Although it is often claimed that the Pentagon lawn lacked plane debris, photos taken on 9/11 and 9/12 show that it was in fact littered with small aircraft pieces. The area most densely covered with debris was the helipad and northwest section of the lawn. Photos which appear to show no debris either do not show this section of the lawn or are limited in image resolution. The following graphic shows why debris mostly fell to the northwest:
The plane approached at the 50-degree angle from the southwest and the explosion blew debris to the northwest at an inverse angle. The perimeter of the fireball is indicated with a red line and the ground and building within this boundary was seared with burn marks. Note that the fireball bulged to the northwest, the same direction took by most falling debris.
I. Lettered Pieces of Airliner Fuselage
According to many witnesses, several pieces of fuselage skin were visible on the lawn bearing the letters from the "American" Airlines logo.
1) Capt. William J. Totti stated that he "can make out, on one of the larger pieces of aluminum, a red 'A' from 'American Airlines.' "
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~julianr/lexisnexis/totti.txt
2) According to the account of Staff Sgt. Chris Bauman, "The lawn was littered with twisted pieces of aluminum. He saw one chunk painted with the letter 'A,' another with a 'C.' It didn't occur to Braman what the letters signified until a man in the crowd stooped to pick up one of the smaller metal shards. He examined it for a moment, then announced: 'This was a jet.' "
http://www.pilotonline.com/special/911/pentagon3b.html
3) "I was amazed at the catastrophe that had just occurred. I could see a piece of the airplane with the whole letter 'C' from 'American' on it. The gravity of what had happened just smacked me in the face." (Victor Correa, Army lieutenant colonel, quoted in "September 11: An Oral History," by Dean E. Murphy, p. 235)
4) LaVern L Schueller, a USAF Colonel Chaplain, recalled: "It appeared that someone had taken a tin snip and cut the red "c" from American Airlines and leaned that piece of the fuselage on the wall about 200 feet from the impact area."
http://www.aapc.org/prayer.htm#chaplain
5) Journalist Arthur Santana recalled seeing "a great piece of the plane, which required two people to carry, on which was clearly visible the letter 'C' of American Airlines."
http://www.liberation.com/quotidien/semaine/020330-000004112LARU.html
Photographs show at least two such pieces on the northwest section of the lawn. There are three images taken on 9/11 showing the red letter "C" resting near the west face of the heliport control tower. The first was taken around noon by Eric Gundersen (NSNS) which clearly shows a fairly large piece of brightly-reflecting silver aluminum bearing red paint:
The debris so brightly reflects the sun that the marking is itself mostly washed out. In Photoshop, I increased the color saturation to bring out the washed-out color, and indeed, it is of a letter "c" turned on its back:
Another photo of the same piece of debris, taken later in the day by an aide of a Fort Myer 4-star general, shows the letter "c" more clearly:
A third image of the "C" piece, taken late in the day and sent to me by a member of the VATF-1 crew, again clearly reveals the lettering:
Another piece is, of course, the famous red-and-silver painted piece widely photographed on the lawn. It is either a top portion of the letter "n" or a lower portion of the letter "a". The first image below was taken by Cpl. Jason Ingersoll and the second was taken by Mark Faram. Both images were taken less than 15 minutes after the crash, before the Pentagon wall collapsed:
The colors match perfectly American Airlines lettering: red paint with white border on brightly-reflecting silver aluminum. The size of the fragment, like the "C" piece, also is appropriate.
If one looks at the Faram photo carefully, another piece of debris lay not far from it. Mark Faram has kindly provided me with the original full-resolution version of the photo, and it is clear that this fragment was riveted aircraft debris:
The same piece was also photographed by Sgt. Carmen Burgess, CNN correspondent Jamie McIntyre, and broadcast live on CBS -- all before the E-ring section collapsed.
II. The Big Piece of Something Near the Impact Hole
Photos taken by Steve Riskus less than a minute after the explosion show a rather long metal assemblage smoldering near the impact hole. It appears to measure at least 20 feet in length. It appears to be a piece of debris.
