BBC1 - WW2 Unearthed

[exat808]

Tonight 1730 BBC1 WW2 Unearthed - documentary about discovering WW2 relics - includes the recent Spitfire discovery in Ireland.
No doubt it will be on the iPlayer afterwards.
Sorry for the late advice.

[bazooka chris]

Cheers for that just seen the posting 5 minutes before it started so set the sky+ to record it cheers

From bazooka chris

[Darrol]

the browning was awesome . .and film footage showing lanchesters smg's in naval service . .great program

[Darren]

Watched this documentry last night on BBC iplayer, very interesting programme and the seeing the machine gun from the spitfire in action was fantastic!

[SG500]

Great programme, thanks for the tip off.
I wasn't sure about digging up an aircraft using a massive digger. Having seen archaeologists "digging" with paint brushes and spoons it seemed a little heavy handed but at least the got the guns and the guys flying helmet out.
Dave.

[beihan62]

Hi SG500,Using a digger to recover crashed aircraft seems a bit heavy handed but believe me in most cases it is necessary,but it must be done with care or important items will be destroyed,I have in the past recovered a crashed P47D,the engine of which was 18ft deep,other planes,(Spitfire,Master, etc,)at lesser depths,one constraint is time,the landowner does not want a big deep hole in his land longer than is necessary,water seepage is also a problem,the best way if time etc,permits is to excavate around the wreckage leaving a column of compacted wreckage which can then be disentangled and recovered with care,but,,,if the plane crashed at an angle this would mean a huge hole taking lots of time,(diggers usually charge by the hour) plus a larger hole takes longer to fill in,Time Team and other tv progs have loads of cash they can throw at the project,the usual method using a digger is to dig down and follow the trail of wreckage but this does destroy a lot of useful items and information,another instance where time is of the essence is when wreckage has been recovered (especially from peat bogs),and starts to dry out the paint just flakes and drops off,which again will lose valuable and interesting information,such as paint samples or the aircraft ID number painted on engine cowls,armour plate etc,or in some cases the nose art,with most recoveries time is a big factor,and now Health and Safety is another constraint,when I was doing it H&SE was not even heard of,
Hope this is of use,
Cheers,
Don,

[SG500]

Hi SG500,Using a digger to recover crashed aircraft seems a bit heavy handed but believe me in most cases it is necessary,but it must be done with care or important items will be destroyed,I have in the past recovered a crashed P47D,the engine of which was 18ft deep,other planes,(Spitfire,Master, etc,)at lesser depths,one constraint is time,the landowner does not want a big deep hole in his land longer than is necessary,water seepage is also a problem,the best way if time etc,permits is to excavate around the wreckage leaving a column of compacted wreckage which can then be disentangled and recovered with care,but,,,if the plane crashed at an angle this would mean a huge hole taking lots of time,(diggers usually charge by the hour) plus a larger hole takes longer to fill in,Time Team and other tv progs have loads of cash they can throw at the project,the usual method using a digger is to dig down and follow the trail of wreckage but this does destroy a lot of useful items and information,another instance where time is of the essence is when wreckage has been recovered (especially from peat bogs),and starts to dry out the paint just flakes and drops off,which again will lose valuable and interesting information,such as paint samples or the aircraft ID number painted on engine cowls,armour plate etc,or in some cases the nose art,with most recoveries time is a big factor,and now Health and Safety is another constraint,when I was doing it H&SE was not even heard of,
Hope this is of use,
Cheers,
Don,

Good point Don, time is money in this busy world we live in.
Thanks for the comments.
Dave.