Merlin Engine on sea bed

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ozone
Posts: 206
Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2014 10:13 am
Home club or Range: Thorpe Cloud

Re: Merlin Engine on sea bed

#31 Post by ozone »

.

Many moons ago I used to dive and we would survey suspected
wreck sites along the east coast and then return to dive them.

They can be anywhere from 20mtrs to 60mtrs plus, most recreational
diving done then was limited to a maximum of about 60mtrs but
nowadays with modern mixed gas technology, recreational divers often
dive in excess of a 120mtrs.

The English Channel is actually quite shallow in parts all the way over to
the other side but depths of 30 to 50mtrs are the norm for that side of
the UK.

Finding ordnance was common and you had to do something very very stoooopid
and also be very very unlucky for something to detonate, infact they never
detonate even if you tw*t them with a very big hammer.

Trawlers are most at risk when they catch them in their nets and bring them
back to the boat. Underwater they are very stable but bring them up,
well that is a very different story. As the pressure changes and as the temperature
changes they become unstable, combine that with banging it against the side
of the boat and ???????????????? well you can guess the consequences.

As for the engine, being the biggest lump of metal on what might be a wood
and canvass constructed plane it is often the only component left surviving
after all these years.

Regards ozone

.
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Gazoo
Posts: 960
Joined: Sun Nov 02, 2014 9:26 pm
Home club or Range: Bishop Auckland
Location: Weardale

Re: Merlin Engine on sea bed

#32 Post by Gazoo »

Update
Turns out there were 2 engines about 50 mtrs apart with a bit of prop sticking out of sea bed near one. There were bits of metal but body of aircraft no where to be seen , so possibly mosquito!?!?
Alea Jacta Est
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GeeRam
Posts: 1160
Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2015 9:58 pm
Home club or Range: PSC, Bisley
Location: Berks
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Re: Merlin Engine on sea bed

#33 Post by GeeRam »

Gazoo wrote:Update
Turns out there were 2 engines about 50 mtrs apart with a bit of prop sticking out of sea bed near one. There were bits of metal but body of aircraft no where to be seen , so possibly mosquito!?!?
Looking more likely now. As I mentioned in my earlier post, plenty of Mossie ops off East Anglia, so very likely. With more info, it could be even possible to identify likely aircraft identities (and whether it maybe a war grave site)
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