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Recovery of a C-47 from 100 meters

Posted by Mikael Olrog on Fri Apr 23, 2004 11:35:13 AM

Hi,

Some time ago I wrote that the Swedish Air Force would recover a C-47 (TP 79) on signal intelligence gathering mission which was shot down by a Soviet Mig 15 in the 50's.

The aircraft has been recovered from ca 100 meters depth and the crew is identified etc. What is interesting for a broader audience on this board is the fifth and last photo, which shows how a section of the bottom has been frozen, so that it can be lifted abord and any pieces etc in the upper 20 cm of the bottom sediment can be recovered for analysis.

I don't know if this tecnique has been used for recovering aircraft before.

Unfortunately most of the aircraft will probably be scrapped, some parts being preserved at the Flygvapenmuseum. I don't think that there would be many other countries that would scrapp their history like this...

http://www.sff.n.se/images_aktu_2004/DC-3_2004-04-20.htm

/Mikael
P.S. sorry, I don't know how to make a live link so you'll have to cut 'n paste.

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