Irish Lough wrecks – any more ?

Hi 25 Deg South

The estimated depth of the scuttled Catalinas is about 120 ft with a hell of a lot of silt on the bottom

Paddy R

Paddy,
Would you like to comment on the water depth factor?

Aircraft in Irish loughs

I can confirm Hurrifan’s post that there are a number of aircraft in Lough Erne.
I used to watch them fly in and out as a child in the 1940s. There are at least 2 Sunderlands and a Catalina designated as war graves and a number of scuttled Catalinas. There is a dive planned for later this month to try to locate these.

Paddy R

IIRC there was an article in Aeroplane Monthly a few years ago with the story about the Halifax ditching and subsequent recovery plus photographs of the wreck (hmm lost opportunity).

Cheers

Cees

There was some imagery posted some time back on this site of the Halifax being brought ashore.
A personal account of its ditching had appeared in an issue of Air Clues in the very early 70’s. Indeed this was the first thought in Spring 75 that crossed our minds when the Army reported their finding of an aircraft on the Lough bed to us at RAF Aldergrove. At the time they had actually been looking for some material that had been lost from a Dory which had been tipped over accidentally.
At that time the aircraft was substantially complete and I couldn’t get the sketches done by the WO “Q” in charge of the diving team to match my initial and erroneous preconceptions of it possibly being the Halifax. The insistence on the single kinked l/e fin and the fuselage step at the turret, as well as them only seeing two engines at that time had me puzzled and I gave him a bit of a grilling to confirm his description.
It was McGarry(?sp) himself who informed us that the only aircraft that he had never found was a Beaufort which went missing ( from where?) and was presumed lost up at the North western section of the Lough. He told me of the fact that the Halifax had been recovered shortly after the ditching – which nailed my initial musings.
It also transpired that the wreck had apparently been seen on occasion by SH det helicopter crews when the conditions were favourable. It was in fairly shallow water ( the Lough is not that deep anyway ) and only a couple of hundred yards out from the shore. As stated the army plastered the area with explosives a few weeks later and that was that as far as we were concerned.
This did trigger a bit of a ripple as to the possible viability of machine guns in other aircraft wrecks and we did quick check at very low level of the other known sites in Lough Foyle off of Magilligan ( Ballykelly) as well as the local Wildcat , ensuring that any traces of weaponry remaining were indeed useless.
I’m quite sure some large lumps of the hard bits of probable Beaufort will still survive under the silt.

Scrapped probably

Cees

It was there in 1974 ( approximately where you have stated) and could even be seen from the shore on occasion. It was Army Engineers who were diving on it and I was formally involved. The recoveries from the Lake were largely instigated from McGarry’s yard (whom I also interviewed) ,where the Halifax was brought in. The suspected Beaufort in question was actually lost with three crew.- we spoke to the RAF Museum on that one. As I stated explosives were dropped in ’75 to smash the wreck up and we lost interest in it from that point. Thus much evidence may now be gone, however in this case at least, an absence of evidence should not be construed as evidence of absence.
Unless of course I imagined it all. 🙂

wheres the hali now 😎 😎 😎

As always I hope that I retain an open mind on these things, in any case we both seem to agree that whatever the truth of the matter the wreck is not in Lough Neagh now!

Mind you having said that the evidence points to no aircraft wrecks in the Lough now, I must now admit that an acquaintance some years ago told me of fishermen bringing a wreck to the surface in another part of the Lough. As in all good stories, it broke free and sank again from view!

Regards

Eric

I must disagree with the comments regarding the aircraft wreck alleged to be in Lough Neagh, various searches have been made over the years by divers from the sub-aqua club at Aldergrove and I believe by divers from Masserene camp in Antrim town. On one occasion, at least I believe a search was attempted using side scan sonar; bottom conditions in the identified area doomed that one from the start.

During and after World War II a local company had the contract for maintaining targets on the lough and for recovering aircraft that had the misfortune of crashing into it. The contractor involved over many years maintained that anything that crashed into the Lough was removed by his company.

