http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181958637269

GR7 drop tank with Russian Stencilling (“detonators invested”)!

Hmmm…never seen a Harrier drop tank…but have seen Russian FAB-250 air dropped bombs…and that thing is the spitting image of one…the blue ring around the nose denotes inert/drill round. I hope.

Good business is nothing more than risk management.

Many will be unaware, but for the previous 18-24 months (or thereabouts) there has been a Small Claims track at the High Court that deals with intellectual property. There is a cap at (currently) £10k on claims, but for most photographers/illustrators/authors this is adequate. Crucially, the costs either side can claim are strictly capped…meaning if you claim and lose the other party cannot claim legal costs that typically might equate to having to sell your home when the lawyers present their bill.

The Small Claims track at the High Court has opened up access to justice for small creators. I should add that if you are finding your images used without permission the entire process is a bit legalese, but accessible to a non-legal like me.

An example of the Small Claims track in action, with an aviation theme (Goodwin Sands Dornier), can be read here:-

Case judgement

So using images without permission is not recommended as the risk may well outweigh the benefits.

Having said all that, there is no way I would use an internet forum to seek advice on this. The only advice I trust these days is paid for and that is what I would recommend in this case.

Surely there is an argument to recover something like the JU88 much much more cheaply, by cutting it up on the sea bed and lifting in small sections.

The cost of putting a diver to work safely on the seabed will be dictated by many factors and is variable, but expect a four figure bill per day just to put the diver in the water. Some sites might only see a 20 minute window of opportunity for work every 12 hours. The risk assessment would probably dictate surface supply and comms/video feed. Plus the cost of cutting equipment or other tools. Any recovery will require a charter vessel capable of supporting both diving operations & lifting.

There are no short-cuts, and its expensive.

With today’s technology, anything can be reproduced, or are you really suggesting that the industry that took men to the moon is incapable of replicating 1930s technology?

I know of one company that reverse engineered a Deltic Diesel engine – including the block – using 3D scanning tools and CAD software.

The desire and (critically) the money would all it take to do likewise with any engine block or component.

A few years ago I photographed EOD work at Cape Wrath. The shell in question was strapped with a demolition pack, and when initiated did this:-

Functioning as intended

It was a smoke or illumination round full of phosphorus.

I think it is important to appreciate that wrecks like this are frequently visited by ‘sport’ divers and although there are strict regulations regarding the removal of items from wreckage we all know it happens.

Divers do indeed visit wrecks, and – to my utter regret – there has been a long tradition of recovering cargo and fittings. As long as whatever is recovered from a shipwreck and are reported to the Receiver of Wrecks then the practice is lawful. There are some caveats to that; any protected wreck won’t be open to divers/diving in general and visiting without a permit is not on, let alone recovering anything.

However, as many here will be aware of, all military aircraft fall under Protection of Military Remains Act and disturbing the site in any way is illegal. This piece of legislation is not widely known in the sport diving community, but I’m working on that…

A few years ago I was invited to document HMS Royal Oak. This battleship was torpedoed at anchor in 1939 and is now a Controlled Site under PRMA. Seeing a wreck that is for the most part complete with fixtures, fittings, ammunition, compasses etc was an utter revelation. From that point on I sought to dive intact wrecks that were not picked over by fellow divers – the majority simply not realising what they were missing out on. A few of the Royal Oak images are here.

In the end, I had to travel to Aland in the Baltic to find intact wrecks. Aland has completely different laws regarding salvage and the wrecks are all the better for it.

Sorry for digressing.