In April 1941 German Forces invaded Greece. After capturing Athens on 27th April, the island of Crete became their next target. The island was defended by a few remaining RAF and Royal Navy aircrafts, among them some Blenheim IVF long range fighters of 203 Squadron. On 28th April, Blenheim IVF L9044 while trying to cover a convoy of ships sailing in the Aegean, which evacuating the British Expedition Forces from the Greek mainland, became a victim of friendly fire when it was accidentally attacked by destroyers of the Royal Navy, despite giving the correct recognition signals. The plane tried to return and land to Crete with one of the engines in trouble, but it was finally controllably ditched in the sea near the coast of Rethymno area. The three crew members escaped from the sinking Blenheim, inflated a life raft and helped to reach the beach, by a Greek soldier who saw the event and swam until the spot for the rescue.
In 1995 a team of divers from the Hellenic Air Force recovered the wreck from the sea bed, and transported it to the HAF Museum for preservation. It is now on display, unrestored but cleaned up. The remains include most of the aircraft, although the nose structure was crashed due to the ditching and already missing.
These are some photos of the plane recovery from the Cretan sea , courtesy of HAF Ltn K. Semos (one of the divers from the KOΣΥΘΕ team who carried out the project).
John
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