Recovery
7 Staffel crews photographed on September 10th 1939 with bombs earmarked for a raid on Warsaw.
© Chris Goss Collection
The safe recovery (with minimal damage) of an aircraft that has rested underwater for nearly 70 years presents substantial challenges - as does the subsequent conservation task.
However, the RAF Museum has experience in stabilising and exhibiting aircraft immersed in water for an extended period (such as the Halifax Mk II recovered in 1973 from Lake Hoklingen in Norway and the Hurricane Mk I retrieved from the Thames Estuary in the same year).
Conservation techniques have advanced greatly in the last 40 years. Similar restoration efforts undertaken in Norway and Australia in the past few years offer the prospect of less intrusive methods for stabilising and preserving aircraft structures immersed in salt or fresh water for extended periods.
The conservation effort will be undertaken at the RAF Museum's award-winning Michael Beetham Conservation Centre at Cosford where the Dornier will take its place alongside a RAF Vickers Wellington bomber currently undergoing an extensive restoration programme.
- Read 264's Squadron's Combat Report of 26th August 1940
- Download full aircraft history (Adobe Reader Document, .pdf)
