how many A/C losses on Vis Island?

[bax101]

I was just wondering after reading the book The Wild Blue about how many aircraft were lost on the Island of Vis? I was trying to google it but im not much of a good researcher when it comes to these things. I did how ever find that the old RAF base there is now covered by grape vineyards and some of it is still there. So it makes me wonder what sort of bits and pieces are laying around bc saddly i know that many men lost there lives crashing into the mountains after returning from bomber runs in B-24s and the runway was to small for them to land safely on.

[Holedigger]

Sounds like an interesting read. That must have been quite a place. Read some accounts of the happenings there at the link below. Crazy stuff. 3000' runway, rough terrain, but it is there or dump in the Med. On one day, 37 B-24s made Vis their emergency landing pad! There has got to be a lot of bits buried in the orchards there!

http://www.456thbombgroup.org/reichard/vis.html

[tulsaboy]

Even more interesting (IMHO) are the aircraft that were trying to make it to Vis for an emergency landing but didn't make it, and ditched in the waters off of Vis. There are quite a few B-17s and B-24s still in the water there, some of them remarkably intact.

kevin

[The Inspector]

I GOOGLE EARTHED the Island and can't find a hint to any sort of airfield. So I wonder how would you go about visiting this garden like place? By boat? It does look like an interesting place-

[tulsaboy]

Try these: They'll put you in the right ballpark...



kevin

[lestweforget]

Used your pictures to try and locate the airfield Kevin. No great shakes on the computer, but I might have managed, sort of!!! Thanks.



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[Dave Smith]

Pronounced Vish, in case anyone didn't know. Said to be even nicer than Capri and far less touristy! You can fly to Split on the Croatian mainland from London. There is a ferry from Split to the island that takes 2 1/2 hours. Lots more on Google. I always wondered what was still lying around.

[Holedigger]

Here is a link to a B-17 to dive off of Vis
http://www.divernet.com/Travel_Features ... tress.html

[tulsaboy]

These guys also found this, among other things...

(Thanks Zeljko!)

kevin

[bax101]

Thanks for all the cool info guys. After looking at those diving photos it makes me want to take diving lessons.

[Django]

Wouldn't it be nice to "rescue" that B-24!

[Mgawa]

During the late WW2 there was headquater of the comrade Tito communist forces. Except of the ally airplanes, there was also small headquaters unit with mixed airplanes but also Yugoslav squadron from RAF.

[tulsaboy]

Hey Django-

What do you think that B-24 would look like at Austin Acres? A couple of years, a little WD-40, some elbow grease and it'd be up and running?



My understanding is that these aircraft sit inside the territorial waters of Croatia, and that they have been declared gravesites/memorials and are off limits to salvagers. Open to divers, but closed to salvage.

But pretty cool to see.

kevin

[Dave Smith]

Just found the info on that B-24. It was 42-51874 of the 451st BG. Named Le Petite Fleur. Correctly, in French, that should be La but who cares! It ditched after a mission to Blechammer, Poland and the crew was picked up by Yugoslav partisans and returned to Bari.

[tulsaboy]

What a neat find! What mission was it lost? The aircraft I've been researching, 42-51430, the Tulsamerican, was lost on Dec 17, 1944 on a mission to odertal.
It ditched odd of the coast of Vis, 7 survivors were picked up by a fisherman and his family.