Dornier 17 - Goodwin Sands to be raised on 4th May 2013

[Adrian]

Looks like it is going to RAF Cosford. If it will be on display while work is carried out, a trip is in order. Not too far for me and very local for Ned.

Cheers, Ade.

Interesting. It's only a couple of hours up the motorway from me. Ned, if you want someone to push, give me a shout!

[big ned]

Sounds like a plan! Gimme a week or two and i'll find out what the deal is at the museum, I believe it's getting there next week. They've put a couple of poly tunnels up with spraying equipment inside so the view/photo opportunities maybe restricted to looking through the polythene sides which could be a bit of a let down, let's see.

Regards, Ned.

[edelweiss123]

Glad to hear this is coming to cosford. Just down the road so will be great to see the restoration process.

[Adrian]

There you go a WRF day out to look at a relic.

And Ned, I meant the plane...........

[BenVK]

Was this really the best lifting jig they could build for half a million quid?
It's clear the rear fuselage was torn apart when they raised it, look at the sonar plot from the seabed to compare.
I'm always amazed that these people try and hoist these things out of the water by attaching cables or wrapping straps around them.
It always results in damage.

[edelweiss123]

There you go a WRF day out to look at a relic.

And Ned, I meant the plane...........

Sounds like a plan!

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Ben, I heard on the TV news that the original (expensive) lifting jig was not used in the end, hence the resulting problem.

Cheers, Ade.

[big ned]

Just heard it left Ramsgate at around 0830 this morning arrivee a la Cosford late this afternoon. It's apparently festooned with advertising banners for wargaming.net who seem to have paid for the conservation costs and a visitor centre that's going to be put up for the duration of it's time at Cosford.

Interesting stuff.....

[big ned]

Hi Ben, I heard on the TV news that the original (expensive) lifting jig was not used in the end, hence the resulting problem.

Cheers, Ade.

The frame could not be positioned under the wreck due to the hardness of the chalk seabed, rendering digging it out impossible. Hence the reason they basically stuck a long pole down the length of the fuselage and added extra strengthening/support to the mainplane. I don't know if they put it onto the unused recovery frame to transport by road to the restoration facility at the RAF museum.

Regards, Ned.

[canti44]

If you take a listen to the radio link on page 8 the professor comments on how remarkable the condition of the aircraft is in due to a unique set factors. The first being that it was covered over by a sandbank for the majority of its time on the seabed. There it was kept wet but remained free from oxygen at low tides which would have started the corrosion processes off rapidly.

Another was that (unusually for the time) copper hadn't been added as an alloy with the aluminium to strengthen it (aluminium being too soft on its own) but manganese, magnesium, iron and silicone were. The lack of copper (which is a toxin) then allowed marine life to embrace the wreck which then further protected it from the rolling salty currents once the sandbank had shifted.

She added that the fact it was raised almost in one piece testifies to its integrity. In some photo's though I agree it looks terrible, but in others it looks great. We shall see. Very exciting.