirds of Kwajalein Atoll, Mueller takes you off the coast of the Marshall Islands and brings you face-to-face with the Douglas SBD Dauntless, Vought F4U Corsair, Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, C-46 Commando, among many others. In the end, she hopes that people will think about both war and its effects on the world. “Maybe the ocean has something to tell us about war,” Mueller said.
Sources: The Daily Mail, DeMilked, Media Drum World, Originol.
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