Do17 - Channel Recovery Links

[mustangdriver]

Man, you guys are good!

[PinecastleAAF]

Forgive me if I missed it but does anyone know if they were searching for this particular aircraft for the musuem before it was located or was it just a stroke of luck they found a type that they didn't have?

[warbird1]

Mods, perhaps a merge?

http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/p ... =3&t=37631

[warbird1]

*** edit - Double post, due to threads being merged***

Last edited by warbird1 on Fri Sep 03, 2010 9:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[DaveM2]

Surveys have shown the wreck to be remarkably well preserved -photos show markings still intact. Rest assured a national museum is not going to expend huge effort / money to recover some goey carboard.

[Ztex]

It may read a bit wacky...but their merged!

[Flying Pencil]

This is an incredible find!

Apart from a Do-17p wreck in southern Norway, and a Do-215B-5 NJ dissolving off the coast of Holland, this is the potentially the most important BoB historical find ever!

As most know, there are quite a few He-111 and Ju-88's,
There are NO intact Do-17's anywhere!

[JDK]

...and includes contributions from James, aka on WIX as jdk, regarding the preservation of the metals after recovery using methods used by archaelogical groups on ship wrecks. Metals recovered after a long dip in salt water experience accelerated rates of corrosion. It ends up turning to dust if left in the atmosphere untreated. Ferrous metals can be restored but, if I understand correctly, it remains to be seen if aluminum can be as well. So the Do 17 may have to stored in water under cover until they're ready to start treatment. The treatment is slow and requires total immersion, but the resulting preservation is incredible and permanent.
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showth ... p?t=103006

The details were actually lifted by me from my post in the Welsh P-38 thread earlier, here, funnily enough!

Pencil, great to see you here. Why not post a few Do 17 facts in a new thread to introduce yourself? (And I have your e-mail in the 'to reply & sort' pile!)

Cheers

[Flying Pencil]

Pencil, great to see you here. Why not post a few Do 17 facts in a new thread to introduce yourself? (And I have your e-mail in the 'to reply & sort' pile!)

Cheers

Yes, I will. TY

BTW, I see in your sig a quote from my #1 favorite movie of all time! :0

I was so lucky to see the movie director in person, but was ashamed at how I turned into a driveling fan boy, D'OH!

Cheers m8!

[JDK]

I was so lucky to see the movie director in person, but was ashamed at how I turned into a driveling fan boy, D'OH!

It happens. At least you didn't get turned into a pig. It's a classy movie.

[daveymac82c]

Thanks for posting that video. It was hard to tell one part of the plane from another, but have an idea of the condition of the plane.

Is there any speculation on when it will be raised? I'd assume at earliest it will be next spring or summer.

Peace,

David M

[JDK]

My understanding is they're aiming for a mid (northern summer) 2011 recovery, David. It will be a tricky job!

[Canso42]

Classic Wings reports on this item and says that the bodies of the two dead crew members were recovered and interred, one in the UK and one in the Netherlands.

[JDK]

Classic Wings reports on this item and says that the bodies of the two dead crew members were recovered and interred, one in the UK and one in the Netherlands.

I'm sure DaveM2 will clarify, but the implication you've got here that they were recovered recently from the wreck is not correct.

From the RAF Museum's press releases:

At around 13.40 hours the aircraft force-landed on Goodwin Sands off the eastern Kentish coast at low tide. Of the four crew, two (Wounded Pilot Feldwebel Willi Effmert, and Bomb Aimer Uffz Hermann Ritzel) became Prisoners-of-War in Canada and two (27-year old Wireless Operator Unteroffizier Helmut Reinhardt and 21-year old Bomb aimer Gefreiter Heinz Huhn) were killed, their bodies being recovered later and buried in Holland and the UK (Cannock Chase German cemetery) respectively.

CREW DETAILS
The German crew details were as follows:
Pilot: Feldwebel (Flt Sgt) Willi Effmert, wounded (POW), age 24.
Observer: Unteroffizier (Sgt) Herman Ritzel (POW), age 21.
Wireless Operator: Unteroffizier (Sgt) Helmut Reinhardt, killed (buried Ysselsteyn, Holland - block BQ, row 6, plot 136), age 27.
Bombardier: Gefreiter (Cpl) Heinz Huhn, killed (buried Cannock Chase - block 1, row 1, plot 405), age 21.

There were no bodies in the wreck when discovered.

As to David's question, this is also from the RAF Museum's press release:

RECOVERY
The safe recovery (with minimal damage) of an aircraft that has rested underwater for nearly 70 years presents substantial challenges – as does the subsequent conservation task. However, the RAF Museum has experience in stabilising and exhibiting aircraft immersed in water for an extended period (such as the Halifax Mk II recovered in 1973 from Lake Hoklingen in Norway and the Hurricane Mk I retrieved from the Thames Estuary in the same year). Conservation techniques have advanced greatly in the last 40 years. Similar restoration efforts undertaken in Norway and Australia in the past few years offer the prospect of less intrusive methods for stabilising and preserving aircraft structures immersed in salt or fresh water for extended periods. The conservation effort will be undertaken at the RAF Museum’s award-winning Michael Beetham Conservation Centre at Cosford where the Dornier will take its place alongside a RAF Vickers Wellington bomber currently undergoing an extensive restoration programme.

Trust that's of interest.

Regards,

[Canso42]

Right-o James. I should have stated that these events all happened in wartime.