Many good ocean tales commence with a fisherman snagging his profits on an underwater object , and this fib is no different .
In 2000 or 2001 , fisher snagged his net while fishing the water of Goodwin Sands , fronting the White Cliffs of Dover near the townsfolk of Deal in Kent , England . Dover sits at the English Channel ’s minute point , and face Calais , France . This area take the brunt of the fighting during the Battle of Britain ( July 10 – September 6 , 1940 ) and the result Blitz on London and surrounding cities ( September 7 , 1940 – May 21 , 1941 ) . Kent was experience as “ Hell Fire Corner ” for the amount of demolition that rain down down on the area during the battles .
Rare color range of a function of a Do 17Z in flight . More than 1,500 examples of the “ Flying Pencil ” were build up , and more than 400 attacked England during the Battle of Britain and the subsequent Blitz on London . The Do-17Z-2 ( fuselage computer code 5K+AR ) was shot down on August 26 , 1940 , and ditch off the coast of Dover . Courtesy RAF Museum
Estimates put the number of shipwrecks in this surface area of the English Channel at more than two thousand . To exemplify the item , the domain was the website of two major naval battle during World War I : the First Battle of Dover Strait ( October 26–27 , 1916 , when German forces were victorious over the British ) , and the Second Battle of Dover Strait ( April 20–21 , 1917 , a British victory ) .
Because of the sphere ’s huge phone number of sunken ship , most in the fishing community were not surprised when the nets were snagged and subsequently repaired , and the incident was before long forget . In 2004 , variation scuba diver Bob Peacock learned of the wreck ’s localisation , but it was another four years , until September 2008 , before he made the journey to look for the tear . lie almost four mile off the glide , the bottom regional anatomy is a chalk bed , between fifty and eighty feet late handle by budge litoral . submersed visibility in the area graze from twenty five feet on the best day , to nearly zero when the tides are be given .
Instead of a wreck , Peacock found an aircraft partially buried in the sand . Peacock cover his discovery , and Wessex Archaeology of Salisbury , England , was given the task of surveying the clash site . In May and June 2009 , Wessex Archaeology found a twin - engine aircraft lying inverted , nearly complete , fifty feet below the surface . Around the aircraft was a dust field , but a turn of parts were neglect , including the starboard horizontal and vertical tail , tail cone shape and tailwheel , flaps , engine cowlings , bomb alcove doors , primary landing place gearing door , and the cockpit canopy .
From a small number of part recovered from the crash in 2009 , research worker from the RAF Museum , Hendon , England , were able to set that the wreck is that of a Dornier Do-17 - Z2 — the only substantially complete example of its type make love to survive . The Do 17Z was a light , loyal bomber , cite to as the Fliegender Bleistif or “ Flying Pencil . ” There were more than 1,500 Do-17s built between 1934 and 1944 , and more than 400 were used against the British during the Battle of Britain . The Germans turn a loss more than 200 Do-17s to all movement during the Battle of Britain and subsequent Blitz .
On June 11 , 2013 , the Do-17Z was produce from the sea in an orbit known as Goodwin Sands , approximately four miles from the English coast .
Divers attached lift straps to the aircraft and it was raised from the bottom and lifted onto a barge . Courtesy RAF Museum .
RAF Museum researcher Andrew Simpson compiled the Do-17Z ’s account , conceive the aircraft to be Werke no . 1160 that was based with 7 Staffel , III / KG3 ( 7 Staffel or Squadron , 3rd Group , Kampfgeschwaderor Bomber Wing 3 ) . At the first of the Battle of Britain , KG 3 had 108 hoagy on lastingness , of which 88 were combat ready . The unit was based at St. Trond , Belgium , and on August 26 , 1940 , Werkeno . 1160 , wearing the fuselage codes 5K+AR , was part of a squadron commit to flunk the RAF airfields at Debden and Hornchurch , more than sixty miles north and east of London . vanish above clouds , the Do-17 became break from its squadron and turn south to get its bearings . The Do-17 was attacked by Boulton Paul Deants — low - wing , turret - fit out scrapper — of No . 264 Squadron , based at RAF Hornchurch . Although accounts are conflicting , in the ensuing battle royal , seven Do-17s of the approach were film down by the Deants .
It is assumed that Do-17 5K+AR made a foot race for the coast head up for Calais , France , because its wreck placement is some eighty sea mile south and east of the Germans ’ destine target . A direct line back to St. Trond required a escape of more than two hundred knot , while Calais , or the narrow channel area between Dover and Calais , give a dear hazard of survival for a submarine sandwich attempt to limp home , short of fuel . If the Do-17 ’s crew had to ditch , they stand up a greater probability of being foot up by German crash gravy holder patrolling in the neck of the woods .
maritime maturation cover up every square inch of the German bomber . In bitchiness of how regretful it looks in this view , the growth helped preserve many parts . Courtesy RAF Museum
Hit by fire from the RAF Deants , 5K+AR dump in the Channel , less than four miles off the English coast , not far enough across to hope for rescue by the Germans . pilot light Feldwebel Willi Effmert , and bombardier Unterozier Hermann Ritzel were both wounded in the aviation conflict . After the aircraft ditched , they were rescued by the British and became prisoner - of - war in Canada . Wireless operator Uffz . Helmut Reinhardt and bombardier Gefreiter Heinz Huhn were killed . Their bodies subsequently washed ashore on opposite sides of the Channel with Reinhardt inhume in Holland and Huhn bury in England . While the pilot and bombardier were being rescue , Do-17Z-2 5K+AR slid beneath the English Channel , landing place invert on the bottom .
