Without wishing to pour cold water….I have been on more than a few searches for wrecks buried on airfield dumps, engines chucked down cellars, thrown into ponds etc etc etc than I could shake a stick at. I am afraid that these tales seem to be 99% myth, 0.5% fact and 0.5% disappointment. The last buried aircraft site I was invited to attend a “dig” on produced tons of coke waste from the airfield domestic boilers, broken crockery and tins cans…..despite assurances that all manner of aircraft and engines had been dumped there! The only buried aircraft (Spitfire) that turned up, as far as I know, was at Kenley although this was, in any event, pretty well documented. True, a magnificent find but a one-off in the UK I fear. However, claims that Lancaster fuselages had been located buried nearby went strangely quiet….as did the “buried Lancaster wrapped in Hessian” story from somewhere in the Midlands I think.? That must have been a heck of a lot of hessian, and why wrap it in sacking anyhow??? Tales about old railway tunnels filled with aeroplanes in Hampshire and Luftwaffe aircraft parts from Farnborough dumped in Fleet Pond….nope…I don’t buy it. I remain an aircraft buried/chucked in a lake/thrown in a quarry/whatever sceptic. Would love to be proved wrong, though!

I think i pretty much support your view (and thats without ever taking a shovel to the clay aircraft-wise).

However I do love those stories, and maybe some day, something wonderfull will be found. I’m pretty sure it won’t be a military dump-site, as they were mostly burnt before burial. My hopes are that some “semi-gangster” managed to cut a deal with someone in the disposal office and those items are still in a German basement 😎

Deals were cut in this way. Mostly for fuel, tires and other items generally in great demand with the civilian population.

Following the above idea, I have no prolem imagining a businessman purchasing a number of Merlins, or other dual-use items. Perhaps even a few aircrafts.These are the “missing” items I hope will be found.

As late as 1951, a Danish scrap merchant got permission to salvage a ditched HE-111, which for some reason had not been reclaimed by the Germans after the ditching. Not sure what became of it (likely it was scrapped), but other similar situations could result in an aircraft ending “in the back of the shed”, or at least substantial parts kept for “business reasons”.

I also remember a British bomber, which was turned into a shed in Holland (not much left, but still it proves that people can have other designs on surplus aircraft).

I found another bit of information regarding aircraft disposal in the UK.

“Radioactive material is extensively used by MOD as a luminising agent to provide a
lightweight light source that operates independently of any external power source.
Radium, promethium and tritium have been the main radioactive materials used for
this purpose but other isotopes may have been used. Radioactive material is also
used in electronic equipment, particularly in valves. After the Second World War, a
lot of military equipment was taken out of service. This involved the dismantling of
the equipment, generally for scrap value before burying the remaining wastes.
These wastes were often burnt prior to burial, to reduce the volume. Burning was
commonplace at MOD sites as this was the accepted method of disposal of surplus
items in the UK, and was industry standard practice. Redundant military aircraft have
been burned on aerodromes, particularly in the south of England.

Defence Estates, who manage the land for the MOD, are currently undertaking a
programme of Land Quality Assessments on all current defence sites. This
programme actively identifies and manages MOD land which is both radioactively
and chemically contaminated. It is unlikely that there are any unknown sites. “

This means that there are lists of sites and most likely an estimate of the materials.

Here is a bit more about the recycle plant:

“On the subject of recycling, I found out after the war that a large, storage depot-type building nearby had been used for that purpose. It was not, however, the usual sort of recycling. It was sited where the Ministry of Defence Spare Parts Depot stood for many years afterwards. It was guarded night and day by soldiers and had a gun battery, so I knew it was — to use wartime jargon – a very ‘hush hush’ establishment. I believe that Lord Nuffield had something to do with it. I used to see wagonloads of scrap going by on the railway en route there.

Its official title was Metal Reclamation Unit No 2. Irrespective of nationality, all aircraft, which had crashed in the North of England, were taken there. The metals were separated and melted down ready for re-use.”

A friend’s Boeing 40 transport.

Manufactured in March 1928, it crashed in dense fog onto the summit of Canyon Mountain in Southern Oregon on October 2, 1928.
The pilot was badly burned, the passenger, a diamond merchant from California, was killed. Most, but not all, of the diamonds were recovered.
The pilot recovered from his injuries, but never flew again. He remained with United Airlines, the successor to Pacific Air Transport, until retiring in 1968.
As you might expect of the time, locals visited the crash site taking souvenirs. The rear of the steel tube fuselage was taken away and served as a piece of ad hoc playground equipment in a nearby town.
Eventually, it was forgotten.
The wreck lay abandoned until the mid 90s when an Oregon historic aviation group recovered it.
After storing the wreckage in a number of places, including a horse trailer, they heard that antique aircraft restorer Addison Pemberton was looking for a Boeing 40. Hoping to place the remains in a good home, the wreckage was sold to him. Pemberton, the owner of an aerospace manufacturing firm, had been looking for a Boeing 40 for years. He had begun restoring aircraft while still in university; in the years since he had restored everything from a T-6, to several wartime Stearman trainers and a rare 1931 airmail Stearman, to an award-winning Beech Staggerwing.
Eight years and 18,000 hours later, last month, the Boeing flew for the first time in almost 80 years.
A couple of years ago, a woman from Oregon appeared at Pemberton’s workshop. She showed him her a diamond ring. The stone was found by her father at the crash site. He searched for months hoping to find one so he could give it to his fiancé. It was the only way he could afford a diamond during the depression.
It’s the only flying Model 40, out of three survivors, and the oldest operational Boeing aircraft.

Great story complete with a tale of an actual diamond treasure 😎

Sometimes I tend to forget, that historic aviation is more than WWII.

I’m happy to hear that a Boeing 40 is flying again, it would be an aircraft I would like to see.

I’d say for certain it was the recovery of Piper L4H 44-79580 from a barn in the back end of Ireland with its subsequent mighty return to england….

….but thats only because I did it, and I own it! It was nothing special to most, but it was special to me.

FB

Thats a cool recovery too. maybe not a great adventure (although Ireland can be quite an adventure).

How about a few pictures (before and after maybe).

Halifax W1048 from Lake Hoklingen, if only there was some footage available. That would be fantastic. The recovery of Wellington N2980 R for Robert from Loch Ness. Two years ago when on holiday there, all aboard a boat where scanning the lake to see the monster. In the meanwhile I was talking to the captain in the cabin as he had been a diver during the recovery of the wreck. He was very amused about my interest in the “other monster” 🙂
Recoveries from underwater are magical and may more discoveries be made.

No apologies for bringing up these topics matey;)
Cheers

Cees

yes, lets hope for lots more magic in the future.

Here is a good site (with pics) about W1048

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/archie_bombercommand/1048tls_continued.html

I#m seriously considering taking up diving :p

Unfortunatly most wrecks around my part of the world (Denmark) are saltwater wrecks. Not a great combination, but there are a few hundred in the waters around Denmark. Most broken up or corroded heavily.

Another of the big ones, is the “Swamp Ghost” recovery. AFAIK they are still trying to get in out of PNG, but in essence they have recovered the airframe.

Pictured here as she lay for decades.

Link to her home on the web:

http://www.theswampghost.com/