Aviation Archaeology

In 2000, Flightpath Vol. 11 No. 4 mentioned a mysterious W.W.II aircraft wreck on Mount Stanley and promised to identify the aircraft at a later date. Now, in this final issue, contributing editor James Kightly and qualified aviation archaeologist Daniel J. Leahy present an insight into this aviation preservation, the initial results of a recent crowd-funded archaeological survey of the aircraft wreck.

Remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs) have been used for years to explore underwater archaeological sites. Recent technology advances have improved the capabilitiesof ROVs, while greatly shrinking their size and lowering their cost. Small, battery-powered ROVs can now be taken to remote sites, opening up areas for research that were previously unavailable. In August of 2015 a team of archaeologists and ROV operators packed deep into California's Kings Canyon wilderness to explore the wreckage of a World War II B-24 bomber lying in Hester Lake, at an altitude of over 11,000'. Over a two-day period, multiple dives were conducted to survey the main body of wreckage and to scan the remainder of the lake bottom. The information captured gives new insight into the tragic fate of the bomber and her crew. The ROVs used, made by OpenROV of Berkeley, California, each weighed six pounds and cost approximately $1500 to build.

Aviation archaeology involves the study of human interaction with flight through the investigation of material remains related to that field of endeavour. While much about Second World War aircraft and aviation operations can be learned from the historical record, some aspects of what has been written still remain fragmentary or contradictory. Through the analysis of aircraft wreckage and associated artefacts, much can be added to our understanding of how aviation played a part during that conflict.

This paper will present the outcome of a recent crowd-funded archaeological survey of the wreck of an American Brewster Buffalo fighter aircraft that crashed in Victoria in July 1942. Despite large portions of the wreck being salvaged over the years, much can still been learned from artefacts remaining at the site regarding the aircraft, its crash, and its involvement in the wider conflict. The survey, conducted in March 2019, identified a significant number of artefacts remaining at the site and has resulted in the wreck being listed on the Victorian Heritage Inventory.

Recent collaborations between archaeology and advancing technologies have witnessed the production of engaging programmes that allow the public and heritage industry to approach the past in ways we had previously not thought possible. Recent exposure to such collaborations as well as an experience with living histories at a World War II airbase over the past year have pioneered the concept of engaging with World War II airbases via virtual realities. It is hoped that the result of this concept will be the production of an interactive, historically accurate computer simulation, and the establishment of a dataset that will assist with the management of such sites, and encourage and enable further research in this field. In order to achieve this result a team of specialists from both the heritage and information technology industries is required, as is the establishment of a best practice system of recording. This paper presents the early stages of the development and implementation of this digital approach towards heritage via a programme called ‘Digital Air Force’.

(Presented by Fiona Shanahan at the 2016 Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology Conference).

After the fall of Java during the early days of the Second World War in the Pacific, personnel from the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force were evacuated to Australia. In April 1942 a composite unit of Dutch, Indonesian, and Australian personnel – No. 18 (NEI) Squadron, RAAF – was formed to conduct operations out of the Northern Territory. This poster will discuss the fates of six B-25 Mitchell bombers that were wrecked while in the service of the squadron. It will look at the ways state and territory heritage bodies have dealt with these sites in the past, while also examining the need to protect what remains both now and in the future.

The discovery of the wreck of a World War II aircraft on the seabed off the southern coast of the island of Vis, near Rukavac Cove, prompted research on the part of the Croatian Ministry of Culture’s Department for the Protection of Underwater Archaeological Heritage. The unknown bomber was successfully identified on the basis of the serial number located on the tail of the aircraft, while the entire event was reconstructed and the surviving members of the crew located with the help of the database of the Heavy Bombers association of US air force veterans. The Boeing B-17 G bomber, serial number 44–6630, was a part of the 340th Squadron, 97th Bomber Group, 15th US Air Force. On a 6 November 1944 return flight from a strategic bombing run over Austria, the aircraft suffered heavy damage above Maribor from anti-aircraft fire. A safe return to the base in Italy was not possible, and the pilot choose a route to the nearest Allied airport on the island of Vis, in the hopes of saving the aircraft and its crew. The aircraft’s engines failed in an attempt to approach the airstrip and there was a forced landing at sea. Nine of the eleven crew members survived, while the remains of one of the crew are probably to be found in the aircraft to this day. The aircraft has been located, and initial dives established that it is lying on a sandy bottom at a depth of 72 metres, and that it is an exceptionally well-preserved specimen. It is precisely by its high level of preservation that this aircraft stand out among many other almost unrecognisable and, unfortunately, devastated aircraft wrecks in Croatian waters. Reconnaissance and rescue archaeology at these depths required the use of the most modern diving technology available and the use of breathing gas mixtures. And since this was the first such research effort that involved the official and organised use of the Trimix blend and deep-diving technology, it was given the title of the B-17 G Trimix Project. Divers using the Trimix blend made 25 successful dives in groups of four divers to explore the wreck. The condition of the aircraft was documented with photographs and video footage. The aircraft is leaning on the left side of its landing gear and its tail wheel, with the right wing lying in the sandy bottom. The bottom of the aircraft’s nose is crushed from the crash on the seabed, while the cockpit and the rest of the aircraft remain intact. The side windows of the cockpit are open and the interior of the cockpit is visible through them. An open parachute was found in the sand under the aircraft’s fuselage, radio equipment is visible in the radio cabin as is the gun turret in the tail of the aircraft. The divers succeeded in entering the interior of the fuselage, where a small number of small finds were located, for the most part the personal equipment of the crew. The locality was placed under legal protection after the research had been completed with diving permitted only under the supervision and guidance of authorised diving centres. The B-17 G Trimix Project set a new standard in deep water archaeology without which the protection and exploration of both located and unexplored finds in our waters is not possible. The great significance of this project lies not only in the new scientific knowledge gained, but also in the media presentation of underwater cultural heritage. A great number of reports were published in print media during the research, and a documentary film was aired on the national TV station. The interest of the domestic public for the exploration of deep water localities can have a positive effect on the willingness of international expert institutions to co-finance these kinds of undertakings, and thereby on the development of Croatian (underwater) archaeology.