Wreckage of a bomber found in the North Sea

The wreckage of a World War II bomber has been found at the bottom of the North Sea. The discovery was made by a group of engineers working on an underwater electrical grid project. According to preliminary findings, the craft has been identified as the wreck of a Royal Air Force heavy bomber aircraft – the Short Stirling.

The wreck was located during a survey of the seabed, in an area where a cable linking England and Norway is to be laid. Scientists exploring the seabed made their discovery on the basis of images taken by sonar. As it turns out, it was English planes of the Short Stirling type that were used to drop supplies to the Norwegian resistance.

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The model aircraft was selected by an aviation expert from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research. He recalled several aircraft of this type that disappeared without trace during flights to Norway in the winter of 1944-45.

[blockquote style=”2″]”We use very advanced measuring equipment for scanning the seabed. This allows us to obtain very precise images from depths of 100-600 metres. The objects discovered are then marked as target points. If we deem it appropriate, we can take a closer look at them by sending out an ROV equipped with a video camera.” – said Nigel Williams, North Sea Link project director at National Grid[/blockquote].

This is exactly what happened in this case. When the ROV arrived at the site to inspect it, everyone was amazed by what they saw on the monitor screen – the wheels of an aircraft. There was great enthusiasm among the whole team that something important had been located, something that might open and close a chapter in a remarkable story from more than 70 years ago.

Once it is definitively confirmed what type of aircraft we are dealing with in this case, and if it turns out to be the wreckage of a Short Stirling or other British aircraft, it will automatically be protected as a war grave under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.

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Source: bbc.com