Crashed Aircraft on the Western Front

[Piscator]

We've had a lot of publicity with regard to WW2 aircraft being found, have any from the Great war been found? I know that the aircraft of that time were a lot flimsier than those of WW2 but something should have survived with regard to the engine and other metalwork Have any of our French or Belgian Pals come across anything?

Len

[kaisersoffensive]

We've had a lot of publicity with regard to WW2 aircraft  being found, have any from the Great war been found? I know that the aircraft of that time were a lot flimsier than those of WW2 but something should have survived with regard to the engine and other metalwork Have any of our French or Belgian Pals come across anything?

Len

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hello

I seem to remeber from a visit to the Hill 70 Museum at Sanctuary Wood among

the rusting items to be found at the back was the remains of what appeared to be an aircraft engine.

[Dolphin]

Len

There's a big difference between the wood and fabric aircraft of 1914-1918 and their all metal (or nearly so) 1939-1945 counterparts. When an aeroplane from the earlier conflict crashed, it wouldn't have had the weight and speed to bury itself well into the ground, as often happened in the Second War. So when a Great War aeroplane crashed, the only large chunk of metal would be the engine, which would have been reasonably easily recovered, unless the machine fell in an area subject to heavy shelling, in which case there'd probably be nothing left.

However, I do recall that the remains of a German Gotha that had strayed when returning from a raid over England were found in The Netherlands when a marshy area was drained in the late 1960s.

Regards

Gareth

[Piscator]

Many thanks Kaiser, & Gareth for your imput, naturally I wouldnt have expected there to be much left of these aircraft considering their construction but an engine even one of WW1 vintage is still quite a lump of metal and coupled with the morass that was presented to them on crashing I thought it a reasonable asumption that one or two may have sunk into the battlefied mud, if it could swallow a gun it wouldnt have much trouble with an aircraft. Thanks anyway for answering.

Len

[mcderms]

There was also an aircraft Lewis in the Cloth Hall museum last time I was there. Very intact with spade grip and double drum, damage to barrel cover. Found near Pasheandale (sic) if memory serves me correctly.

Short answer on the rest is that is a WW1 vintage aircraft hits the ground at its terminal velocity, the engine/guns will bury themselves to some distance. The rest will be shattered (wood, canvas). You may get lucky if you found a crash site and the instrument panel may survive. All the above posts are correct - crash landings would indeed be easily recoverable - but a real hum-dinger from 7000ft = a buried engine, fire and not much else left.

[alex_a]

I was going to ask this question but was to afraid of being accused a grave robber or the like as in most crashes the pilot was killed as parachutes were not used. But still it would be nice if something was to be found.

It would depend on, as has been said above, the depth at which the wreackage is buried, but also the soil in which it lies. A peat soil which contained the Gotha would have preserved it much the same as the Pete Bog man, but a more rich soil would have caused rot and decay that would leave very little of the non matalic parts of the aircraft.

Alex:)

[charlesgosse]

The May issue of World War One Aeroplanes has an article by Marco Fernandez-Sommerau of Belgium in which he discusses a Rumpler C.VI that was shot down, the crew died, but the remains of the aircraft were kept for many years by the Brussels Army Museum in their storeroom, possibly because the aeroplane was shot down by a Belgian pilot. Marco acquired the bits and pieces some years ago. It's an incredible story, with photos of the Rumpler at its aerodrome before the fateful day and then at the wreck site and then today.

The Aero Conservancy has bits and pieces (far fewer than Marco's Rumpler) of an Albatros D.V which crashed behind the Belgian lines near Dixmude and also was held on to by the Museum for many years. You can visit it at http://www.aeroconservancy.com

Charley

[Piscator]

Interesting site Charley, I assume that some of these items were recovered from crash sites at the time of the crash, the material is remarkable. Thanks for the address.

Len

[Guest 3RAR]

Same topic-different war.

The remains of 29 Australians have just been recovered from the wreck of a Dakota which crashed into a mountain in what was then Dutch New Guinea on 18/9/45-a month after the war in the Pacific ended.

The plane was being used to transfer patients to Australia-amazing to have survived the war then losing your life returning home.

There is a photo in the paper of the wreck site-looks like pretty rugged terrain.

Back to the original topic-Interesting Len's post about the Gotha being found in Holland-any clues on where it ended up (hopefully some museum)?

Gary