III. Smaller Pieces of Plane Debris
Witnesses recall seeing countless pieces of disintegrated plane debris on the heliport, on the lawn fronting the building, and in the street. Here is a sampling of several of their reports:
1) Lee Evey, Pentagon Renovations Manager, stated: "There are other parts of the plane that are scattered about outside the building. None of those parts are very large, however. You don't see big pieces of the airplane sitting there extending up into the air. But there are many small pieces."
http://www.patriotresource.com/wtc/federal/0915/DoD.html
2) "There was shrapnel all over the lawn." (Michael Anthony Konoza, firefighter-paramedic)
http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/853/853_konoza.asp
3) "As I stepped onto the highway next to the triage area, I knelt down to tie my shoe and all over the highway were small pieces of aircraft skin, none bigger than a half-dollar. Anyone familiar with aircraft has seen the greenish primer paint that covers many interior metal surfaces - that is what these shards were covered with." (Mark Faram, photographer for Navy Times)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/frameup/message/1254
4) Clyde Ragland, a Naval officer works near the Pentagon, witnessed the explosion and described "what looked like white confetti raining down everywhere," it soon became apparent "that the 'confetti' was little bits of airplane, falling down after being flung high into the bright, blue sky."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-091201main.story
5) "We didn't have a clue that it was a plane until we got outside and saw pieces of the airplane everywhere." (William Sinclair)
http://www.draftcenter.com/pages/articles/archivedarticles/dcart20010920.htm
6) Donald R. Bouchard described the explosion: "There was an enormous fireball, followed about two seconds later by debris raining down. The car moved about a foot to the right when the shock wave hit. I had what must have been an emergency oxygen bottle from the airplane go flying down across the front of my Explorer and then a second piece of jagged metal come down on the right side of the car."
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~julianr/lexisnexis/leonard1.txt
7) Tony Terronez also described the explosion: "With the ball of flames getting higher, the sound getting louder, I saw in my rearview, debris going up into the air. Still stuck looking into my rearview mirror, I realized that the debris was heading my way! I quickly ducked into my passenger seat. Within a second or two, I started to hear little dinks and pings bouncing off my car. Like somebody throwing pebbles on my car. Then I heard a loud glass smashing sound. I looked up and luckily it wasn't my car, but it was the automobile of the person right next to me in the left lane."
http://www.counseling.org/ctonline/news/amazing1001.htm
8) "The lawn was littered with twisted pieces of aluminum." (Staff Sgt. Chris Bauman)
http://www.pilotonline.com/special/911/pentagon3b.html
9) "The dreamlike sequence of what I saw when I ran out of the
Pentagon and to the point of impact just minutes after the attack plays in my head several times a day. I encounter total devastation. Aircraft parts, most no larger than a sheet of paper, litter the field." (Capt. William J. Totti)
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~julianr/lexisnexis/totti.txt
10) "I saw the plane wreckage. There were thousands of pieces of this plane all over the ground near the Pentagon as I went out there that day." (CNN's Jamie McIntyre)
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~julianr/lexisnexis/mcintyre1.txt
Now lets look at some photos of these small pieces of debris. In the following pictures, we see many small shards with a few larger pieces, either aluminum silver in color, silver with red paint, or the characteristic yellow/green zinc chromate primer used to paint interior metal surfaces in aircraft. Some of the pieces are also clearly riveted
Taken by Sgt. Carmen Burgess around 9:50am on 9/11. Note the silver-and-red pieces and the piece with primer. Note the location as northwest of the impact site.
Similar view.
Also taken by Sgt. Carmen Burgess. Note that these pieces are riveted. In the background are silver-and-red pieces and a small section of fuselage.
Another view of the same section of fuselage. Note the two window ports.
A chunk of silver fuselage skin next to the burning SUV. Similar pieces were also nearby.
A piece of aircraft debris photographed by Nevada Rep. Shelley Berkley. It is unclear whether this came from the wings, rudder, or other part of the airliner.
A scorched crumpled piece of fuselage lay near the northwest corner of the building. Notice that the man is blocking another sizeable piece of debris on the sidewalk.
A closeup of an aircraft piece on the lawn. Note the primer paint. The hole pattern is consistent with wing assembly, but the piece may come from another part of the aircraft.
ABC video at the entrance at the end of Wedge 1 (at column 1, near the heliport tower) shows many small shiny shredded pieces of metal.
There are many other similar photos, all showing that the lawn was indeed littered with small shards of metal -- many recognizably from an aircraft.
IV. Conclusion
The wreckage on the lawn and surrounding area account only for a portion of the airliner, as most of the mass of the plane entered the building. Further, not the whole lawn was photographed evenly -- no photos exist of the area between the heliport tower and the Pentagon wall and between the contractor's compound and the Pentagon wall. Photos of the northwest section of the Pentagon lawn, however, show much scattered debris -- some bearing the markings of an American Airlines jet. The existence of such debris is strong testimony that such a plane did indeed crash into the Pentagon the morning of September 11th.
More witness accounts of debris on Ron Harvey's fabulous website: http://www.dragonslair.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/77/ffdd.html
anablep
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