The position of the alleged wreck has always been quoted as been in the area close to the end of the east / west runway at Langford Lodge. We at the Ulster Aviation Society have never found any records to support the idea of an aircraft crash in that area. The station records just do not support the theory.

Over the years, the society has been approached regarding various aircraft in the lough, notably a barge full of P38’s, not to mention aircraft engines etc buried on the Langford Lodge site! Sorry folks the records just do not support such manna from heaven.

Sorry to disappoint!

Regards

Eric
🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁

It was there in 1974 ( approximately where you have stated) and could even be seen from the shore on occasion. It was Army Engineers who were diving on it and I was formally involved. The recoveries from the Lake were largely instigated from McGarry’s yard (whom I also interviewed) ,where the Halifax was brought in. The suspected Beaufort in question was actually lost with three crew.- we spoke to the RAF Museum on that one. As I stated explosives were dropped in ’75 to smash the wreck up and we lost interest in it from that point. Thus much evidence may now be gone, however in this case at least, an absence of evidence should not be construed as evidence of absence.
Unless of course I imagined it all. 🙂

what about the Halifax that went down in lough neagh, was that recovered ?:cool: 😎 😎

The Halifax was recovered!

Regards

Eric

lough neagh

what about the Halifax that went down in lough neagh, was that recovered ?:cool: 😎 😎

I must disagree with the comments regarding the aircraft wreck alleged to be in Lough Neagh, various searches have been made over the years by divers from the sub-aqua club at Aldergrove and I believe by divers from Masserene camp in Antrim town. On one occasion, at least I believe a search was attempted using side scan sonar; bottom conditions in the identified area doomed that one from the start.

During and after World War II a local company had the contract for maintaining targets on the lough and for recovering aircraft that had the misfortune of crashing into it. The contractor involved over many years maintained that anything that crashed into the Lough was removed by his company.

The position of the alleged wreck has always been quoted as been in the area close to the end of the east / west runway at Langford Lodge. We at the Ulster Aviation Society have never found any records to support the idea of an aircraft crash in that area. The station records just do not support the theory.

Over the years, the society has been approached regarding various aircraft in the lough, notably a barge full of P38’s, not to mention aircraft engines etc buried on the Langford Lodge site! Sorry folks the records just do not support such manna from heaven.

Sorry to disappoint!

Regards

Eric
🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁

With the FAAM’s Barracuda DP872 and UAS’s Wildcat JV482 recovered from lough’s just wondering what, if any, aircraft remains are left ?

I recall around the time of JV482’s recovery a photo in Flypast showing a very large chunk of Corsair also. Is it, and any others, still there ?

.

This is another example what’s still left at crashsites to recover instead of going off to Russia to buy a container load of scrap aluminium and using a lot of money and effort to reconstruct a Hurricane for example.

At the time I was amazed at what Flypast and Aeroplane published in the early eighties what was still left.

Cees

I can confirm this story as I was asked to cooperate with the Army divers in question regarding identification. From the sketches of the fin shape it appeared to be a Bristol twin. The turret and step in the fuselage strongly indicated Beaufort.
The only missing Beaufort we were aware of allegedly came down a long way to the west of where this wreck was actually located. A talk with the local wartime recovery contractor confirmed this.
I was told that during 1975 explosives were dropped over the site to neutralise any possible weaponry in the wreck. This doesn’t quite ring true thinking of the sort of charges that would be needed but could well explain the disappearance of the wreck.

Mentioned somewhere else on the forum but there was/is apparently a twin somewhere in Lough Neigh which used to cause ( and poss still does !) erroneous reports from overflights to Aldergrove ATC of an aircraft down in the lough !

I have heard that it was dived on and identified as a twin by Army (?) divers some years ago , that they went back later and couldn’t find it again :confused:

There are several scuttled Cats and the wreak of at least one Sunderland in Lough Erne.

and the old chestnut…a Spitfire in the Silent Valley reservoir :diablo: !

FlyPast featured a picture of the mortal remains of a Firefly in a nearby Lough. This was circa September/October 1982. There were the remains of two Corsairs visible at that time.