Lived in New Guinea from the early 60's to the late 70's. Dad & i used to go bush walking when he wasn't working. One time we found a crashed plane from the world war 2. The plane hit the side of a low laying hill & exploded. Bits of aircraft everywhere. Only preserved part was the rear section. There were thousands of rounds of ammunition strung together in belts in clusters. We extracted 3 machine guns. We gave the weapons to the PNG war museum before we moved back to Brisbane in 78.
@@robrussell5911 The condition was reasonably good considering. Only problem they were bent from impact/explosion. Was writting stamped on the sides, Browning made in U.S.A. Aircraft must have been American. State of preservation because rained towards end of year. Rest of the yr was very dry, also area was covered in lots of trees protecting aircraft from sunlight/weather. Remember there was an old fella that used to drive around in an American jeep, dad knew him. We did visit him at his place, I couldn't get over how many American military vehicles he had everything. He told me after the war, the Americans parked all their vehicles on one of the airodromes they built & left. He also said Americans dumped lots of equipment just off the coast.
Merlin engine is liquid cooled. Smaller frontal area than a radial engine but way more vulnerable to enemy fire. Not a chance for me. Give me an warbird with a elliptical wing sure .... but make it a P-47
The only P-47 types that I can bear to look at are the XP-47H, which is _almost_ a thing of beauty, and the XP-47J (not _too_ harsh on the eye, but equipped with those horrible air-cooled radial things). Yeah, maybe the inline engines are a tad more susceptible to enemy fire, but wouldn't you rather go down looking good?!? Spitfire all the way! Isn't it _always_ the way... the sexiest prototypes never make it into production?!?
You should have asked me. I knew that wasn`t a Hurricane engine mount straight off. I made a whole engine cradle for a Hurricane so am very familiar with the mounts.
what about the possibility of the engine being shot up over Germany - falling off over the channel - and the A/C making it home ........ have the damaged A/C records been checked (for that time period) ? ......................... JRW
I'm not a self appointed Political PC censor but I do have respect for those engineers who added a little something into the war effort to make sure we came out on top. Her name may have been a source of amusement for the folk at the time but that was nearly 80 years ago. Its not for us to mock.
I cannot help wondering if venturing out to where that Merlin was found - might reveal three other engines - if a metal detector was used? And it would be possible, that other useful numbers might be obtained from those. Also possibly other identifiable debris (some with numbers on perhaps) might be found.
It’s not a sump it’s a crankcase lower half, I had 2 Merlin XX’s which came out a Beaufighter MK2 which crashed near Ford in Sussex and a Merlin which came out of Poole harbour, I knew Laurie Fletcher who worked for Royce’s, Rolls was the salesman, Royce was the engineer, during the war
More time and energy was spent in doing CGI for this video, then would be required to actually determine the origins of the engine. Or put another way, a five minute problem stretched into a twenty minute video.
Being a WW II fanatic, from a historical prospective, as well as an aviation buff due to my 40 yr career in aviation / warbirds, this is a great find. I keep wondering how many recoverable planes remain in THE CHANNEL, as well as around all the Pacific Islands. Like recently found in the Pacific was a supply ship that had tanks, jeeps, and fighters in the hold. What fun it would be to recover those fighters, which I believe they stated were Corsair's. Excellent research guys and look forward to the next adventure. Any chance of mid channel search for fighters or bombers shot up and went down in the channel ??? Thanks Again
Brilliant series. Have only found Plane Hunters in the last few days & Subscribed. My father in law was a Merlin engineer with RAF 624(Special Duties) Squadron, based in Blida Algeria. Their squadron used Merlin engine Halifax bombers till the end of 1944, together with a few Stirlings. I recently took him to the aircraft museum at Yeovilton, where he was able to inspect & touch a Merlin engine, those 70+ years melted away and i was with a young LAC guiding me around the engine, absolutely amazing. In recent times, he was awarded The Legion d`Honneur medal by the French Government, for his services and his Squadron`s in the liberation of France in 1944. At nearly 96, Walter still works part time & drives his German car, but if you where to ask him `Was it worth it` What the RAF had to do, He would say Yes. He was there, he knows what the Axis of Evil perpetrated.
William Woods, Plane Hunters channel is about aviation, it is not a platform for your diatribe. They are many other channels on TH-cam that would be more appropriate for your beliefs.
i have a little mystery for you. my old granpa , former resistance told me about a crashed english flyer they housed and smuggled out of the area. he even had parts of cockpit glass with numbers and stuff but that got lost when he died. so my question is : are there any recordings of a english plane shot down near 56°45′40″N 8°52′10″E ? im thinking it must be from one of the raids on norways fjords. or maybe just one of the plane droppings supplies for resistance. it crashed in some marsh or swamp so it should be preserved well .
you mean there are three more of those engines in around where this one was found? Ps; i'd love to see what the inside of a merlin of such state looks like.
The Poppy flower are used on Remembrance (like our Memorial & Veterans Day) which Veterans wear on those day's. It's derived from the Poem "Flanders Field" .
