Subdeacon Joe Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 Rare WWII Dornier 17 plane to be raised from seabed Work is beginning to raise a German bomber from the floor of the English Channel more than 70 years after it was shot down during the Battle of Britain. The Dornier 17 is that last of its kind and lies in 15m (50ft) of water on the Goodwin Sands off the coast of Kent. Originally designed as a fast reconnaissance aircraft, slim and manoeuvrable, it had been converted by the Luftwaffe in the mid-1930s into a medium bomber. Also Today Gerhard Krems is the last man alive to have flown a Dornier. He was a much-decorated pilot who flew 250 bombing missions between 1940 and 1944 - 39 of them during the Battle of Britain. Most of his service was in Heinkels, but he started out flying Dorniers. "Part of the far-reconnaissance training was low-altitude flying," he told me as we leafed through his photographs of the war in his flat in Berlin. "And the Dornier 17 was the best plane for low flying. You could fly really close to the ground. That's me flying one. You can see how low I am. The tree-tops are above me." He remembers the Dornier as a very fine plane. "It made a fantastic impression on me in comparison to the other planes. It looked somehow different, and I only later realised why. It was agile, it was very slender and it was elegant, really elegant. But you only realised quite how elegant when you saw it in the sky. It quickly got a very suitable nickname, der fliegende bleistift - the flying pencil." Continue reading the main story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 I'd be surprised if they can get it up intact. It must be extremely fragile being in shallow water. had it been in a cold, deep, more anaerobic environment the chances would be a lot better. Neat find though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 VERY cool find. Now... if they could come up with a Dornier 335... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Flimshaw Sass# 73310 Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 VERY cool find. Now... if they could come up with a Dornier 335... There's one, (the only one) at udvar- hazy in washington d.c. http://www.airliners.net/photo/Germany---Air/Dornier-Do-335A-0-Pfeil/1145515/L/&sid=d396e6b7b007bf6274fb2c0d4ae66700 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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