Seeking Sunken Spitfire
Another exciting and long-awaited project in progress this week. Last Autumn we were approached by ‘Spitfire Hunter’ David Daniells to see whether we could assist in locating the rare second World War II supermarine spitfire AD377. She has been at a watery grave in the Norfolk Broads for more than eight decades, potentially the last in the UK that remains where she came to rest. Nicknamed ‘The Lady in the Lake’, the spitfire had to be abandoned by Czech war hero Flying Officer Rudolf Borovec when it is thought that the engine stopped, and a forced landing brought the plane to settle in the reeds, sinking rapidly under 4 – 6ft of water.
David launched a highly successful Crowdfunding Campaign to raise funds to attempt to locate the aircraft, now probably lying on a clay bed, likely nestled under a very thick layer of liquid mud and silt, hypothetically broken into three parts.
The project will be technically challenging: it requires navigation of the shallow, reedy, environmentally-sensitive Norfolk Broads whilst our specialist Geophysicist uses cutting-edge magnetometry equipment from Geometrics to search systematically and meticulously in the area David has spent years pinpointing. There’s no guarantee that it is where it is thought to be, but if it’s there we have high hopes that we can locate it and set the project into its next phase … recovery and restoration.