@@michaelgaley9532 As an Englishman I´ve dutifully bought and worn a poppy each year all my life, though without having any idea that the custom originated with the poem "Flanders Field", which I must confess I´ve never read. Thank you for telling me : )
@@Del350K4 It's my pleasure and honor sir, The Poem "Flanders Field" was written by a Canadian Dr. during a battle near a poppy field and it is used to honor the war dead. Though the poppies are laid on the memorials after the ceremonies are completed they are taken by the people to their homes. In America we continue to wear them. I'm a Vietnam War Veteran and Life member of the VFW and honorary member of Canada's Victoria Islands Legion. Cheers.
@@michaelgaley9532 I´ve just read it. I´m in my fifties, and from a generation which still feels gratitude towards WW II vets for saving the world we know. Sadly it now seems common among young people to confuse remembering and feeling gratitude with "glorifying war", which does seem a very sad state of affairs to me. Thank you for your service in Vietnam. Whatever people may say about the justification for that conflict, you went there in good faith and risked your life for the free world, of which I´m glad to be a part!
A friend in Queensland, Norm, had Rolls Royce V12 in the 1980's, he believed it may have been new or a rebuilt replacement engine, it was in perfect condition and complete except for the super charger, it turned out to be for a Hawker Demon, it had some paperwork, test reports recording the times that it had been fired up. Norm had swapped the front of a 1926 Dodge car, from firewall forward, for it from his mate Jeff who had a Dodge and who had originally swapped a pair of Jap split toe sniper sandshoes for the V12. Another mate a carpenter made it a wooden stand and later Norm sold it to the Australian War Museum for a $1000Au. I'd seen it before, but he came past my place in northern NSW on his way down to Canberra to deliver it to the museum and had it on the stand in the back of his long wheel base Toyota Land Cruiser Troop Carrier with his four young sons seated on the fold down trooper seats around it. It look like it was powering the truck and the boys were mechanics to service it during operation. You had see it they looked really cool. I think I saw it about 20 years ago, I'm sure it was the same V12, sitting under the wing of our only Lancaster "G for George" on the wooden stand. But it wasn't there last year when I went back. So hopefully they are doing something with it. Norm now has a radial from an Oxford and was looking at another one for sale in Mexico. The last time I was speaking to him he reckoned he was going to firer it up, but an old boy I know said he's going to need a 9 foot propeller to keep it cooled.
Were the records not kept on these aircraft? We certainly document everything on modern birds. It would seem a build date and s/n should be traceable to an airframe and the tail number then to the disposition of the aircraft.
Not to be disrespectful, but what a dumb opening statement. "It was quickly identified as belonging to an aircraft." Was the airplane propellor bolted to it a clue? Sigh...
I was just speaking to a relative who was a member of the pleasure sailing fraternity in Southampton Water through the '60s, '70s and '80s and as soon as I mentioned this engine they said "Oh, that was the one found off The Point..." You know how things get around in certain circles and especially in Navy families. That would explain why the fisherman was cagey about where he recovered the engine as, in 1980, that was military property then, part of area of land surrounding Marchwood military port and, therefore, fishing there would be prohibited and potentially very strictly punishable. Apparently The Point is clearly marked on maritime charts of the area, my understanding is that it is roughly a couple of miles north-east of the site of the old Fawley power station and the area is no longer under military ownership as a great deal of land in that area was sold of and has subsequently been developed for housing. Maybe an answer to this mystery may be closer now...
kind of odd they didnt make a social media appeal to try and figure out where the engine came from...as they usually do. Maybe they could've narrowed it down further.
Thanks, We now need to trace the engine number to the airframe. This is the difficult part, our next step is to try and research all the known Lancaster crash sites around the area.
Just discovered your series and absolutely love it! You have found the secret to making great documentaries. Telling a story in a well written and compelling way that creates a bond with the viewer on an emotional and intellectual level. These missing airplanes and their lost crews call out to us from the past and ask not to be forgotten. Their lives and sacrifices are worthy of remembrance.
@@MauriatOttolink I flew on that particular aircraft. Its name is " Beachcomber". There were 2 of them that flew out of Rose Bay in Sydney. The other was named "Islander". They called them Sandringham's . The service to Lord Howe stopped in 1974 i think.. The Govt had built an airstrip so the flying boats were no longer needed. I was 14 at the time and I'll never forget it. From memory it took about 6 hrs to cover the distance.Today it takes around 2 hrs.
Are you certain it's a Lancaster? One aircraft you didn't mention, that used Merlins was the often forgotten Whitley. One of the three mainstays of Bomber Command in the early war. They operated throughout the war dropping agents and supplies later on. Just a thought. Really enjoying the videos, thanks for sharing.
Yeah they were made with both radials and Merlins. Easy to remember as they were such an ugly aircraft compared to most other British aircraft from WW2.
Brendan MacLafferty never flew in a Lancaster . Because he was born in 1985 . But if he did , I bet he'd have enjoyed it. I doubt he would have ever gotten into The RAF during the war, as he has 6 fingers on each hand and a squint that makes it sure he can see the inside back of his own skull. Even though he married his first cousin " Glenda " . Their kids are well brought up , and clean. Thats all you can ask for really.
