Thunderbolt wreck Weymouth bay Dorset

Thanks to all, email sent Elliott with the info you were after and thanks Alan I think the St Albans head one is out, the Channel one however ties up with something I was told a while back about a mid air collision and a pilot being picked up by a dockyard tug. Not going to draw any conclusions yet but will be chasing this one down. As a result of this thread it looks likely the tail wheel assembly will end up in a museum which in my opinion is just where it should be, fantastic! The sidescan image I thought might interest some and shows the main area of wreckage including engine, wing section, main undercarriage and a mass of debris. To give you an idea of scale it is 100 metres from left to right. Sadly the scan loses some of its detail due to the resolution but it gives you an idea of what you can expect to see. Was supposed to be across the Channel but hey ho good old British weather!!

I’ve been through the AAIR (www.aviationarchaeology.com) list of crashes and there is only one P-47 that stands out as being in the same area.

P-47D 42-75861, listed as lost 5th July 1944 at St Alban’s Head, which I see from the map is to the east of Weymouth Bay. The aircraft was from the 405th FG.

There was another which just has Channel as the region and no location filled in but that could be any where. It was 42-76269, lost 20th May 1944.

There are only 2 accidents on the list with the location mentioning Warmwell, a single taxi-ing accident involving two aircraft.

I stand corrected chaps…thanx.
Thanx also to Hindenburg.

Off to Brittany early in the morning Elliott, will be in touch when I get back late in the weekend.
Cheers
G

Looks like P47 to me

Yes, I offered to help recover the P40 at the time, but the correspondence faded sadly. If I recall he lived down Everest Road.

I’d be interested in seeing your side scan images of the tailwheel – any chance you could post or email them Graham? I suspect they will be better than my sonar unit…

Do give Ross a try – i’m sure he can offer some potential IDs

Certainly Thunderbolt
Cheers
G

I would say a corsair aswell.

It’s definitely not a corsair tail wheel… I can gurantee it.

Cheers,
Richard

http://www.vobster.com/

I would say a corsair aswell.

I am thinking of training to be a diver….sadly not qualified yet. Used STASS in the dunker loads of times, but need to learn. Good school recommendations appreciated.

I looked at the tail wheel/leg….are you sure it is P47? Looks a bit like Corsair.

Here is the wheel assembly and before someone says what are you doing recovering parts of a military aircraft? Let me explain. We are carrying out a high resolution sidescan survey in a particular area that contains at least one Napoleonic shipwreck (Diver Tony Rocketeer some news about this in the latest edition of Dive and if you want to dive an aircraft please get in touch) We found the wheel one of dozens of anomalies hundreds of metres away from the main wreck site and due to its condition (excellent considering)and the fact we cleaned up the wheel rim underwater and it said Shinn & co we thought this might be from a commercial aircraft as initially looking up Shinn on the net they were described as makers of braking systems for light aircraft. As soon as we lifted it and researched it we realised it must be from the main wreckage and my guess is it was trawled away. Receiver of wreck has been informed and the correct procedure is being followed

Try again

If this works then that was easy enough will post some more pix later…….
Ah no picture bit of a numpty when it comes to this stuff will sort it later

Hi Graham – nice to see you on the forum.

Any chance of some pics please?

Your best bet is to contact Ross O’Neil. He does post here, but his permanent home is over on the RAF Commands forum (he runs it). Ross has a very large database of aircraft down in UK waters and will almost certainly be able to help you.

Incidently, a diver was appealing for help to recover a P-40 from the same area about 20 years ago.

Hi Elliott thanks for the lead I will give it a try. If picture posting isn’t to complex I will do that later today, if not when we return from diving in France at the weekend. The P40 recovery involved local man Selwyn Williams a freind of mine, the wreck was west side of Portland off Chesil beach and sadly it all ended in tears but that is another story. Just for your interest we found the tail wheel assembly with sidescan in 27 metres.

Welcome Graham! Fantastic stuff, I echo desire for pix. I live quite close and have always wanted to dive on aircraft wrecks!!

Hi Graham – nice to see you on the forum.

Any chance of some pics please?

Your best bet is to contact Ross McNeill. He does post here, but his permanent home is over on the RAF Commands forum (he runs it). Ross has a very large database of aircraft down in UK waters and will almost certainly be able to help you.

Incidently, a diver was appealing for help to recover a P-40 from the same area about 20 years ago.