Dornier 17 engine recovery with unexploded bomb cache
Published
Dornier Do17Z Werknummern (serial): 260022 No. 2682of Küstenfliegergruppe 606 Crew: No survivors Date: 16th October 1940 Place: Denbigh, North Wales
A Dornier 17Z, from the Wingleader Photo Archive
A rare Battle of Britain Dornier Do 17 engine is on its way to a new home. Despite heavy Dornier losses during the campaign, very few Bramo Fafnir engines have ever been recovered from Battle of Britain crash sites — and even fewer from outside south-east England. In fact, only one such example is known, and this is it.
The engine was recovered alongside what remains the largest cache of unexploded German bombs ever uncovered in the UK.
The battered Bramo 323 engine, leaving the Shropshire Aero Club Museum at Sleap for Bridgnorth. There is still a display of parts at Sleap
On the evening of 16 October 1940, Dornier Do 17Z, Werknummer 2682 of Küstenfliegergruppe 606, was on a bombing mission targeting Crewe when it was seen burning fiercely before crashing into a mountainside near Denbigh in North Wales.
The smashed remains of the aircraft, with investigators pondering the wreckage. The shovel on the left of the picture looks insufficient for the recovery job. The Army put up a cordon around the crash site, and sightseers were allowed access if they showed IDThe same view in 1983
The crash site was located and excavated in 1983. After many years in the care of the now-defunct Warplane Aircraft Recovery Group, the engine will now go on public display at Chetton Heritage Museum near Bridgnorth, Shropshire.
A hastily taken picture of what looked very much like the back end of a bomb
When faced with the discovery of something that might be a bomb, people tend to fall into two camps. Some think, “that could be explosive,” and promptly put as much distance between themselves and it as possible – a reaction neatly demonstrated on this occasion by one mother, who immediately ushered her children away from the scene.
Then there are some who feel compelled to confirm their suspicions by poking it with a stick. Remarkably, this approach has now been witnessed twice!
A professional down the hole, having driven overnight from Chatham, KentAn ominous-looking 50kg bomb
Ten 50kg bombs were found, defused, and transported to a nearby quarry by a digger driver who didn’t think he was being paid enough. Bigger have been found, but this was the largest number found at a crash site.
A rogue’s gallery, after the bombs were found. Simon Parry, author of Wingleader’s ‘Battle of Britain Combat Archive’, left. John Ellis, Nigel Parker, author of Wingleader’s ‘Luftwaffe Crash Archive’ and Steve Vizard, noted digger of aircraft and builder of Spitfires. The policeman to the right looked less chipper when he learned he was guarding the bombs that night until the EOD arrived!
The bombs were exploded one by one in a nearby quarry. The landowner, Mr Vaughan, was at market in Denbigh as the bombs could be heard in the distance – he was quite literally the talk of the town. The EOD also souvenired a bomb.
The quarrySimon Parry is reunited with a 50kg at a local showChecking the hole after the EOD had finishedIn true wartime schoolboy fashion, the bomb fragments were found and collected. This piece has the Waffenamt eagle stamped inRe-laying Mr Vaughan’s land drains. It is surprising how many people want to attend a dig, and how few want to help tidy up afterwardsA pleased Mr Vaughan, with his field reinstated and turf replacedIt made the local paper!
Several original labels and other pieces recovered from the wreckage proved crucial in identifying the aircraft and tracing its manufacturing history, and can be seen below.
From the front of the engineNazi maths!Mg15 cocking handleMade in Berlin. Definitely one of theirs
More fragments from the 1983 excavation, well covered with the gloss varnish beloved of aviation archaeology in the 70s and 80s. Oxygen bottle, filter cleaner, mass balance from the tail, two bits of bomb release mechanism, a linkage and starter crank dog. Ruler, rather than a banana, for scale (no cuddly toy!). Prop hub, and your younger author!A luger stripping tool from one of the crew’s holsters‘Luftwaffe’ faintly visibleStarter crank dog, engine side‘Turn handle to clean filter’The engine is borne away by the WARGGoodbye Sleap, hello Chetton Heritage Museum!Julian Middleton takes charge of the engine for its new home
Below are all of the technical and crew details. Taken from Nigel Parker’s ‘Lufwaffe Crash Archive’ from Wingleader.
An American Eagle Squadron pilot abandons his Spitfire over Northern Ireland. Seventy years later it is excavated for the BBC 'Dig WW2' series with Dan Snow.
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