Thank you so much for making this documentary available here! Great job guys! Years ago when I worked in the engine shop of Saudi Arabian Airlines, I got to go out on the back side of the airport, whre a number of Lancaster Bombers had been abandoned by the Saudi Arabian Air Force, when they were done with them. They were completely intact, engines and all. It was sad to see these beautiful planes just sitting there rotting, along with about 20 Vampires that they had just piled one atop the other. There were Dakota's and many other planes just sitting there. That was at the old downtown airport, which has since been closed and is now condominiums and shopping malls. I can't help but wonder what happened to all those planes.
Seeing this documentary late but isn't gently untangling a fishing net to preserve the integrity of an engine after 70 plus years after a crash and sitting in salt water then dredge up by a trawler fishing net and most likely unceremoniously plopped on a fishing deck being a bit of a drama queen? Chances are if it was going to break or be lost it would already have happened, you don't need a neurosurgeon for a band-aide job. Anyway, hope the crew made it back ok.
Some of those old Merlin engines also ended up in Hydroplanes. Hearing 5 or 6 of those boats on the water running at near 200 MPH gave them the nickname "Thunder Boats" Today's hydroplanes are sleek turbine powered machines but there is something about watching the old shovel nose or open cockpit pickle fork boats with the piston engines that the new ones cannot compete with.
Shouldn't the size and pitch, etc of the attached propeller have been a clue as to the engine's application ? BTW: Bio of Miss Schilling: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrice_Shilling
i remember as a child, a merlin engine being brought ashore by a fishing boat at pittenweem harbour a few years later a friend of mine who was an r.a.f. mechanic told me of the engine being taken to r.a.f. leuchars and they took the sump off and the oil was still in there ... no seawater digress whatsoever they dont make engines like that anymore !!
There is a WW2 site somewhere in SE Asia where more than 300 of these engines lie beneath the waves. All the PT boats had these engines in them too and at the end of the war they gathered them all up and set them on fire because they were made of wood.
I remember following this story pretty much from day one. Initially it created a great deal of interest as it was though that the engine may have come from a development model of Spitfire, which made a lot of sense with it having been found in the Southampton area as Supermarine's factory was on the north side of Southampton. It later became Ford's Swaythling plant, the home of the Ford Transit and is still there, clearly visible on the left of the M27 westbound, opposite Southampton Eastleigh airport which is where the Spitfires built there first took to the skies. Although this is now thought unlikely due to what has been discovered from the engine it is still an interesting, and tragic, story. Another theory that has surfaced is that the engine came from a bomber that was being transported to a squadron after repairs or maybe was a new aircraft being delivered that was "bounced" by German fighters, or possibly even by allied aircraft after being mis-identified, and which subsequently crashed or ditched into the Solent as it attempted to evade its attackers. It has to be said that the condition of this engine as recovered is much more suggestive of an aircraft that crashed into the water rather than one that ditched, and the condition of the propeller strongly suggests that that engine was not operating when it hit the water, which strongly suggests that the aircraft was damaged. Had the engine been operating and the propeller turning when it hit the water then the blades would have been folded back but these do not appear to have been. Of course it's hard to be certain, that engine was under water for 35 years at least and it could have suffered extra damage from being caught in fishing nets and dragged, or, if it was recovered in sufficiently shallow water of which there is plenty all around the Solent and especially around Southampton, it could have even been hit and dragged along by the hulls of vessels though I suspect that that type of damage would be very different in nature to that caused by the aircraft breaking up upon impact with the water. Based on where the engine is thought to have been recovered I would suggest that the aircraft may have been more likely to have been in service with coastal command but it is also quite possible it went down much later in the war, maybe in the D-Day operations as a great deal of activity for those operations was centered around this area. Just a few miles east along the coast, in Stokes Bay in Gosport there are sections of Mulberry harbours used in the D-Day operations that are clearly visible at low tides and there are the remains of a German bomber shot down while attacking the dockyard at Portsmouth on one of the small islands in Portsmouth harbour which are also visible if you know where to look at low tide...
Who’s to say the crew being a self preservation lot schemed together, flew out and back to land covertly, then the pilot took the plane out and ditched it coming back in to the coast, close enough to swim. Picked up by the rest of the crew in a stollen farmer’s lorry, they then headed to a trawler that took them to Portugal where they made and drank port the rest of the war? Could have happened. ;)
@@markfrance9924 There are a huge numbers of possibilities. Without being able to find an identification on the engine which can be tracked back to a specific aircraft, assuming the fate of that aircraft is known and recorded rather than just being the enigmatic lost in service or lost in transport, then it's likely the story will never be known, unless someone who sees this finds that it rings a bell with them from an old story they heard...
Mr Glen Curtis, Glen Miller was flying from the UK to Paris on Christmas eve, 1944 in "Norseman" type single- engined Liason aircraft. He was going to perform a morale-boosting musical broacast from Paris. Unfortuntely, as he flew across the the channel , a flight of bombers was returning from an aborted mission over Europe. The Pilots were ordered to drop their bombs into the Channel before landing. The two aircraft crossed paths, one above the other. We believe that, in a million- to-one chance, a falling bomb actually struck his aircraft at a lower altitude in mid-air and exploded, thus destroying the aircraft and killing Miller and all on board. Their deaths would have been instantaneous. Just another casualty of the war, regrettably. M McLaren. Brisbane, Australia
Early in my flying experience during the late 1970's or early 80's I met a man who was creating a Spitfire to taxi-able display standard from fragments collected around Australia and the Pacific. He was undertaking his project at an airfield where I was flying at the time and, naturally, I sometimes visited his workshop to keep apprised of developments. A propeller hub he was using had been lying mostly submerged in a swamp since the war and naturally he was curious regarding it's history. When the propeller was disassembled for examination a series of numerals and some letters were found to be engraved on the shell of a bearing. Subsequent inquiries revealed that the letters were initials and the numerals an identification number for the technician who had assembled the propeller. From that information the owner was able to determine the identity and history of the Spitfire to which the propeller had been fitted.
