And here’s for the Lancaster….for the records: It was Lancaster III ND759 TL-R of No.35 (Pathfinder) Sqdn lost during the night of 27th/28th April 1944. The aircraft was raised from the lakebed of Lake Constance. Work began in December 1953 and late in January 1954 the floating crane sank during operations. After the crane was raised again, work continued and on 4th April 1954 the Lancaster finally was ‘hooked’ – after some paper-shuffle with the Allied Forces, the bomber then was towed below the surface to shore, where it resurfaced on 2nd May 1954 – eventually the aircraft was put on display on 17th June 1954 – but scrapped a few months later.

There were some photographs in Aeroplane Monthly June 1993 issue.

Martin

Okay – her’s a few photos:

1) 42-38160 of the 385th BG shortly after haveing been dragged to shore in 1952; nose section missing – the first visitors taking a close look.
The aircraft had arrived on 16th March 1944.

2) here’s the aircaft after the landig gear has been lowered – the nose section is still missing.

3) Schaffner (round fellow with hat) and his crew in front of the aircraft, after having raised the nose-section and sort of mated it with the fuselage again.

4) side-view of the aircraft after some restoration

Enjoy !
Martin

Schaffner raised some aircraft from Lakes – among them the B-17 seen in Chris’ posting (salut mon ami !) “Lonsome Polecat” (a name applied in Switzerland) – this aircraft was scrapped during the early 70’s, with substantial parts being rescued and now residing in The Netherlands.

Also a Lancaster was raised, and some Swiss AF aircraft. Some more B-17 parts (among them a complete engine) were raised by another group of enthusiasts during the 90’s, and there’s still some material in the lakes, but mostly very deep in heavy sediments on the lakebeds.

I will dig out some photos showing recoveries in process or recovered aircraft on display.

Martin

Happy Birthday – all the best and have a great day !

Martin

How about a BlueNoser ?

“Ex Lax….Shht n’ Git” by Cy Doleac

Martin

My apolgies for exhuming this thread, but I just came across this photo……

anybody mind me sharing it ?

Martin

Best wishes for a great day – happy birthday !

Martin