RAF Museum successfully raises Dornier Do 17
June 11, 2013 9:47 AM   Subscribe

The only known example of a Second World War Dornier Do 17 aircraft has been successfully lifted from Goodwin Sands in the English Channel.

Gallery: German Dornier Do 17 bomber raised from English Channel.
posted by Devils Rancher (28 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
The existence of the aircraft at Goodwin Sands became known when it was spotted by divers in 2008.

Since this plane was shot down by Nazis into that particular sand bar mean it was MetaGodwined?
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 9:54 AM on June 11, 2013 [1 favorite]


The plane wasn't shot down by Nazis. This is a German plane. It was shot down by the same folks who recovered it: the UK.
posted by Jehan at 9:58 AM on June 11, 2013 [5 favorites]


The plane wasn't shot down by Nazis.

Wake UP sheeple!
posted by yoink at 9:59 AM on June 11, 2013 [2 favorites]


You've Goodwined my thread!
posted by Devils Rancher at 10:00 AM on June 11, 2013 [1 favorite]


It turns out that this Dornier Do 17 was shot down by a Boulton Defiant, which also has only one surviving example. It's odd to think that things still within living memory are only one step away from disappearing bodily. The near past is so much more fragile than you might think.
posted by Jehan at 10:07 AM on June 11, 2013 [7 favorites]


From the article: "The only surviving German World War II Dornier Do 17 bomber"

I'm not sure if I'd say it survived, exactly, but this is really neat. I'm amazed at how much of the plane is left after, what, 70 years in salt water? The tires! They're still there!
posted by zippy at 10:07 AM on June 11, 2013 [2 favorites]


Cabbage crates coming over the briney?!
posted by edgeways at 10:16 AM on June 11, 2013 [6 favorites]




Oohhhhhhh...unfortunately, your warranty doesn't cover water damage...SO sorry...b'bye now.
posted by sexyrobot at 10:19 AM on June 11, 2013 [3 favorites]


This is my fourth attempt, so I am just going to say, look at that quality German engineering.
posted by marienbad at 10:23 AM on June 11, 2013 [2 favorites]


All my life I've been reading about the Luftwaffe and something has always bothered me (and maybe it's bothered you, too); isn't saying "Dornier Do 17" (or "Heinkel He 111" or "Junkers Ju 87," etc.) the same as saying "PIN Number" or "LCD Display?"

Japanese planes were given American code names ("Betty," "Tony," "Zeke," etc.) and American planes were designated by type (the "P" in P-51 stood for "Pursuit,") not by manufacturer; we say "Boeing B-17" because it's identifying both the designer/manufacturer AND the War Department designation. Why aren't German aircraft referenced the same way?

Bottom line, I need to get out more.
posted by Hey Dean Yeager! at 10:31 AM on June 11, 2013 [3 favorites]


For the record, in my family the planes of that time are referenced as "Ju52" "Do17", "Me110" and so on (fwiw my grandfather was a boss at Weserflug, so it's from the horse's mouth, this). So Junkers Ju 87 is over complete, yes.
posted by Namlit at 11:00 AM on June 11, 2013 [3 favorites]


A 2-year restoration of the aircraft will now take place at the RAF Museum’s conservation centre in Cosford, Shropshire.

Does "restoration" in this sense basically mean "we're going to fabricate an entirely new airplane, but at least we have seem parts to take measurements from"?
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 11:01 AM on June 11, 2013 [3 favorites]


As someone who loves reading books about WWI and WWII planes and fliers, this was of great interest. I made sure Mr. Roqutte get the article.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 11:02 AM on June 11, 2013


Does "restoration" in this sense basically mean "we're going to fabricate an entirely new airplane, but at least we have seem parts to take measurements from"?

I'm left with the same question. It would be cool to see it basically de-barnacled and reassembled as much as possible from only the parts they found, instead of finishing it out by re-manufcturing the missing stuff, but I'd guess there's blueprints in existence, so I'd figure it'll be restored not to flight condition, but to looking complete, anyway.
posted by Devils Rancher at 11:10 AM on June 11, 2013


Does "restoration" in this sense basically mean "we're going to fabricate an entirely new airplane, but at least we have seem parts to take measurements from"?
They're stripping the metal with weak acid, so it seems they're looking to restore the look of the salvaged plane. No doubt they will have to add a fair deal of new material, but they should be keeping what they can.
posted by Jehan at 11:21 AM on June 11, 2013


Helmut Reinhardt, Heinz Huhn, Willi Effmert, and Hermann Ritzel. Willi and Hermann spent the rest of the war as POWs in Canada. Helmut and Heinz didn't make it.
posted by pracowity at 11:48 AM on June 11, 2013


You've Goodwined my thread!

Wasn't Godwin's Law originally Goodwin's Law?
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 11:49 AM on June 11, 2013


Whoa, Tripod. That site is as badly in need of restoration as the plane.
posted by Devils Rancher at 11:53 AM on June 11, 2013


From the BBC link: Believed to be the only intact example of its kind in the world...

A screw here there, bit of paint, she'll be good as new, bombing the shit out of people like it was yesterday!
posted by elgilito at 12:14 PM on June 11, 2013


Ze Luftwaffle.

