I thought i share this interesting news with you.
In the Netherlands they soon start with the recovery of a Vickers Wellington from the bottom of the Ijsselmeer, the big central lake in the Netherlands.
In the night of 8 to 9 May 1941 (22hr56), a Vickers Wellington (R1322) of the 305 Polish Bomber Squadron departed from RAF Syerston for a raid on Bremen. The bomber was manned by a 6 man crew. While flying over Holland the Wellington was attacked by a German Me-110 Nightfighter that departed at 23hr26 from the small airfield of Bergen near Amsterdam.
The ME-110 was manned by Hans Rasper and Erich Schreiber of Nachtjagdgeschwader 1, which are shown on the picture below:
At 00:48 the Vickers Wellington exploded in the air after three attacks by Rasper and Schreiber. They returned on 01hr40 back on Bergen airfield.
Of the crew of 6 of the Vickers Wellington, only 3 crew members were recovered. The other 3 are still missing.
Crew:
Sgt J P Dorman
Sgt Z Gwozdz
Plt Off M Socharzki +
Sgt H F Sikorski +
Sgt S Pisarski +
Sgt L Karcz
+ still missing
Now they have decided to recover the Vickers Wellington as it is located on a spot designated for sand mining. Given that the Vickers Wellington is located at or in the bottom of the lake, a complex operation will start that will takes about a month (August). The plan is to make a steel dam around the site and then to pump away the water. Next to the pit, a small work island will be created for equipment.
A diagram of the operation is shown below:
Given that the Wellington was shot down on its way to Bremen it is expected that the full bombload is still present on the crash site. They also expect that the remains of the 3 missing crew members are still on the site.
It will be an interesting operation and probably more news will become available during the operation. I will keep you updated.
Jelger
