Flight deck personnel peer over the edge of the flight deck at an F6F Hellcat after it went over the side during an attempt to land on the training aircraft carrier Sable in 1944-1945. This aircraft was saved, but over 200 plunged into the depths of Lake Michigan, where they waited nearly half a century before the museum began an effort to recover them for public display.

The centerpieces of the museum's Sunken Treasures exhibit are two aircraft resurrected from Lake Michigan that have been preserved in the condition in which they were found. This F4F Wildcat, like many of the aircraft recovered, was remarkably well preserved in the cold, freshwater environment.

Like all of the aircraft recovered by the museum from Lake Michigan, this SBD Dauntless displayed in the Sunken Treasures exhibit has a story. It spent most of its operational career flying from Naval Air Station (NAS) Norfolk, Virginia, before being used for carrier qualification. Flown by Ensign Charles C. Witkowski, it experienced engine failure on a 24 August 1944, launch from the training carrier Sable. The pilot made a water landing and was rescued.

An aircraft part recovered from the first accident on board the training aircraft carrier Wolverine on 26 August 1942. The date was just fourteen days after the ship's commissioning.