Aircraft Videos and Images

[Sternjaeger II]

well it's sad but it would have happened soon or late. Weapons and ammo have to be removed anyway for safety reasons. Wonder what's gonna happen to it now.

[Old-Banger]

Would not surprise me if we see a glut of parts on Ebay or similar (the wonderful power of the internet )

[Triggaaar]

Idiots

[mazex]

Originally Posted by Sternjaeger II

well it's sad but it would have happened soon or late. Weapons and ammo have to be removed anyway for safety reasons. Wonder what's gonna happen to it now.

Well, it's been there is the desert for 70 years without anyone stealing those old .50 guns/rounds - I guess getting a working AK for a few bucks in that region is a lot easier than going out there picking up those dusted up guns It just hurts seeing them tear those ammo boxes away...

It looks extremely well preserved (due to the dry climate naturally). But one can wonder what happens to aluminium that has been exposed to extreme heat every day for 70 years, and then rather harsh cold every night I was in the Sahara not far from there long ago and the temperature range you go through in a 24 hour period is rather impressive...

[Flanker35M]

S!

Amateurs wrecking a rarity

[whoarmongar]

As someone has already said the canopy was closed so its a fair assumption the pilots remains were still inside.
The wreck therefore should be considered a war grave it just seems sacriligious to bust the canopy open and desicrate this site, irispective of the archiological importance of this find.
Even on a financial front surely the aircraft recovered complete has a far greater value than the transportable parts just sold as bits on ebay.

[taildraggernut]

It's not a foregone conclusion the pilot was dead, the aircraft looks like it made a controlled and surviveable crash landing, he may just have closed it when leaving it for some strange reason.

[mazex]

Originally Posted by taildraggernut

It's not a foregone conclusion the pilot was dead, the aircraft looks like it made a controlled and surviveable crash landing, he may just have closed it when leaving it for some strange reason.

I agree, a plane looking so good in terrain like that sure would need a pilot in rather good shape to handle that landing. And if the pilot was unhurt he sure would have closed the cockpit after leaving the plane... It would be rather strange after all the training to just leave it open in the desert? Then sadly one can guess that he did not make it on foot as the plane is still there without anything being salvaged - if he made it back they ought to have sent some salvage team to at least take some stuff back like instruments/guns etc...? But in the middle of a war that may have not been possible. It would be interesting to read what the RAF knows of the story as they according to the Polish site had identified the aircraft.

When looking at the Polish forum I found a link to the sad story of a B-24 lost in the same area that was not found until 1959, and the crew had lived for a week before the water ran out...

http://www.ladybegood.com/

[BigC208]

I find it surprising that nobody has bought the wreck. I've seen wreckage in much worse condition sold for restoration. A p40 in original flying condition should go between 1.5 to 2 million US $. It looked like all the parts were still there in the first video, even the instrument panel looked untouched. I understand that they send the military in to expose of the weapons and ammo but it would've made more sense to treat it as an archeologic recovery. Spoons and toothbrush approach instead of crowbars. Just having the whole thing filmed professionaly by a national geographics team would've made for a nice documentary. Some governement official in Egypt dropped the ball on this one.

[Sternjaeger II]

Originally Posted by whoarmongar

As someone has already said the canopy was closed so its a fair assumption the pilots remains were still inside.
The wreck therefore should be considered a war grave it just seems sacriligious to bust the canopy open and desicrate this site, irispective of the archiological importance of this find.
Even on a financial front surely the aircraft recovered complete has a far greater value than the transportable parts just sold as bits on ebay.

That's speculation,considering the fact that the plane safely belly landed,the pilot walked out of it and probably closed the canopy shut to protect the inside: think about it,if you had to abandon your car wouldnt u still make sure it's shut?

Originally Posted by mazex

Well, it's been there is the desert for 70 years without anyone stealing those old .50 guns/rounds - I guess getting a working AK for a few bucks in that region is a lot easier than going out there picking up those dusted up guns It just hurts seeing them tear those ammo boxes away...

It looks extremely well preserved (due to the dry climate naturally). But one can wonder what happens to aluminium that has been exposed to extreme heat every day for 70 years, and then rather harsh cold every night I was in the Sahara not far from there long ago and the temperature range you go through in a 24 hour period is rather impressive...

Well removing explosives and ammunition it's the first thing you do before moving a wreck,and that's whats happening: they surely know the value of their find and as we speak it wouldn't surprise me if the wreck is already on a lorry to somewhere. As for the preservation,the first thing that you notice is that most of it looks sand blasted,while the rear section of the fuselage is still retaining most of its original paint! It wouldnt surprise me if the wreck was half buried in the sand for decades. A dry hot environment is the best way to preserve such materials (think of the huge desert depots in the US),still the plane is far from being an easy restoration.