well it's a bit of a slippery slope. AFAIK there's been no disclosure on the exact location of the wreck, and the recovery of such delicate thing means a great deal of careful work and above all an adequate mean of transportation.

Then u have to deal with the local authorities and discuss the conditions of the removal. As for property, it's not that simple either: normally one needs to respect the legislation of the country the relic is found, you can't just go there and pick it up because it was your operational machine 60 years ago. If the wreck is in a country that you were fighting against that would technically be considered a war trophy, so you would have no rights over it. Normally governments don't make fuss over this stuff because it bears little or no importance to them, but rest assured that if it was a transport plane stacked with gold lingots and other valuable items there would be a mega row over it.

Whatever the case, it's obvious that the airplane as it is makes no worthy base for a flyable restoration (unlike the alleged Burma spits), and the historical value is far too important to receive a dramatic restoration. The P-40 is not a rare aircraft per se, what's rare and unique is having found one in such remarkable and complete conditions 70 years after it was lost. Those barbars should be slapped around the head for having removed the ammo boxes (when they could have simply removed the ammunition), but unfortunately we're not all aviation experts.

Make an excellent 'diorama' like the Gladiator and Halifax at the RAF museum! Depends if the interest is there, and the funds. I think the RAF museum is pretty much tied up in the Dornier 17 recovery, and, in the cold light of day, that is a much more valuable find.

Yeah, that would be an excellent idea, especially considering the expansion plans for Hendon.

As for recovery costs, I can't think of it being that dramatic actually, nothing that a couple of Chinooks couldn't take away. It would surely entail the disassembly of the wings from the fuselage, but I can't imagine that being a costly operation to complete (ElAurens, what's the P-40 wing structure like? Monospar all across making one big wing like Mustang and T-6, or two separate wings?)

Finding this kind of stuff is like stealing a piece of art for a private collector: you would be able to smuggle it and sell it to some private collector, but he wouldn't be able to show it to the public or let people know about it.

Let's hope that common sense will prevail eventually :)

"On 28/6/42 ET574 Piloted by F/Sgt DCH Copping 785025 left 260 for a ferry flight to an RSU . The A/C flew with u/c locked down due to damage . An incorrect course was set and the A/C was thought to have crashed in the Desert due to fuel exhaustion." - Possibly?



HS-B 260 sqdn Canada, - apparently

http://www.vintagewings.ca/VintageNe...iscovered.aspx

Awesome F15 video.
 

http://vimeo.com/40935850

Enjoy!

Thanks for posting this! behind the seat footage from just above the clouds was beautiful.

On the other hand, this video seriously annoyed me since now I need to start playing the lottery so I can get a pilots liscense and my own jet to do that in :P

Mmm - that really sounds like our plane! And the fact they flew with the undercarriage down for the ferry flight due to damage explains two things:

1. Why was there a wheel far from the AC at what should have been a belly landing? One of the photos show it far from the wreck. I though it was teared off anyway...

2. Why did a plane with what looks like battle damage (some shrapnel holes in the body indicate that) crash in a "non combat area"? It was on ferry to be repaired!

And sadly that means that the pilot F/Sgt DCH Copping died walking in the desert just as was the fear as the plane has not been found before... Rest in peace!

Horrible way to go. :(

It sure is. I actually had a hard time falling asleep yesterday thinking of the scenario. As a rookie pilot you get the mission to fly the squadron ace's plane that has been damaged to a repair and salvage unit (HS-B was one of the more famous kitty hawks in Sahara being flown by James F. "Eddie" Edwards, if not the most famous?) . You get lost and land in the middle of nowhere... In which direction do you start walking? As it is in the middle of the war you naturally realize that no one will start a search for a plane lost in the desert, and where to look? What a way to go... Those are the forgotten heroes of the war that don't get home like "Eddie" Edvards did to well earned fame and glory! He is still alive today so it would be interesting to hear if he remembers the details around that note in the squadron diary regarding what happened to "his plane".

The guys from the Lady Be Good lived for a week. Must have been terrible. At least they had each other, for a while at least.