ANY CHANCE OF SEEING THESE TYPE OF WARBIRDS FLYING?

[Kyleb]

I remember an article that appeared in one of the Warbird mags a few years back, about a lake in Europe that was drained due to too many fishing nets getting caught in junk, and they found a ton of stuff that included a complete B-17!

But, this was after the war and nothing was worth saving, thus it was all scrapped.

Anyone remember this article?

Ah yes, the infamous Zuiderzeel

I had that issue too. I was about 10. All of the aircraft they found were fascinating. That stuff was only about 30 years old at the time. I'm sure those airframes were in much, much better condition than a lot of today's recoveries.

[Archer]

The Zuiderzee wasn't a lake, it was a bay that was closed off from the sea after the dike connecting North-Holland and Friesland was completed in 1932. In the 1950s and 1960s, large areas of land (see image below) were reclaimed in the former Zuiderzee area, creating the Flevoland province.


After the war, wrecks found both in the remaining body of water, now called IJsselmeer, and in the drained polders, were removed. There is a short account about this here: https://www.flevolandsgeheugen.nl/page/ ... and-immedi

[old iron]

I remember hearing that there parts of a WW1 German Gotha bomber Zuiderzee recoveries. Now there is something truly rare! I assume the fragments were preserved somewhere?