Warning, just another one of my febrile drawings.

posted by mmrtnt at 12:21 PM on June 11, 2013 [3 favorites]


This thread reminds me of the of the August when I was 15 or 16, when I read Derek Robinson's books, notably Piece of Cake, which is filled with all sorts of aircraft from that time. The area where I grew up had at one time been home to an aerodrome (Fairburn Field in Victoria) and the blue sky and parched, scrubby grass of summer brought to life the Battle of Britain, which had occurred about 45 years earlier.

In book "Piece of Cake", Hornet Squadron flew Hawker Hurricanes, although as I recall in the TV movie they flew Spitfires of a mark found later in the war (not in the Battle of Britain), which was a disappointment.

I think in the book one of the characters is kicked out of Hornet Squadron during the Phoney War and sent to a Defiant squadron. He gets locked in the turret after the pilot gets shot, and he dies a fiery death.

Awesome books.
posted by KokuRyu at 12:33 PM on June 11, 2013


Japanese planes were given American code names ("Betty," "Tony," "Zeke," etc.) and American planes were designated by type (the "P" in P-51 stood for "Pursuit,") not by manufacturer; we say "Boeing B-17" because it's identifying both the designer/manufacturer AND the War Department designation. Why aren't German aircraft referenced the same way?

The Germans themselves came up with their naming convention - Designer, Manufacturer code, and Model number. Most manufacturers designed their own aircraft, so it seems redundant, but take the Messerschmidt Bf 109 - Messerschmidt was the designer, but the Manufacturer Code was Bf, as it was originally built by Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW). There were ME 109's later in the war when Willy Messerschmidt started his own factory. Dornier DO 17 means a plane designed by Dornier, manufactured by Dornier (or under license from Dornier) and of model type 17.

The Japanese planes are given those code-names because the Japanese naming system was a bit inconsistent.
posted by Slap*Happy at 1:09 PM on June 11, 2013 [4 favorites]


Hey Dean Yeager: All my life I've been reading about the Luftwaffe and something has always bothered me (and maybe it's bothered you, too); isn't saying "Dornier Do 17" (or "Heinkel He 111" or "Junkers Ju 87," etc.) the same as saying "PIN Number" or "LCD Display?"

The Germans were a bit like the Soviet Union in that the designation indicated the design from the company....so calling it the Dornier Do. 17 is a bit like calling a plane the Boeing 747. However, the prefix refers to the designer. So you had such things as the Focke Wulf Ta. 152, which refers to designer Kurt Tank.... or the Messerschmitt Bf 109, which refers to the Bayerische Flugzeugwerk bureau... so the proper read of a German aircraft is: Manufacturer Designer Model Number. That's what the name means.

As the war progressed, the Luftwaffe recognized the value of giving cool names to planes... and so you had the FW 190 Werger (Butcher Bird), the ME 262 Schwalbe (Swallow), and the He 177 Greif (Griffin).

Of course, Luftwaffe crews had their own private nicknames that became widely used. The Do 17, as mentioned, was the Flying Pencil. The Blohm und Voss 138 was known as the Flying Clog. The Henschel 129 was called the Panzerknacker- that is, the safe-cracker.
posted by LeRoienJaune at 1:12 PM on June 11, 2013 [3 favorites]


LeRoienJaune is probably correct - I'm working from hazy memory and hasty wikipedia searches.
posted by Slap*Happy at 1:16 PM on June 11, 2013


This is very cool. I've recently been reading Antony Beevor's The Second World War (which is enjoyable so far) because I wanted to fill in my education on the war, as it is directly responsible for much of my life. There aren't many other reasons that would have caused an Air Force Sergeant and engine mechanic from Alabama to meet his wife who lived on the coast in Essex and had her home bombed during the Blitz (maybe even by a Do 17), which is the story of my grandparents.
posted by ndfine at 2:23 PM on June 11, 2013 [1 favorite]


This is very cool. I've recently been reading Antony Beevor's The Second World War (which is enjoyable so far) because I wanted to fill in my education on the war, as it is directly responsible for much of my life. There aren't many other reasons that would have caused an Air Force Sergeant and engine mechanic from Alabama to meet his wife who lived on the coast in Essex and had her home bombed during the Blitz (maybe even by a Do 17), which is the story of my grandparents.
I once spoke with somebody in Boston with a similar "only WW2 could have done this" story. Her grandfather was English and served on a submarine which docked at New York (or thereabouts) after coming across the North Atlantic with a convoy*. During shore leave he was injured in a car accident and hospitalized, and his boat sailed home without him. Stranded in the US for a while, he met a woman and that was that!

*I'm hazy on these details, as it doesn't quite sound right for submarines to be given North Atlantic convoy duties, but that's what she said.
posted by Jehan at 3:41 PM on June 11, 2013 [1 favorite]


Ze Luftwaffle.

Warning, just another one of my febrile drawings.

posted by mmrtnt at 3:21 PM on June 11 [1 favorite +] [!]


Nicely done, but strikes me as more of a Luftstreitkräfte-waffle.
posted by McCoy Pauley at 4:05 PM on June 11, 2013


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