Why did they build everything from wood , until the Americans would subsidize nearly everything inc men , materials , fuel , bombs , Planes , tanks and Vehicles , ships , food , ammunition , but they only came on line later on after 1941 hence the early reliance on primitive materials like wood.
Really fantastic documentary series. Thank you for your hard work and entertaining presentation.
Thank you
Steve Randall 9i88
Lived in New Guinea from the early 60's to the late 70's. Dad & i used to go bush walking when he wasn't working. One time we found a crashed plane from the world war 2. The plane hit the side of a low laying hill & exploded. Bits of aircraft everywhere. Only preserved part was the rear section. There were thousands of rounds of ammunition strung together in belts in clusters. We extracted 3 machine guns. We gave the weapons to the PNG war museum before we moved back to Brisbane in 78.
Were the guns in decent shape or rusted badly? That would be tricky to have around these days.
@@robrussell5911 The condition was reasonably good considering. Only problem they were bent from impact/explosion. Was writting stamped on the sides, Browning made in U.S.A. Aircraft must have been American. State of preservation because rained towards end of year. Rest of the yr was very dry, also area was covered in lots of trees protecting aircraft from sunlight/weather. Remember there was an old fella that used to drive around in an American jeep, dad knew him. We did visit him at his place, I couldn't get over how many American military vehicles he had everything. He told me after the war, the Americans parked all their vehicles on one of the airodromes they built & left. He also said Americans dumped lots of equipment just off the coast.
Merlin engine is liquid cooled. Smaller frontal area than a radial engine but way more vulnerable to enemy fire. Not a chance for me. Give me an warbird with a elliptical wing sure .... but make it a P-47
Nice ground pounder, but a Tempest could best it in every respect, while a Jug would never even get a Spit Mk 9 in its sights
Maybe, but could it take the pounding a Jug could take ???????Last time I checked guys that flew the Spit and the P-47 were on the same side ...
The only P-47 types that I can bear to look at are the XP-47H, which is _almost_ a thing of beauty, and the XP-47J (not _too_ harsh on the eye, but equipped with those horrible air-cooled radial things). Yeah, maybe the inline engines are a tad more susceptible to enemy fire, but wouldn't you rather go down looking good?!? Spitfire all the way!
Isn't it _always_ the way... the sexiest prototypes never make it into production?!?
Love The Jug. She could dish it out and withstand punishment too.
You should have asked me. I knew that wasn`t a Hurricane engine mount straight off. I made a whole engine cradle for a Hurricane so am very familiar with the mounts.
What will you do with the engine? Will it be restored?
4 engines? That means it could be from a Lancaster, Tudor or Lancastrian
Does it start? None even tried it.
incidentally - where is this museum - I got sent to a ladies wear website using that title.
Solent Sky, Southampton
He has destroyd the engine! 1:46
Wow
So many questions left unanswered for the sake of making it seem more entertaining. They ruined what was potentially a very good story.
Did you know there are more planes in the ocean then there are submarines in the sky.
Careful with your heresy there.
That’s because planes have been known to crash into the sea.
I’ve yet to hear of a Submarine that crashed into the sky.
Zaphod Beeblebrox OH SHIT REALLY I HAD NO IDEA ITS LIKE THAT WAS THE JOKE
This gave me a good chuckle.
Glad to have made you laugh.
Miss Schilling's orrifice...love it!
what about the possibility of the engine being shot up over Germany - falling off over the channel - and the A/C making it home ........ have the damaged A/C records been checked (for that time period) ? ......................... JRW
Miss Shilling's orifice... you don't say
It's the military; which is actually surprising they didn't call it anything else...
lol, standard documentary, spend money on time and at the end of it... "We haven't a clue, really we have no idea!"
Miss Shilling's orifice saw plenty of action in WWII.
Surprised it's still a tight fit
scoundrel
You damnable cad...!
I'm not a self appointed Political PC censor but I do have respect for those engineers who added a little something into the war effort to make sure we came out on top. Her name may have been a source of amusement for the folk at the time but that was nearly 80 years ago. Its not for us to mock.
The futility of war is often brought home by these stories...…….an utter waste of life!
endwood , I don’t think the victims of the Holocaust would agree.
I cannot help wondering if venturing out to where that Merlin was found - might reveal three other engines - if a metal detector was used? And it would be possible, that other useful numbers might be obtained from those. Also possibly other identifiable debris (some with numbers on perhaps) might be found.
