Almost intact Douglas A-20 Havoc found in Finnish waters

[H.Finn]

Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE just reported that people constructing the Nordstream gas pipeline from Russia to Germany have found an almost intact Douglas A-20 Havoc in the waters of Western part of Gulf of Finland. Presumably it is a Soviet AF lend lease aircraft. Here is a link to YLE's website, text is in Finnish, maybe Google translator helps, if there is someone in the group who does not understand Finnish... Also a couple of photos there: http://yle.fi/uutiset/3-9604845

[StangStung]

Wow, that thing is preserved well.

Salt or fresh water?

Hope there's no one in it...

[Warbird Kid]

WOW! The Russian P-40 a few days and now this. Hopefully she'll be recovered and restored to fly one day.

[fiftycal]

salt water

An intact bomber was found at the bottom of the Gulf of Finland - "Very rare"

The wreck is located near the Baltic Sea gas pipeline in the western Gulf of Finland.

A prominent bomber wreck has been found in the proximity of the Baltic Sea gas pipeline running off to Finland. The machine is located about a hundred meters in the western Gulf of Finland.

- It was completely intact. The machine is about 11 meters long and has a wingspan of 18 meters, says Minna Sundelin, the stakeholder group manager at Nord Stream 2.

The marine archeologist has evaluated the wreckage. This is the American Douglas DB-7 Boston / A-20 Havoc airplane with two engines. The allies, including the Soviet Union, used these machines in World War II. The wreck found last year is located about a mile from the Baltic Sea gas pipeline line.

- Far far away, it does not affect the route planning. We do not know if there are any ammo on the machine. We take into account the findings within 250 meters of the pipeline, says Sundelin.

Details of the skies have been submitted to the National Board of Antiquities. The discovery of first told

.
Generally scattered and small pieces

Vantaa aviation museum is estimated to have been left with a chance to survive the fallen plane. When an aircraft dives from the sky to the ground or into the sea, it usually goes to pieces.

- The sinking of a sinking ship intact is more likely. It is very rare that the airplane will survive the first contact with the water and all the way from the bottom to the bottom, "notes the marine archaeologist, Matias Laitinen, aviation aviation museum.

Keeping a sinking ship intact is more likely.
Matias Laitinen

According to Laitinen, divers find some of the parts of the Soviet-era bomber in the waterways, but their registry data are incomplete.

- In addition, machine wrecks are scattered and small pieces, so they can be difficult to detect and understand as part of the machine.

The bomber is located at a depth of 100 meters. Nord Stream 2 AG
A merchant ship from the 18th century

The new gas pipeline route on Nord Stream is currently exploring the various environmental risks that may be caused by pipeline construction. The company has photographed the seabed on the tube route and also found shipwrecks and other marine archaeological finds.

One of them is a wooden merchant ship in the eastern Gulf of Finland, estimated to date from the 18th century.

- The ship is fragmented and its nearest ice is about 220 meters from the pipeline route. During the construction work, we take care of the wreck, "says Minna Sundelin, Nord Stream's stakeholder manager.

In addition, the seabed has been found during the First and Second World War, thousands of mines, bombs and grenades. About fifty of them have to be cleansed from the pipe.

The biggest environmental burden comes from mines blasting. Wet troughs on the seabed will be cleared from the gas pipeline route during the line construction phase.

- Then animals must be expelled from the area. It's done with a voice that drives animals like seals off, "says Simon Bonell, vice president of Nord Stream 2 AG.

The planned gas pipeline also crosses with 24 cables to be protected with concrete.

A total of 90,000 pipes are coated in Finland

Gas pipe components are coated in Germany and Finland. Work at the plating factory in Kotka started in March. Wasco Coatings Finland coats up to 90,000 tubes in Kotka's Mussalo harbor. The work will continue until the end of next year.

All in all, pipes are needed around 200,000.

If the project authorization procedure proceeds as planned, pipeline construction will begin next spring. The pipeline will initially be built from Russia via the Gulf of Finland to Germany.

The construction of a gas pipeline from the German route begins in winter 2019.

[H.Finn]

Wow, that thing is preserved well.

Salt or fresh water?

Hope there's no one in it...

Salt water, but the good news is that the salinity of the Baltic Sea is lower than that of the large oceans, and the Gulf of Finland's salinity is even lower than average of the Baltic.

[Zac Yates]

Wow....talk about ghostly images. A very cool find.

[Chris Brame]

Vantaa aviation museum is estimated to have been left with a chance to survive the fallen plane.

Hope that means a chance for recovery. Has this museum recovered any underwater warbirds before?
Looks like both the cockpit and dorsal hatches are closed tight - not a good sign for the crew?

[lmritger]

It's over 300 feet down per the article, so it's going to be REALLY cold which would help preserve things as well.

I recall seeing a study well over 10 years ago which gave a summary of all the aircraft which went into the Baltic during the war, and it was just a staggering number... there is a literal goldmine of WW2 aircraft sitting on the bottom up there. I very much hope they're able to carefully and successfully recover this Havoc, as there just aren't a whole lot of them around anymore and this would be a very significant addition to the worldwide survivor list.

Lynn

[Dennis7423]

I'm with Lynn. And who knows... if they successfully recover this aircraft, that might encourage others to take a stab at recovering some of the other plethora of aircraft that are apparently in the Baltic. Someone always has to go first, right?

- Dennis S.
Westminster, CO USA

[John Dupre]

A Bf 109 coded MT 208 was recovered a few years ago from the Baltic. The Finns attempted to restore it but ended up preserving it instead. http://www.virtualpilots.fi/feature/articles/mt-208/

[H.Finn]

It has been reported in Finland that Finnish museums are not going to recover the Havoc, too expensive undertaking I suppose. Since it lies in international waters I guess anybody with the resources could go and lift it?

[Richard W.]

Does Russia have a representative Havoc in a museum?

[Warbirdnerd]

Does Russia have a representative Havoc in a museum?

Yes- This one is in the museum in Monino-
http://lastrefuge.co.uk/php/show-aerial ... ial=DH0014

[Richard W.]

Thanks.

Yikes. I doubt 16 years of outdoor storage since that photo was taken has helped it very much.

[StangStung]

There are only a few major collections with the funding to go after something like this.

I wonder who is missing an A-20, who'd really like one. Especially what must be a combat vet.