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Me 163 recovery

Thu Sep 15, 2005 9:45 am

Read in Flypast that a Me 163 might be recovered.

Any details?

Thu Sep 15, 2005 10:23 am

Yeah the one in a U-Boat that has been sunk for over 60 years filled with drums and drums of mercury?

Shay
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Semper Fortis

Thu Sep 15, 2005 10:24 am

Sounds right.


(Yay, more mercury to play with. :mrgreen: )
Last edited by Wolverine on Fri Sep 16, 2005 8:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

Thu Sep 15, 2005 11:25 am

Hopefully the recovery of U-864 will go smoothly. Obviously I imagine they intend to raise her intact to prevent anymore leakage. It will be interesting to see what condition the wreck is in as well as her contents. Adding another ME163 to the ranks would be great but how servicable could her condition be? Have any other Aircraft been pulled out of Norway Salt water? and what shape were they in?

Shay
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Semper Fortis

Thu Sep 15, 2005 11:54 am

Ju 88s, He 111s, etc.

They were in great shape as far as I know.

Thu Sep 15, 2005 12:15 pm

Those Aircraft were recovered from Fjords. U-864 is in the North Sea. The only thing she's got going for her is the cold temperature. Definately will be interesting to see.

Shay
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Semper Fortis

Thu Sep 15, 2005 12:20 pm

How do the German's feel about that?

What on earth does one use that much mercury for? Mining?

Thu Sep 15, 2005 1:10 pm

I might have been a bit hasty in thinking they would raise her intact. Appearently she is broken in 2 due to he demise by way of a torpedo. Which may reduce the chances of the ME163's survival.

I'm sure Norway will extend all military honors to the remains of the crew. They'll either return them to their families or return them to the sea. If it were me, I would want my family to have that closure.

Mercury I beleive is used in Nuclear bomb detonators.

Shay
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Semper Fortis

Thu Sep 15, 2005 5:02 pm

As has been said elsewhere the whole reason for this effort is to get the mercury out of the sea before it leaks and polutes everything - I doubt much is left of the 163 from the pictures

John P

Thu Sep 15, 2005 9:10 pm

fascinating none the less, & as far as the ecology of that region goes i'd say they have a ticking time bomb to defuse asap, as mercury is the worst!!! is this the komet that was going to japan?? what pics are out their that identify a komet on board?? any other rare booty on board??

Fri Sep 16, 2005 2:33 am

for a poor non initiated : What exactly are we talking about ?

Laurent

Fri Sep 16, 2005 4:29 am

setter wrote:As has been said elsewhere the whole reason for this effort is to get the mercury out of the sea before it leaks and polutes everything - I doubt much is left of the 163 from the pictures

John P


What pictures? Where?

regards,

t~

Fri Sep 16, 2005 4:34 am

airmanual wrote:for a poor non initiated : What exactly are we talking about ?

Laurent



There are plans afoot in Norway for a proposed US$53 million salvage operation of U-864 which contains one complete Me 163 and some Jumo 004 engines. However the aeronautical cargo is secondary, the priority being the 60 tons of Mercury on board that is causing major environmental concerns. The U-Boat was sunk off Herdla by a British submarine.

Dave

Fri Sep 16, 2005 7:02 am

How easy would it be to "clean" the 163 and engines if they survived?

Fri Sep 16, 2005 7:14 am

Thank you Dave
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