It’s not a sump it’s a crankcase lower half, I had 2 Merlin XX’s which came out a Beaufighter MK2 which crashed near Ford in Sussex and a Merlin which came out of Poole harbour, I knew Laurie Fletcher who worked for Royce’s, Rolls was the salesman, Royce was the engineer, during the war
More time and energy was spent in doing CGI for this video, then would be required to actually determine the origins of the engine. Or put another way, a five minute problem stretched into a twenty minute video.
Being a WW II fanatic, from a historical prospective, as well as an aviation buff due to my 40 yr career in aviation / warbirds, this is a great find. I keep wondering how many recoverable planes remain in THE CHANNEL, as well as around all the Pacific Islands. Like recently found in the Pacific was a supply ship that had tanks, jeeps, and fighters in the hold. What fun it would be to recover those fighters, which I believe they stated were Corsair's. Excellent research guys and look forward to the next adventure. Any chance of mid channel search for fighters or bombers shot up and went down in the channel ??? Thanks Again
Go away freak! this channel is about aircraft, not nut-jobs!
who the heck you talking to bozo, I was talking Aviation if you had READ, but then maybe your educational level is such you dont know how to read
DIY Nationalist I was talking to the idiot William Woods, I hope you were!
Brilliant series. Have only found Plane Hunters in the last few days & Subscribed. My father in law was a Merlin engineer with RAF 624(Special Duties) Squadron, based in Blida Algeria. Their squadron used Merlin engine Halifax bombers till the end of 1944, together with a few Stirlings. I recently took him to the aircraft museum at Yeovilton, where he was able to inspect & touch a Merlin engine, those 70+ years melted away and i was with a young LAC guiding me around the engine, absolutely amazing. In recent times, he was awarded The Legion d`Honneur medal by the French Government, for his services and his Squadron`s in the liberation of France in 1944. At nearly 96, Walter still works part time & drives his German car, but if you where to ask him `Was it worth it` What the RAF had to do, He would say Yes. He was there, he knows what the Axis of Evil perpetrated.
Thanks for your message, so nice to hear about your father in law.
@ William Woods: Witch side of the universe you 're from? I thought only we Germans have such id**** in our country.Now I see I was wrong
William Woods, Plane Hunters channel is about aviation, it is not a platform for your diatribe. They are many other channels on TH-cam that would be more appropriate for your beliefs.
William Woods please seek help. There are people who love you and are probably very worried about you.it is never to late to seek out help!
Never a bad day when you find a Merlin!
i have a little mystery for you.
my old granpa , former resistance told me about a crashed english flyer they housed and smuggled out of the area.
he even had parts of cockpit glass with numbers and stuff but that got lost when he died.
so my question is :
are there any recordings of a english plane shot down near 56°45′40″N 8°52′10″E ?
im thinking it must be from one of the raids on norways fjords. or maybe just one of the plane droppings supplies for resistance.
it crashed in some marsh or swamp so it should be preserved well .
4:07 If swipe first right and then left you don't advance the pictures... please stop your "special efects" XD
you mean there are three more of those engines in around where this one was found?
Ps; i'd love to see what the inside of a merlin of such state looks like.
Keep up the good work guys! Excellent content and production quality
Oh, for just another set of numbers, maybe someone could have learned the fate of 7 men.
Thank you for this video. An American who cares.
That was a great shot at the very end, with the petals dropping onto the Merlin...real professional-standard stuff : )
The Poppy flower are used on Remembrance (like our Memorial & Veterans Day) which Veterans wear on those day's. It's derived from the Poem "Flanders Field" .
@@michaelgaley9532 As an Englishman I´ve dutifully bought and worn a poppy each year all my life, though without having any idea that the custom originated with the poem "Flanders Field", which I must confess I´ve never read. Thank you for telling me : )
@@Del350K4 It's my pleasure and honor sir, The Poem "Flanders Field" was written by a Canadian Dr. during a battle near a poppy field and it is used to honor the war dead. Though the poppies are laid on the memorials after the ceremonies are completed they are taken by the people to their homes. In America we continue to wear them. I'm a Vietnam War Veteran and Life member of the VFW and honorary member of Canada's Victoria Islands Legion. Cheers.
@@michaelgaley9532 I´ve just read it.
I´m in my fifties, and from a generation which still feels gratitude towards WW II vets for saving the world we know.
Sadly it now seems common among young people to confuse remembering and feeling gratitude with "glorifying war", which does seem a very sad state of affairs to me.
Thank you for your service in Vietnam. Whatever people may say about the justification for that conflict, you went there in good faith and risked your life for the free world, of which I´m glad to be a part!
A friend in Queensland, Norm, had Rolls Royce V12 in the 1980's, he believed it may have been new or a rebuilt replacement engine, it was in perfect condition and complete except for the super charger, it turned out to be for a Hawker Demon, it had some paperwork, test reports recording the times that it had been fired up.
Norm had swapped the front of a 1926 Dodge car, from firewall forward, for it from his mate Jeff who had a Dodge and who had originally swapped a pair of Jap split toe sniper sandshoes for the V12. Another mate a carpenter made it a wooden stand and later Norm sold it to the Australian War Museum for a $1000Au.
