Photogrammetry
Photogrammetry
Lake Washington is rich in history. The cold water preserves wrecks, but also makes them inaccessible to most. Typically, experts in archaeology and history are not technical divers, so the underwater artifacts are out of their reach. Photogrammetry allows us to make 3D models of these wrecks, bringing history to the surface and making the past more real for everyone.
This is a portion of a wreck site of a single-engine corsair fighter that crashed after a mid-air collision. One corsair was able to ditch successfully in the middle of Lake Washington; however, the pilot of this plane decided to bail out and let his airplane crash on its own. The result is a large field of debris.
This photogrammetry model was created by Charlene Parker and Scott Ely on November 3, 2019, as part of a GUE Photogrammetry class.
This is a model of the wreck of the airplane with Bureau Number 59172, one of only two known surviving Martin PBM Mariners. The PBM mariner is a flying boat, a popular design for patrol aircraft during World War Two. Flying boats use their hull for flotation, and pontoons to avoid flipping over. This plane was being towed into storage on May 6, 1949, when it struck an unseen object underwater. One of its pontoons was damaged, which caused the plane to flip over and sink.
As a result of the plane’s rarity, there have been two attempts to recover the plane; however, both projects were unsuccessful. The most recent attempt damaged the wreck and left it without a tail. While unfortunate, the damage gives us an opportunity to examine the interior of the wreck in a way that would be otherwise impossible.
This wreck lays in approximately 70 feet of water near the Boeing plant in Renton, Washington. Most of the wreck is hidden under a fine silt that is omnipresent in Lake Washington.
This model of a portion of the old I-90 bridge was created by Myra Wisotzky and Deana Fraser during the GUE Photogrammetry course on July 26 to 29, 2019.
