Wartime Spitfire Wreck heading to Australia...

[Warbirdnerd]

Spitfire Australia-bound following quarrel Tom Wald, AAP Europe Correspondent
February 10, 2011 - 11:34AM

AAP

A quarrel over the fighter plane of an Australian World War II pilot turned bitter this week after French police forced its discoverer to hand it over.

French war museum owner Fabrice Corbin was threatened with 48 hours in jail before agreeing to turn over the Spitfire that was sitting in the courtyard of his house in Normandy in northern France.

Mr Corbin and his family and friends dug the plane out of an estuary in Ouistreham last November and he had initially promised to hand over Mr Smith's remains and plane for free to the Australian people.

Advertisement: Story continues below The plane was that of Australian Flight Lieutenant Henry `Lacy' Smith, the Sydney pilot gunned down in action on June 11, 1944, just five days after the D-Day landings.

Mr Smith had attempted to land in a field but his plane ended up plunging deep into the mud of the waterway only to be discovered two thirds of a century later.

Being a British plane, it was initially offered to the United Kingdom before French authorities asked their Australian counterparts if they were interested in the damaged aircraft.

They were.

Now three months after Mr Corbin's discovery, there has been a massive falling out between him and local authorities.

The irate Frenchman said he felt like he has been treated like a grave robber while an official from France's Ministry of Culture said the owner of the Grand Bunker Museum had asked for compensation for the costs of extracting the plane.

"After what happened, I think I should have not done it, I should have left the pilot rotten in the cockpit," Mr Corbin said this week via an interpreter.

"I respect the Australian people, but not the Australian bureaucrats."

Mr Smith's remains were handed over in November and he is to be buried with full military honours at a Commonwealth War Graves cemetery at Ranville on April 19.

Mr Corbin said he was never informed about the ceremony and is devastated about his experience.

"Even if the Australians invite me to come, I would not come," he said.

However French authorities paint a very different picture of his behaviour.

Olivia Hulot, an archaeologist responsible for the North Sea and English Channel within the French Ministry of Culture, said that Mr Corbin had forced the department's hand.

"Since November the aircraft has been in the garden ... it was necessary to get the aircraft for conservation reasons," she told AAP.

" ... we want the restoration of artefacts.

"I wanted to speak to Fabrice but he told me he doesn't want to see me and he told me the property was his and he would like some money for pulling the aircraft out of the water."

Ms Hulot said that Mr Corbin had been involved in 18 excavations in the area, which is littered with war-time artefacts.

She said the authorities had to step in as the plane desperately needed to be submerged to slow down the rate of decay.

Besides solving a 66-year mystery surrounding the final resting place of Mr Smith, part of the attraction of the find was the quality of the condition of the Spitfire - the plane renowned for its role in the defeat of the Nazis.

Ms Hulot suggested there had been a "commercial aspect" to Mr Corbin's behaviour.

"The last solution was to get legal help from the authorities," she said.

"We don't like to do all this ... we are archaeologists."

A media conference is due to be held on Thursday morning in the French regional capital of Caen regarding the transfer of the plane into Australian hands.

Defence Attache at the Australian Embassy in Paris, Mark Green, said: "The RAAF is currently investigating options for potential recovery of the aircraft to Australia."

The Royal Australian Air Force's Museum at Point Cook in Victoria is the Spitfire's most likely destination.

Found it here:
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-wo ... 1anos.html

[TAdan]

I remember reading about this when it was first discovered. Too bad the recovery didnt go to smoothly

[the330thbg]

Greed is not pretty.., sometimes greed is not good!

[Warbirdnerd]

A picture from another news story...

[bdk]

Ms Hulot suggested there had been a "commercial aspect" to Mr Corbin's behaviour.

"The last solution was to get legal help from the authorities," she said.

"We don't like to do all this ... we are archaeologists."

"Since November the aircraft has been in the garden ... it was necessary to get the aircraft for conservation reasons," she told AAP.

" ... we want the restoration of artefacts.

Does Ms Hulot work for free? Sounds like big brother exercising power. And what makes the profession of "archaeologist" so holy? What possible archaeological value could that Spitfire possess anyhow? The aircraft was deteriorating in the garden BECAUSE of their meddling. Government agencies always feel so deserving of the efforts of others.

If not for Mr Corbin, the pilot's remains would still be where they were.

[SPANNERmkV]

Sacre Bleu

Can't we all just get along?

Glad this hero's been given a decent, honourable burial...

[warbird1]

This statement really bothers me and makes me lose respect for Mr. Corbin:

"After what happened, I think I should have not done it, I should have left the pilot rotten in the cockpit," Mr Corbin said this week via an interpreter.

