Search for aircraft wreckage in aid of uprising

Interesting information is reported by the national media, citing a PAP press dispatch. Off the coast of Brindisi, a search has begun for the wreckage of bombers which, at the end of the Second World War, were part of the 1586th Special Purpose Squadron, providing assistance to insurgent Warsaw.

The expedition aims to locate and document the condition of the wrecks of two bombers from 1586 Special Purpose Squadron and 301 Special Squadron. The machines were stationed in the Brindisi area and it is here that the search will be carried out. In particular, it is here that the remains of an American B-24J bomber from 885 Bomb Squadron may be found.

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According to the information available, no one has previously searched for the wreckage of these aircraft. According to a PAP dispatch, these are some of the last fallen airmen from those Polish units stationed in Italy whose remains have not yet been found.

[blockquote style=”2″]”We hope to find the remains of these aircraft. Due to the fact that the bodies of many airmen from these crews have not been found, there is a certain probability that they will still be found in the wreckage.” – said Piotr Hodyra of the Polish Aviation Historical Foundation[/blockquote].

In August and September 1944, Polish crews carried out about 100 flights over occupied Poland. 79 of them were sent with airdrops to Warsaw, Kampinos and Kabaty Forest. In total, 15 units were dropped.

[blockquote style=”2″]”According to reports, two aircraft – an American and one Polish – should be within half a kilometre of the shore, while the third aircraft is probably much further away. For the search we will use an autonomous underwater AUV, which will scan the bottom, and the data obtained in this way will be transferred to a computer program and then analyzed in detail,” explained Peter Wytykowski, deputy head of the Wreck Wyprawy association.[/blockquote]

The “Lost bombers of Brindisi” project is a joint initiative of the University of Warsaw Museum, the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw, the Wreck Expeditions Association, the Polish Air Force Historical Foundation and the Witold Pilecki Institute of Solidarity and Valour. The Department of Archaeology at the University of Malta, the Laboratory of Autonomous and Intelligent Robots from California and the Air Force Museum in Dęblin have also declared their support for the project.

Source: pap.pl