Beneath the waves of Lake Michigan, off the shores of Chicago rests many lost ships and airplanes that tell important parts of Chicago's maritime history. Most of these ships and airplanes remained lost to time until a small company, A&T Recovery, surveyed the floor of the Lake's southern basin in order to retrieve the historically significant aircraft that had lost during the aircraft carrier training operations of World War II.

Since the late 1980's, dozens of historic airplanes have been recovered by A&T Recovery, with the help of Crowley's Yacht Yard, for the National Museum of Naval Aviation in order that they may be displayed and presented to the American public. One of these airplanes can be found at O'Hare Airport, where a F4F-3 Wildcat fighter is displayed in honor of "Butch" O'Hare.

In the process of locating the airplanes, A&T Recovery located the early Holocene Forest and significant shipwrecks to include: the Wells Burt, the Wings of the Wind, the Rotarian, and the former German World War I U-boat UC-97. Many of the shipwrecks have been studied and charted so the knowledge of the history they represent will be preserved.

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A&T Recovery, Chicago-based firm, has already recovered 31 World War II planes
from the lake on behalf of the National Museum of Naval Aviation