Recovery Operation
In June 2010 , another series of dive were made to reach the condition of the crash and to design for the Do-17Z ’s recovery . The design involved raise the integral wreck in one piece through a batting cage organisation . Having determined a irrefutable potential for recuperation , the project to recoup the solitary surviving Flying Pencil begin to move forward .
“ The discovery and convalescence of the Dornier is of internal and international grandness . The aircraft is a unique and unprecedented subsister from the Battle of Britain and the Blitz , ” say Air Vice- Marshal Peter Dye , director general of the RAF Museum .
Manufacturer ’s dataplate as found on the Do-17Z , escort presently after retrieval . Courtesy RAF Museum
With everything in place , the RAF Museum and Seatech squad begin surgical procedure in May 2013 . Poor weather condition in the Channel ram the team to abort recuperation attempts and devolve to port four times . With so many aborts , the RAF Museum decided to forsake the John Cage recovery system in favor of bind lifting tractor trailer like a shot to the aircraft . Divers exploit in teams , and were only able to stay down for forty minutes at a time rigging the Modern lift system . The novel rig would enable a seagoing Harold Hart Crane to make one lithium of the bomber , from the bottom of the ocean up and onto the deck of a flatboat .
On the eventide of the li , June 2 , 2013 , RAF Museum Director Dye said , “ We have conform the lifting frame plan to minimize the loads on the airframe during the lift while take into account the recovery to occur within the limited clock time remaining . The RAF Museum has worked extremely intimately with Seatech throughout this process and both organizations stay on determined to nail this challenging labor and see the Dornier safely recover as planned . ” regrettably , the wind did not favor the recuperation attempt on June 2 , and the crew watched the weather , waiting for a Modern opportunity .
On June 10 , the nothingness died down , the seas calmed , and the RAF Museum and Seatech squad was able-bodied to make a successful airlift . After a long day of dedicated work , the Do 17Z was brought up on deck of cards at 6:30 p.m. local time . The main landing cogwheel tires were still inflated and the propellor , recovered separately , were arc , show that they were turning under power when the bomber ditched .
Once on deck , any risky materials were addressed and the Do-17 ’s MG 15 machine guns and magazines were secure for posterior review . When safely back on the sour grass , the powder magazine were 10 - ray , only to be find empty — a vivid reminder of the back - and - away air battle fought in the skies over Kent .
During the five - minute misstep from the retrieval web site to the dock at Ramsgate Harbor , the RAF Museum squad went to work remove the zep ’s wings and horizontal tail . After they had cleared seventy- three twelvemonth of nautical increment , the attach bolts were easily removed . The fuselage , wings , and tail were put into a frame for the burden and transport of the German bomber to the RAF Museum at Cosford for conservation . As the framing was being built around the submarine ’s components , a gelatin was sprayed and brushed onto the aircraft to keep atomic number 8 from continuing to corrode the metal .
The aircraft was driven more than two hundred miles on a flatbed trucks to the Michael Beetham Conservation Center at Cosford . Once at the museum , the aircraft components were unloaded and placed into two hydration tunnel , basically large nursery - corresponding social system , where they are repeatedly spray with citric acid as the first step in conserving the aircraft . In accession to inhibiting erosion , the citric acid serve moderate the layers of marine growth , enabling further corroding - inhibiting efforts . As the maritime ontogeny becomes escaped , preservation staff uses credit card scrapers to disrobe back the sea slime .
The fuselage was lifted from the sea in its invert position , and was transport in the same orientation . Courtesy RAF Museum
The conservation appendage is expect to take two year . To occupy guests to the RAF Cosford Museum while the aircraft is conserved , a visitors ’ center and an education center will start the Dornier to be take in up close while in the hydration tunnels . An RAF Museum spokesman read that showing “ at the Cosford and Hendon Sites will ‘ taxi ’ the aircraft about through the bulwark and at the Hendon site the aircraft will be raised through the ‘ sea ’ of carpet . The nose window will alight up to form a projection - map out covert and order the story from the artilleryman ’s tush . During this form virtual Dorniers will appear and hover ominously above their external shadows . Visitors will be able to view and explore these augment - realism , liveliness - sizing three-D models though a mobile program on their saucy headphone . ”
The RAF Museum is no unknown to recovering and preserving aircraft , having most notably recovered a Halifax Mk II in 1973 from Lake Hoklingen in Norway and a Hurricane Mk I remember from the Thames estuary . It is conceivable that the Do-17 , when ready for display , will sit confront the Thames estuary - recovered Hurricane in a Battle of Britain presentation .
Dornier Do-17Z fuselage being placed into the hydration tunnels at the Michael Beetham Conservation Center at the RAF Museum , Cosford . The aircraft is sprayed with a citric acid to inhibit corrosion . The preservation process is expected to take more than two eld . Courtesy RAF Museum
The Dornier Do-17Z “ will allow for an evocative and moving showing that will allow the museum to give the wider story of the Battle of Britain and highlight the ritual killing made by the young human being of both atmosphere forces and from many nations . It is a project that has reconciliation and remembrance at its pith , ” say RAF Museum Director General Dye .
extract with permission fromHidden Warbirds II : More Epic Stories of Finding , Recovering , and Rebuilding WWII ’s Lost Aircraftby Nicholas A. Veronico .
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