I'd seen it before, but he came past my place in northern NSW on his way down to Canberra to deliver it to the museum and had it on the stand in the back of his long wheel base Toyota Land Cruiser Troop Carrier with his four young sons seated on the fold down trooper seats around it. It look like it was powering the truck and the boys were mechanics to service it during operation. You had see it they looked really cool.
I think I saw it about 20 years ago, I'm sure it was the same V12, sitting under the wing of our only Lancaster "G for George" on the wooden stand. But it wasn't there last year when I went back. So hopefully they are doing something with it.
Norm now has a radial from an Oxford and was looking at another one for sale in Mexico. The last time I was speaking to him he reckoned he was going to firer it up, but an old boy I know said he's going to need a 9 foot propeller to keep it cooled.
That was brilliant. I think I have to visit the museum what about a plane hunters meet up there?
Let's not forget the sacrifices made by those brave Men, ever!
R, I, P.
Men yes. But still kids. Most were barely out of school.
Nor let us forget the great sacrifice made by Miss Schilling
Were the records not kept on these aircraft? We certainly document everything on modern birds. It would seem a build date and s/n should be traceable to an airframe and the tail number then to the disposition of the aircraft.
Not to be disrespectful, but what a dumb opening statement. "It was quickly identified as belonging to an aircraft." Was the airplane propellor bolted to it a clue? Sigh...
LOL LOL
Get your hair cut!
I was just speaking to a relative who was a member of the pleasure sailing fraternity in Southampton Water through the '60s, '70s and '80s and as soon as I mentioned this engine they said "Oh, that was the one found off The Point..." You know how things get around in certain circles and especially in Navy families. That would explain why the fisherman was cagey about where he recovered the engine as, in 1980, that was military property then, part of area of land surrounding Marchwood military port and, therefore, fishing there would be prohibited and potentially very strictly punishable. Apparently The Point is clearly marked on maritime charts of the area, my understanding is that it is roughly a couple of miles north-east of the site of the old Fawley power station and the area is no longer under military ownership as a great deal of land in that area was sold of and has subsequently been developed for housing. Maybe an answer to this mystery may be closer now...
kind of odd they didnt make a social media appeal to try and figure out where the engine came from...as they usually do. Maybe they could've narrowed it down further.
What an interesting and superb presentation and tribute.
dear plane hunters,,, why dont you find tommy dorsies plane that went down in english channel during ww2?????????
I think you mean Glen Miller.
You mean Glenn Miller?
Jeez Louise what a great video. Thank you.
How about preserving the engine? Removing salt from the metal, immersion in water tanks, etc., that sort of thing????
Fred Ferd - They will surely ceep it that way, i think. "From the channel"
Lancasters...not solely used by the RAF; also used by the RCAF.
Five minutes of mystery and all the rest is filler. The serial numbers from some of the parts is all you need to find its origin
They did not rule out it was a Merlin powered Beaufighter nor conform it was a Lancaster mark 1. Silly waste of my time.
There must be an incredible load of junk and munitions in the N. Sea.
a engine can escape from the test area if is not well fixed to the ground
"And we can't afford to get stuck". "I got stuck". Lol.
next time going out on mudflats , trying carrying staff or pole
Thank you for your research and honor you place for these men that died..
9.25 .Interstellar lookalike scene ...You Brits , have something others don't have when it's about documentaries.Brilliant.Thanks.
Good film, Is any attempt going to be made to find the rest of it?
Thanks, We now need to trace the engine number to the airframe. This is the difficult part, our next step is to try and research all the known Lancaster crash sites around the area.
Just discovered your series and absolutely love it! You have found the secret to making great documentaries. Telling a story in a well written and compelling way that creates a bond with the viewer on an emotional and intellectual level. These missing airplanes and their lost crews call out to us from the past and ask not to be forgotten. Their lives and sacrifices are worthy of remembrance.
To the many men who fought and paid the ultimate price, this Vet thanks you ..may we never forget the true cost of any war.
The Ansett flying boat in the background at 6.25. I flew from Sydney to Lord Howe island on that aircraft in 1972. Never forget it
Ankles.
Fascinating Mr Ankles.
Do you mean that model or that particular aircraft?
It must have raked up old memories. Pleasant I hope.
@@MauriatOttolink I flew on that particular aircraft. Its name is " Beachcomber". There were 2 of them that flew out of Rose Bay in Sydney. The other was named "Islander". They called them Sandringham's . The service to Lord Howe stopped in 1974 i think.. The Govt had built an airstrip so the flying boats were no longer needed. I was 14 at the time and I'll never forget it. From memory it took about 6 hrs to cover the distance.Today it takes around 2 hrs.
@@ankles632
Thank you.
History which isn't really all that far away.
A nicely, and ultimately sensitively told, story. Thanks to all involved, primarily of course those who flew for our freedom.
Can you do a story on Charlie Brown a B17 pilot "ye old pub" and crew also the german "Ace" Franz Stigler
Are you certain it's a Lancaster? One aircraft you didn't mention, that used Merlins was the often forgotten Whitley. One of the three mainstays of Bomber Command in the early war. They operated throughout the war dropping agents and supplies later on. Just a thought. Really enjoying the videos, thanks for sharing.
Yeah they were made with both radials and Merlins. Easy to remember as they were such an ugly aircraft compared to most other British aircraft from WW2.
