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Story from Todays Times
Posted by Paul McMillan on Fri Jul 05, 2002 05:21:12 AM
In reply top New Wellington recovery posted by simon king on Thu Jul 04, 2002 10:40:42 AM
Wartime bomber salvaged from the sands of time
By Gillian Harris, Scotland Correspondent
A SECOND World War Wellington bomber has been salvaged from a beach in the Outer Hebrides almost 60 years after it crashed.
Sections of the plane have emerged intact although some pieces, including the wings and engines, are missing. Volunteers from the Midland Warplane Museum in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, used a digger and water jet to excavate the aircraft at Ardroil on the Isle of Lewis.
Since crashing in January 1944, after getting lost on a training flight to Northern Ireland, the aircraft had sunk 4ft into the sand. The volunteers dug down to 8ft to make the recovery easier. Among the pieces lifted out by hand were a forward gun turret, the aluminium frame and the fuselage. It is hoped to assemble a complete Wellington using parts that have survived from other aircraft.
A spokesman for the excavation project said that he was delighted with the salvage operation and that the aircraft frame was in remarkably good shape. ?For the next 12 months the aluminum frame will be soaked in water. It is impossible to say how long it will take to rebuild it. The wings are missing and so are the engines. The engines were probably salvaged at the time. But we are very pleased with what we have ? namely the front fuselage. The frame is in very good condition, given the situation and passing of time.?
When it is complete, the bomber will go on show at the warplane museum. The spokesman said: ?We will now try and piece together a bit more of the history of this particular plane and its crew. We know that this bomber flew over 40 missions and that it was on a training flight when it ended up here. It should have returned to its base in Northern Ireland but somehow got lost.?
A handful of elderly islanders on Lewis who remember the aircraft crash said that the three-man crew escaped uninjured.
More than 11,000 Wellingtons were built but very few survive. Only three wartime Wellingtons have been recovered.
One was lifted in almost perfect condition from Loch Ness in 1985 and is on display at the Brooklands Museum in Surrey. Another is at the Royal Air Force museum in Hendon, North London.
The Vickers Wellington, designed by Sir Barnes Wallis, was also used for maritime reconnaissance. The aircraft usually had a crew of six, except for the MKV and VI, which had a crew of three. It reached speeds of between 235 mph and 299 mph depending on the model and had an operating range of 1,805 miles.
The Wellington, or Wimpy as it was known, was the main bomber used by the RAF during the war. Although it had a reputation for being able to keep flying after being badly damaged, it sustained heavy losses during daylight raids and became a night bomber. It was also used by Coastal Command to hunt U-boats and remained in service until 1953.