Here We Go Again

[JFS61]

TGHAR claims to have found the location of Glenn Miller's Norseman:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... plane.html

I'm guessing that they were able to determine that it was the correct plane after they found a bottle of his wrinkle cream in the debris field.

[quemerford]

TGHAR claims to have found the location of Glenn Miller's Norseman:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... plane.html

I'm guessing that they were able to determine that it was the correct plane after they found a bottle of his wrinkle cream in the debris field.

There's a TIGGER blog covering the 'expedition': it makes for interesting reading. They found a nautical chart and spoke to some people. Well worth the trip then. Of course, the so-called 'proof' seems to be based on the fact that some chap dredged up some aircraft parts. Fancy that eh? And in the English Channel too! I bet there can't be many aircraft in there....

The 'witness' says that, "...in 1987 he was captain of a fishing trawler and their nets hooked on something. They pulled it to the surface and he was amazed to see what he had was a small aircraft with World War Two markings. 'It was the whole plane, a single engine, fixed landing gear with the wing tips sticking out of his net'".

At that point the aircraft would have been immersed in salt water for 43 years and subject to some very turbulent currents. Allied to that, any "World War Two markings" on a UC-64 would have been applied to the fabric-covered parts, and you'd have to seriously think what the effects on fabric of 43 years submerged in the Channel would be. So what this 'evidence' does is prove with some degree of certainty that it couldn't have been Miller's Norseman.

Unless they find his trombone.

I guess we'll have to ignore all of that basic common sense and await news of a tantalising discovery.

[JohnB]

According to a post on another forum...
The TIGHER website dismisses those concerns that a fabric covered, steel tube and wood aircraft would very likely not have survived 43 years in turbulent salt water (to say nothing of the stresses of being hauled to the surface), by saying he was told by someone, that a cable-laying crew in the channel recently came across a Buccaneer strike jet in one piece.
I believe his words were "good enough to put in a museum".

Apprently, the groups leader doesn't appreciate the difference between an all-metal, heavily built jet and a 1930s light plane.

If course claims of both aircraft being intact have to be taken with a grain of salt...both aircraft would have sustained impact damage...especially the jet whose crew, presumably, would have ejected and the aircraft would have made an uncontrolled impact.

[Dan Jones]

Add to that that a Norseman's wings are largely made of wood, so the odds of them surviving largely intact are... long.

[JohnB]

Dan
Exactly.
They are basing their entire theory on the report of a fisherman who said in 1987 he brought up an intact aircraft with markings still visible.

As you say the chances of wings surviving fully covered...are long.
Being brought to the surface in one piece? Longer still.

Assuming the fisherman isn't telling fish tales, and he brought up something, whatever it was it wasn't a Norseman.
Perhaps an all metal high wing type like a Lysander or some post war General Aviation type.

[PinecastleAAF]

It's amusing to watch the Tighar process repeating again. If only they can raise enough money to search. Better get some new string for that gopro.

[marine air]

Paul Allen would've been the guy to actually find the wreckage, wherever it is. It is culturally important but think about how much is on the bottom of the English Channel? No coordinates to start with either unlike the ships Mr. Allen found.

[JohnB]

Not to mention the ships are quite a bit larger, their approximate position was known, and they could be found with the help of MAD gear.

Besides, Mr. Allen hired people who knew what they were doing and looking for wrecks wasn't his meal ticket.
I think he had other sources of income.

[Thomas_Mac]

Could these TIGHAR threads start having more specific titles? Mainly so I know to not bother reading them, just a thought.