Thanks. Interesting thought, did Whitleys use XX (20) series Merlin?
Plane hunters: No.
Plane Hunters: I'm not 100% sure. I know the MkVI was proposed to, but not built. However the MkVII coastal command variant is the most likely.
Percy Prune MHDOIF and bars; Merlin X.
1000s of planes down in the channel
Brendan MacLafferty never flew in a Lancaster . Because he was born in 1985 . But if he did , I bet he'd have enjoyed it. I doubt he would have ever gotten into The RAF during the war, as he has 6 fingers on each hand and a squint that makes it sure he can see the inside back of his own skull. Even though he married his first cousin " Glenda " . Their kids are well brought up , and clean. Thats all you can ask for really.
This video reminded me, that a Danish fisher pulled a RR Vulture engine out of the sea a few years ago.
I am furious with this!!! I came here to be titillated, instead I found something, awe inspiring, fascinating and beautifully put together. BRAVO 👏👏👏
Thank you so much for making this documentary available here! Great job guys! Years ago when I worked in the engine shop of Saudi Arabian Airlines, I got to go out on the back side of the airport, whre a number of Lancaster Bombers had been abandoned by the Saudi Arabian Air Force, when they were done with them. They were completely intact, engines and all. It was sad to see these beautiful planes just sitting there rotting, along with about 20 Vampires that they had just piled one atop the other. There were Dakota's and many other planes just sitting there. That was at the old downtown airport, which has since been closed and is now condominiums and shopping malls. I can't help but wonder what happened to all those planes.
17:50 Yes. The bombing of civilians has been widely debated. But don't forget, the Nazis started this mess and asked for "Totaler Krieg."
And got it.
Seeing this documentary late but isn't gently untangling a fishing net to preserve the integrity of an engine after 70 plus years after a crash and sitting in salt water then dredge up by a trawler fishing net and most likely unceremoniously plopped on a fishing deck being a bit of a drama queen? Chances are if it was going to break or be lost it would already have happened, you don't need a neurosurgeon for a band-aide job. Anyway, hope the crew made it back ok.
Some of those old Merlin engines also ended up in Hydroplanes. Hearing 5 or 6 of those boats on the water running at near 200 MPH gave them the nickname "Thunder Boats" Today's hydroplanes are sleek turbine powered machines but there is something about watching the old shovel nose or open cockpit pickle fork boats with the piston engines that the new ones cannot compete with.
@D Lopez maybe not, but the Allison engines sounded pretty good too.
@D Lopez I love them all. But I miss my favorite boat, the Ellstrom Miss Elam Plus. My favorite scheme was the bright orange and blue checkers.
Shouldn't the size and pitch, etc of the attached propeller have been a clue as to the engine's application ?
BTW: Bio of Miss Schilling: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrice_Shilling
So many "Miss Shilling's Orifice" jokes.... brain.... overheating....
The dazzling tanzania immediately scrape because nic postsurgically suspect round a poor airship. short, level trapezoid
'Quickly identified as belonging to an aircraft' - No shit, Sherlock - that propeller on the front must have been what gave it away.
i remember as a child, a merlin engine being brought ashore by a fishing boat at pittenweem harbour a few years later a friend of mine who was an r.a.f. mechanic told me of the engine being taken to r.a.f. leuchars and they took the sump off and the oil was still in there ... no seawater digress whatsoever they dont make engines like that anymore !!
Haha half way through I see the block shape and say Lancaster....ding ding.
I never liked the way those things sound. They remind me of 2 old Chrysler Slant 6's running, side by side.
Why the hell do people wobble the camera in an effort to make it exiting. F M Get a tripod.
There is a WW2 site somewhere in SE Asia where more than 300 of these engines lie beneath the waves. All the PT boats had these engines in them too and at the end of the war they gathered them all up and set them on fire because they were made of wood.
there really is a lot of undiscovered stuff laying in the Channel. if we could drain it, there would be a lot of " missing in action " reports solved.
I thought the ginger was a woman !!!!
Gender miss identification I suppose.
the Irish used the engine in some of their Armored vehicles in the early years after the war.
Ok enough talk.....take that engine to the shop and make her run again....PB blaster to start with
Who's that moron taking those camera shots from top during engine inspection. Worst angle
Sobering statistic - +56k dead just from Bomber Command
Mike Owen.
And they were VERY late in getting a memorial because of the antagonism towards Bomber Harriss. In fact, they nearly didn't!
