FW 190 from the deep

yes , i agree,
I know of a Tempest crash near me and its next to the M5 motorway in a field,
pilot still in it, But MOD refuseed permission to recover years ago,
I think personally its about Cost, its easyer to say NO, and leave it there, If i died in a car crash they wouldnt leave my remains on the motorway would they ??
So why leave a pilot in his plane ??
its rotten,
with proper procedures this could be done with respect and discretion and a final end to a pilot whos status is “Missing”
the Protection of military remains act is a good thing , but also bad in other ways

That’s appalling, he should be recovered b the RAF and laid to rest if thats the case. Like the RAF Firefly aircrew who crashed in Melbournes shallow Port Phillip bay and were not recovered. Poor form:(

It would probably take the family of the missing tempest pilot in front of the TV cameras carrying on to get their attention. If they see no benefit, they don’t want anything to do with it.

The FW190 raising was pushed through by a small group of aviation enthusiasts who managed to get higher ups on board by making the recovery part of naval training exercise to find and retrieve! They do have to play with their toys and get experience anyway don’t they?!?

I am still astounded by the Herdla FW190 recovery though, when in Norway in January, I had the honnour to meet some of the recovery team and see some bits of the AC. Very cool!

Nice one, any links to how it looks cleaed up?

Maybe the nearest wreckology group should kick up a fuss and get the Government embarrassed into doing something!

It would probably take the family of the missing tempest pilot in front of the TV cameras carrying on to get their attention. If they see no benefit, they don’t want anything to do with it.

The FW190 raising was pushed through by a small group of aviation enthusiasts who managed to get higher ups on board by making the recovery part of naval training exercise to find and retrieve! They do have to play with their toys and get experience anyway don’t they?!?

I am still astounded by the Herdla FW190 recovery though, when in Norway in January, I had the honnour to meet some of the recovery team and see some bits of the AC. Very cool!

That Fw190 looks in great shape for what its been through.

regarding unrecovered pilots, the government needs to setup a department with some funding to at least start to look into the possibility of recovering pilots.

Use some of that national lottery money that seems to be always flying around.

remains

yes , i agree,
I know of a Tempest crash near me and its next to the M5 motorway in a field,
pilot still in it, But MOD refuseed permission to recover years ago,
I think personally its about Cost, its easyer to say NO, and leave it there, If i died in a car crash they wouldnt leave my remains on the motorway would they ??
So why leave a pilot in his plane ??
its rotten,
with proper procedures this could be done with respect and discretion and a final end to a pilot whos status is “Missing”
the Protection of military remains act is a good thing , but also bad in other ways

Found this on you tube of the recovery

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nnc0C71vbtA

Cool:-)

Any New Pics of the cleaned up FW 190 in process?

I imagine it is slow and a tedious process! Wouldn’t want to take a pressure washer to it! Trying to get the Gunk off without losing the paint (or for that mater-the metal). I also imagine it must smell like low tide something fierce!

Just dip the whole plane in a big vat of Cosmoline-just kind of hard to display that way!

Please find below a link to my revised illustration of the Gelb 16-I have done some tweaks after studying the last batch of photos.

Regards
Chris

Click on the link to go to the picture
http://www.printroom.com/ViewGalleryPhoto.asp?userid=csheppard&gallery_id=562367&image_id=2

Any New Pics of the cleaned up FW 190 in process?

I imagine it is slow and a tedious process! Wouldn’t want to take a pressure washer to it! Trying to get the Gunk off without losing the paint (or for that mater-the metal). I also imagine it must smell like low tide something fierce!

Just dip the whole plane in a big vat of Cosmoline-just kind of hard to display that way!

Please find below a link to my revised illustration of the Gelb 16-I have done some tweaks after studying the last batch of photos.

Regards
Chris

Click on the link to go to the picture
http://www.printroom.com/ViewGalleryPhoto.asp?userid=csheppard&gallery_id=562367&image_id=2

Yeah salt water is a mongrel.Down at Point Cook Spitfire MkV A58-51 (Br545) that was recovered in 1987 has disolved to the point where it is just about scrap,and that is being held in a fresh water tank being recycled regularly as well IIRC.I think there is a special bath that would stabilise the corrosion that is used in stripping vintage cars/steel hot rods etc but it removes all traces of paint as well.Corosion only occurs while there is oxygen present…

So they wouldn’t be stolen, and to access the condition of the parts.

Dave

Maybe those Navy type just enjoy the paaaaain in their ears at 60 meter! Mine kill me at 5! Could have been a safety issue, or they just wanted to log more hours at depth for the fun of it!

Chris

That makes sense Bruce, thanks. Forgot about the magnesium.
I wonder how safe or necessary it is to remove guns underwater in such a complete/stable frame such as this? surely a better job could be done once out of the water again? just a thought

It was a Hurricane

See Below

Sergeant Ray Holmes spotted a Dornier bomber lined up to attack the palace on 15 September 1940.

Mr Holmes, from Wirral, Merseyside, then realised he had run out of ammunition.

So the pilot from 504 Squadron used his Hurricane to slice through the tail of the intruder. He then parachuted to safety while his plane crashed into Buckingham Palace Road – and the German bomber plunged into Victoria station.

Last year, archaeologists unearthed parts of Mr Holmes’s fighter plane for a TV documentary about his exploits.

During the live Channel Five television show, Fighter Plane Dig, the plane’s engine was recovered and was later exhibited at the Imperial War Museum.

I recall a documentary on a team excavating a Spit from beneath a London street. They carefully extracted pieces, including a somewhat bent MG. Carefully tagging everything as they went. The bloody minded local constabulary promptly swept in, seized the MG and cut it into pieces. “It is the law” they claimed!!!

So much for historical preservation!

Of course, locally here, a 500lb bomb was found while digging for utilities. The local Air Base sent a squad over and detonated in place! Big bang!!! The area had been used for live fire exercise back in WWII.

Chris

They were recovered by the Navy dive team before the main salvage.

Dave

I noticed on the photos of when the AC was first raised that the MGs and access panel at the cowl were missing. Did the Germans salvage those guns at the time of the downing or were they nipped by some scuba diver seeking trophies?

Probably is!

And air in the gun cylinders too!

Bruce

With the way the metal is delaminating, I hope to goodness that there is no pressure left in those Oxygen bottles…

Adrian

No, the column is still present.

However, the grip has corroded completely away – being made from magnesium alloy, this is not surprising. The rudder pedals have also gone. The superstructure that carries the instrument panels is also Mag Alloy, and is well on the way to completely degrading. The engine mounting frame is also Magnesium, which explains why the engine has fallen away so readily.

This will be a very difficult artefact to stabilise – this is serious corrosion, that wont stop unless the whole airframe can be covered with some form of anti corroding agent, and this reapplied on a regular basis.

On balance, I might have left it where it was!

Bruce