So fascinating I thought I might share... http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110408/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_britain_warplane Absolutely amazing. The Dornier Do-17 was a pivotal bomber in the beginning of WWII, and at this time is essentially extinct. There are pieces of airframe here and there, but no fully intact example remains. If this could be brought to the surface and restored, it would be a priceless piece of military history. I've also been following the story of a recovered Focke Wulf FW-190 A5 from outside St Petersburg. Paul Allen bought it, and now it flies, very near to where I live. Fascinating stuff! *edit* Anyone caught souvenir hunting on something like this, ship or aircraft, should be killed.
Yeah, I saw this story the other day. Anyway . . . Amazing find. Hopefully it will wind up restored and in a museum someplace where everyone can see it.
This is a very cool story. I hope that nothing unforeseen happens and that the Brtits can use it to taunt the Krauts for a hundred years!
Anyone heard of the Richard Montgomery? Its an American munitions ship that sank just offshore near Southend in the Thames estuary. There is so much unexploded ordinance on it that if it went up it would produce an explosion about half the size of the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. They really dont know what to do with it at the mo as it gets more and more dangerous every year, and a controlled explosion might be the only option. If they do that I'm definitely gonna go and watch I saw a CGI mock-up of how the explosion would look once.... it pretty much emptied the entire Thames estuary onto the surrounding land
I am aware of the Richard Montgomery, what an interesting situation! I would say that in terms of destruction of the local ecosystem/life in general, that Liberty ship and the wreck of HMS Royal Oak in Scapa Flow(leaking oil, unexploded munitions) are huge dangers.
AFAIK there is no way to do a controlled explosion on the RM. the explosives are too unstable and there is a huge amount of them. The damage estimates I've seen from a detonation of the ship are mind bogglingly devastating. In today's world it would make an easy target for terrorists.
The problem is though, it might explode at any time due to the fuses deteriorating, and no-one has any plan for how to remove the explosives safely anyway. So if its going to explode at some point anyway a controlled detonation would be the best answer because at least you can then prepare for it and do it at a time of your choosing.
^ That's not a controlled det, rather a timed one. There is considerable debate about the fuze issue and how big a threat it really is.