Nicely done, thankyou
little doubt this was the best piston engine of the war.
the merlin engine was never put in a tank that was the sister engine the meteor V12
shit man i clicked over a airplane, i was hoping it was about the Baltic sea
What a wonderful video! I've only just stumbled across your channel, guess I've got some catching up to do! Many thanks :)
I remember following this story pretty much from day one. Initially it created a great deal of interest as it was though that the engine may have come from a development model of Spitfire, which made a lot of sense with it having been found in the Southampton area as Supermarine's factory was on the north side of Southampton. It later became Ford's Swaythling plant, the home of the Ford Transit and is still there, clearly visible on the left of the M27 westbound, opposite Southampton Eastleigh airport which is where the Spitfires built there first took to the skies. Although this is now thought unlikely due to what has been discovered from the engine it is still an interesting, and tragic, story. Another theory that has surfaced is that the engine came from a bomber that was being transported to a squadron after repairs or maybe was a new aircraft being delivered that was "bounced" by German fighters, or possibly even by allied aircraft after being mis-identified, and which subsequently crashed or ditched into the Solent as it attempted to evade its attackers. It has to be said that the condition of this engine as recovered is much more suggestive of an aircraft that crashed into the water rather than one that ditched, and the condition of the propeller strongly suggests that that engine was not operating when it hit the water, which strongly suggests that the aircraft was damaged. Had the engine been operating and the propeller turning when it hit the water then the blades would have been folded back but these do not appear to have been. Of course it's hard to be certain, that engine was under water for 35 years at least and it could have suffered extra damage from being caught in fishing nets and dragged, or, if it was recovered in sufficiently shallow water of which there is plenty all around the Solent and especially around Southampton, it could have even been hit and dragged along by the hulls of vessels though I suspect that that type of damage would be very different in nature to that caused by the aircraft breaking up upon impact with the water. Based on where the engine is thought to have been recovered I would suggest that the aircraft may have been more likely to have been in service with coastal command but it is also quite possible it went down much later in the war, maybe in the D-Day operations as a great deal of activity for those operations was centered around this area. Just a few miles east along the coast, in Stokes Bay in Gosport there are sections of Mulberry harbours used in the D-Day operations that are clearly visible at low tides and there are the remains of a German bomber shot down while attacking the dockyard at Portsmouth on one of the small islands in Portsmouth harbour which are also visible if you know where to look at low tide...
hello I'm from gospit as well and hasn't this place gone down hill in the last 20 years
+Michael Ainslie Yes, it has a bit, but then so has everywhere around it too so we don't have much to judge it against...
Who’s to say the crew being a self preservation lot schemed together, flew out and back to land covertly, then the pilot took the plane out and ditched it coming back in to the coast, close enough to swim. Picked up by the rest of the crew in a stollen farmer’s lorry, they then headed to a trawler that took them to Portugal where they made and drank port the rest of the war? Could have happened. ;)
@@markfrance9924 There are a huge numbers of possibilities. Without being able to find an identification on the engine which can be tracked back to a specific aircraft, assuming the fate of that aircraft is known and recorded rather than just being the enigmatic lost in service or lost in transport, then it's likely the story will never be known, unless someone who sees this finds that it rings a bell with them from an old story they heard...
The Armstrong Whitworth Whitley MkV was fitted with Merlin XX also.
Yes. But were they building Whitleys in Mid-1942?
Yes, they were. Just looked it up. Bravo.
There's a fuckin propeller on the front of the engine course it's a plane
Mr Glen Curtis, Glen Miller was flying from the UK to Paris on Christmas eve, 1944 in "Norseman" type single- engined Liason aircraft. He was going to perform a morale-boosting musical broacast from Paris. Unfortuntely, as he flew across the the channel , a flight of bombers was returning from an aborted mission over Europe. The Pilots were ordered to drop their bombs into the Channel before landing. The two aircraft crossed paths, one above the other. We believe that, in a million- to-one chance, a falling bomb actually struck his aircraft at a lower altitude in mid-air and exploded, thus destroying the aircraft and killing Miller and all on board. Their deaths would have been instantaneous. Just another casualty of the war, regrettably.
M McLaren. Brisbane, Australia
Sorry, make that Mr Curtis Clark
The rest of the comment section beat me to it.
56,000 lost to ......... RIP. Godbless the children.
Just subscribed, keep the burd and ditch the guy with the long hair .
You that's a dude?...Oh man!
Kijiji ad: Ran when parked.
... and no low ballers, I know what I've got.
Very good guys. Really enjoyed this. If more info could have been got from the engine that would have been wonderful. Well done again.
just look at the serial nr ... it aint no rocket science
Disappointing conclusion have to say.
that wheel looks like an old eel trap
Early in my flying experience during the late 1970's or early 80's I met a man who was creating a Spitfire to taxi-able display standard from fragments collected around Australia and the Pacific.
He was undertaking his project at an airfield where I was flying at the time and, naturally, I sometimes visited his workshop to keep apprised of developments.
A propeller hub he was using had been lying mostly submerged in a swamp since the war and naturally he was curious regarding it's history.
When the propeller was disassembled for examination a series of numerals and some letters were found to be engraved on the shell of a bearing.
Subsequent inquiries revealed that the letters were initials and the numerals an identification number for the technician who had assembled the propeller.
From that information the owner was able to determine the identity and history of the Spitfire to which the propeller had been fitted.
Why did they build everything from wood , until the Americans would subsidize nearly everything inc men , materials , fuel , bombs , Planes , tanks and
Vehicles , ships , food , ammunition , but they only came on line later on after 1941 hence the early reliance on primitive materials like wood.
Sobering! More than 56,000 aircrew lost their lives between 1939 to 1945 compared to 58,220 US servicemen KIA in Vietnam between 1954 to 1975.
Plane wrecks, ship wrecks I find both fascinating. (Thank You for your service to all who made the ultimate sacrifice for your respective countries.)