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.
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.
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 RU-vid that would be more appropriate for your beliefs.
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 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.
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.
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
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!
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.
@@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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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 !!
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.
Thank you for the documentary. I never cease to be amazed at the sacrifice willingly made by the volunteers of Bomber Command. They were the very best of the best and the memory of their commitment to win the freedoms we enjoy must never be forgotten.
Ha Ha Ha - Fought for freedom did they? Fought to remain slaves to teh Elite Bankers/Vatican etc who really OWN and CONTROL everything we own and our countries. Google Paisley Expressions and the Jesus, Hitler and Wizard of Oz post on there just now exposing the TRUTH about Hitler and WW2 with Part 2 coming soon exposing how we are all Bonded SLAVES being traded on the Stock Exchange ever since the day we were born and how all of our Countries, Governments, Political Parties, Councils, Courts etc etc etc which are all just CORPORATIONS in this SCAM Cestui Que Vie Trusts SLAVE System were Foreclosed (SHUT DOWN) in 2012/13 and all debt was written off only our corrupt controlled Governments/Political Parties are not telling the people any of this as they carry on with the Elites agenda.
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...
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 can’t understand why the enginemount can’t be identified from drawings. That the wheel would be connected to the aircraft that the engine come from feels like a very thin clue. The waters outside the coast is literally full of aircraft wrecks from WWII. This documentary feels like it’s made to catch viewers more than having a story to tell.
Disappointed there wasn't positive ID , the brave men that flew that aircraft deserved some kind of recognition. I'm sure they got some at some point but they deserve as much as possible.
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.
In the US, you can still buy brand new, never issued, military surplus items from WWII. Everything from clothing to engine parts.Talk about the scale of the war. We were fighting a multi-front world war, and still had the capacity to over-produce everything.
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
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.
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.
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.
Wow dont know if this was the same engine but about 35 years ago i helped crane a merlin engine intact with 3 bladed prop from a trawler in Exmouth Docks in devon, it run shivers down ones spine seing the curved ends of the props that obviously hit the water while still spinning. A chap came down and took it away and said if they can read the engine number thay can trace the full history of the plane...never was told any more.
They got the most important part of a downed plane and cant tell much about it. Most car engines have cast numbers that tell huge amounts of information.
The aircraft museum at Hendon holds all the crash report cards for WW11 aircraft crashed in and around the UK during the war, I have the report on a Halifax that crashed locally to me while it was returning from a mine laying op outside the Uboat pens in france, the card tells you all the aircraft details, even the engine numbers, and who the skipper was, there must be some record of this aircraft in the vid that would correspond with crash records.
These engines were also utilized by yacht's and racing boats, such as the little miss Budweiser racing team, I know this because I was a mechanic for the Budweiser racing team.
There must be hundreds of merlin engines in the Chanel, a lot of the fighting was done over that stretch of water and hundreds of both sides lost their lives .
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?!?
Seems apparent the fisherman was/is aware of this Merlin’s location and you’ve narrowed it down to have been fitted on a Lancaster that it shouldn’t be too difficult to locate the other 3 motors and possibly bits of the plane to identify it. That is of course if that is the desire of Plane Hunters to do.
Bill Ness Most likely you are correct. Do not forget a nightfighter could have knocked one engine off,even if the multiengine aircraft crashed,it could glide some distance and may have been salvaged years ago. With this remove from WW2,there will be exceptions to everything.
I wish y'all could have found out where the engine was found and sent a diver down to see if it was a missing plane or scrap tossed over board after the war..
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.
I have read that a lancaster nearly salvaged but due to the RN blunder sliced it in half near the coast. I think its in one of the lancaster ar war books x3 books.
The advertising thumbnail is extremely misleading in it says 'Solved' but you've not solved the mystery by identifying the aircraft tail number or the crew.
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...