That's very disrespectful to our fallen Veterans.

[Jesse C.]

This statement really bothers me and makes me lose respect for Mr. Corbin:

"After what happened, I think I should have not done it, I should have left the pilot rotten in the cockpit," Mr Corbin said this week via an interpreter.

That's very disrespectful to our fallen Veterans.

Actually, that sounds more like something said out frustration and through a translator.

I hope this gets resolved but I am happy that the Pilot was laid to rest peacefully and honorably. The plane, well, we have others laying around in better shape with no care at all.

[warbird1]

This statement really bothers me and makes me lose respect for Mr. Corbin:

"After what happened, I think I should have not done it, I should have left the pilot rotten in the cockpit," Mr Corbin said this week via an interpreter.

That's very disrespectful to our fallen Veterans.

Actually, that sounds more like something said out frustration and through a translator.

I hope this gets resolved but I am happy that the Pilot was laid to rest peacefully and honorably. The plane, well, we have others laying around in better shape with no care at all.

Maybe so, but those words still sting and are hurtful. Even if it was translated in the least offensive manner, such as: "I regret attempting the recovery and should have left the pilot lie where he was.", that still means that he thinks the pilot was not worth recovering. Still just as disrespectful, IMO.

[Dave Lindauer]

According to some Web searching, this is Spitfire IX MJ789, coded FU-B.

There are a number of good photos of the wreckage on this Polish site:

http://odkrywca.pl/spitfire-pochodzacyc ... 79861.html

[Iclo]

Hum, this recovery occured in the worst conditions possible (We were lot of people deeply shocked when watching the news report avout it) and i'm no suprised to see the thinks going this way.

- the plane was simply hang, without any cautions to avoid to damage it: the fuselage was completly compressed during the salvage.
- the work was done by people without any knowledge avout how retrieve a plane, where are the "lifting point" to use, etc
- without any preservation work ready to occure just after to reduce the corrosion damage
- Just after the plane was on the ground, there was no protection: bistanders simply walk around and touching it, (during the remains of the pilots are always in the plane)
- the jackasses (sorry, but it don't have other words to describe them) who organize this salvage said that they were unaware that the pilot is still inside the plane : but the canopy was still closed... This simple fact says long about the knowledge of this team.

[
Does Ms Hulot work for free? Sounds like big brother exercising power. And what makes the profession of "archaeologist" so holy? What possible archaeological value could that Spitfire possess anyhow?

I'm sorry but your assertion is wrong. This women works for a ministry of culture and has no financial interest in this story. She was part of many major archeological survey and recoveries in the past and to have read books about some of these expedition (including story of private expeditions dealing with her to gain authorisation), I would have prefer to see this kind of team recovering this poor Spit and it's unfortunate pilote.

[
The aircraft was deteriorating in the garden BECAUSE of their meddling. Government agencies always feel so deserving of the efforts of others.

No, the "recovery team" have simply plan to clean a bit the Spit "in the backyard with fresh water" and put it in display in their museum. (without any real preservation work)
Just a precision, there is lot of small museum in Normandy, with very limited funding, and sorry to say that but limited technical knowledge.
This complete story simply looks like: "hey, there is a Spitfire in the water, it's would be nice to put it in our museum. Are you free next week end to retrieve it with me ?"

And I really don't think that the goal of the authorities was to take profit of a private recovery, that never happen in France.
Simply as a country who have lots of archealogist treasure in the ground, there is rules to search and retrieve them, and don't following them bring you in very, very sad position.
Visibly the team didn't have real and valid autorisation from the correct authorities to retrieve the plane.

Last edited by Iclo on Thu Feb 10, 2011 7:29 pm, edited 5 times in total.

[Sopwith]

You made good sense in what you said "Iclo",and furthermore you are in a better position (globaly) to make an objective appraisal regarding the recovery,thanks for the input,it was very interesting and the English was good too.Cheers.

[warbird1]

Thanks for the info, Iclo! Your English is no problem to understand. You confirmed what I kind of suspected.

[bdk]

You can see right through the fuselage skin and see the fuel tank. Don't see the evidence of the canopy in the photos. With that much corrosion, I'm not sure how you could recover it without it crumbling apart.

I agree that they didn't have the proper authorizations to recover, but could they ever have gotten authorization even with the preferred equipment and techniques? I suspect that as soon as the authorities would have been told, their "archaeologists" would have moved right in and recovered it, without any consideration for the people that made the discovery.

In any case, this wreckage is apparently going to Australia anyhow so none of the local people matter anymore.

[whistlingdeath77]

A picture from another news story...

very tough shape