Do-17 found almost intact

[AlanG]

Looks like Hendon may be getting a new display

BBC News - Luftwaffe Dornier 17 at Goodwin Sands 'still intact'

[stona]

I've been following this story,thanks for posting it Allyne. I only hope that it will be worth recovering. I don't want to bore everyone with a load of chemical b**locks,but we can only hope that the wreck has spent most of its time buried in the sand. The effects of salt water on aluminium (and other reactive metals used in aircraft construction) at relatively low,and oxygen rich,depths is fairly devastating.

Here's hoping.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Thanks for the heads up. Very good article

[Dave W]

Read about this aircraft sometime last year.Look forward to seeing it at Hendon.

[stona]

A bit more info and human interest.

It's a Do17 W.Nr 1160. It belonged to 7 Staffel,III./KG3.

Pilot Feldwebel Willi Effmert aged 24

Navigator Hermann Ritzel aged 21

Wireless Operator Helmut Reinhardt aged 27

Bomb Aimer Heinz Huhn aged 21.

They became seperated from the rest of their Staffel whilst on a mission to bomb Debden or Hornchurch. They were attacked at 13,000 feet by a Boulton Paul Defiant (yes,you read that right!) of 264 Sqn. from Hornchurch. Both the Dornier's engines were damaged. Effmert attempted a wheels up landing on Goodwin sands (it was low water) but the aircraft seems to have ground looped,landing on its back. Reinhardt and Huhn were killed but Effmert and Ritzel survived,were taken POW and ended up in Canada until the end of the war. Two more young men dead.

Cheers

Steve