Paul

The tide was no where near low enough on Tuesday, it was a good 3ft higher at low tide than when I went to the beach in August and even then the aircraft was only above the water briefly.

The photos were taken at the same time as Skyonix did their video of it, which is what was linked to in May, but published online in April, their website gives 9th April as date of publication.

John Whyte’s death is registered in Scotland, and as he is buried at Oban. Your best starting point is to go onto Scotland’s People and look up his death registration (which will need credits) or find someone who has got credits for Scotland’s People who will look him. That will give the cause of death, though it might just say ‘war operations’ or similar.

There are a lot more than 200 high ground crash sites where there is findable wreckage remaining, having been to over 400.

While people do not post much about them on here, there is plenty elsewhere on the web, without being too blatant I would suggest clicking on the link below so see a big selection from across the British Isles.

Most sites have not changed much over the last few years, some I go back every now and then so get to see changes or the lack of. The most noticeable change over the last 10 years is how advanced corrosion has become. On the whole it is no longer worth recovering items from any of the sites, except those on the highest ground where low average temperatures have helped slow (but not stop) corrosion. Even 10 years ago items were showing signs of de-laminating with internal corrosion literally blowing the item apart and that type of corrosion will eventually destroy most parts, regardless of where they are.

It is only on a handful of sites where there have been big changes since the last wave or mass recovery in the 80s/90s, either through removal of wreckage or large numbers of visitors trampling them where the site has become over publicised. As this thread shows there is a fixation on a couple of sites which are seen as (ever re-occurring) examples, when they are but a couple in several hundred. The low level removal of small items seems from my experience to be greatly overstated, mostly by people who used to visit sites 30-40 years ago who have not regularly revisited them since to see how they have altered.

The third photo looks like a fuel filter, I’ve got one from a Hercules powered Wellington.

I was wondering if it might be Pembroke / Sea Prince, certainly similar to photos of spinners from those, but there are no real close ups.

Not Yak 11, the writing on it is in English, something that is clearly a few years old, probably few decades, and Yak would be in Russian.

What is it with the desire to raise stuff from the sea. It’s almost always in horrible condition requiring large sums of money (not to mention quantities of chemicals etc and time) to stabilise it before you get to deciding what to do long term. As its identity is unknown at the moment there is no clue as to whether there are human remains on board or probably more importantly what lies beneath/within the aircraft. Just imagine lifting it and finding the bomb load on board or a torpedo just waiting to go bang and then having to destroy it in situ. Certainly not a candidate for recovery to the UK, we already have a Ju88 in much better condition.

If the Spanish wish to recover it let them, it has more of a connection to there than it does to these islands, even if the aircraft was probably looking for British shipping when it was lost. Given the on going financial woes of Spain expect it to remain where it is, and that’s probably for the better.

You can find a little more information in AIR 40/2398 or AIR 40/2399 at the National Archives. There will be a report of the forced landing and any information gleaned from the wreckage, pilot or found on the gunner. Beyond that if you search the NA register for German Prisoners of War you will get hundreds of items, it is just knowing which ones will contain the information you’re after.

There might be something in FO 945/451 which is a file about repatriation on compassionate ground within the Foreign & Commonwealth Office series.
FO 916/303 covers reports about PoW camps in Canada from 1942, so again that may contain reference, there will probably be similar files a few numbers either side covering other years.