"Shot Down: Search for the Lost Fighter"

[Jack Cook]

The Dottie Mae's story is on the tube!!
"Shot Down: Search for the Lost Fighter" will air
Wednesday, December 17, at 8P ET/PT (U.S. Premiere)

[Holedigger]

National Geographic Channel it looks like
I'll be watching for it

Here is the show's outline from Nat Geo

Wednesday December 17, 2008 at 8 PM

The booming noise is deafening. It is the sound announcing that an aircraft is about to crash. Henry Mohr also remembers this vividly as his P47 Thunderbolt crashes onto the surface of the Austrian lake Traunsee on 8 May 1945, the last day of World War II in Europe. "This is the end", is Mohr`s last thought before the ice-cold waters engulf him and his plane. Mohr`s Thunderbolt goes down in history as the final plane lost in combat by the U.S. in Europe in the Second World War. `Shot Down: Search for the Lost Fighter` is a feverish search for the wreck of the P47, commissioned by an American businessman; the task of salvaging the vanished aircraft would be a historic sensation. In April 2005, the aircraft is finally located. The Thunderbolt is in excellent condition under a thin layer of mud. The icy lake waters have preserved it well. Using special divers, floating winches and huge cranes, the wreck is salvaged in an expedition lasting for days. The present and the past converge in a film that combines one of the most exciting search and salvage operations with the fate of the survivors and their highly moving reunion.

Also airs:
Wednesday December 17, 2008
Sunday December 21, 2008
Wednesday January 7, 2009

[Django]

Tivo is set!! Thanks for the heads up.

[Holedigger]

Just watched Mega Movers this morning with the recovery of Glacier Girl, Gelb 16 (the Norway FW190), P-61 from a South Pacific Island and the Alaskan B-24. Not thrilled with all of their recovery techniques but the regular monster, funding, does raise it's ugly head!

[ww2John]

That Mega Movers program gave me a few scary insights into the MAAM recovery of their P61 and I think I just shook my head the entire time the Hill AFB team of USAF reservists were at work in Alaska.
...back to the original thread topic...
Thanks for the heads up on this NGO program. Much appreciated.

[Holedigger]

Here is the web site for the folks....um...dealing with Dottie Mae....Don't want to spoil the plot for the recovery show!

http://www.dottiemaep-47.com/

[RareBear]

The Mega Movers show is on again today at 6:00 PM Eastern time.

Walt

[PbyCat-Guy]

Any one know how to watch it, and maybe download it, since I DONT have Nat Geo? -PBY

[Pat Carry]

I caught the show last nite and thought it was pretty decent. Anyone else see it? The state of preservation is amazing.

[Ken]

Has Mike - t6flier - seen Dottie up close? I would think that, among us, he might have the greatest appreciation for the awesome preserved details ...

[Holedigger]

Saw it. Very well put together, better than most History Channel shows. Camera work and editing good and conservative, none of the new "style" jumping around, crazy zooms, jumping image to image. They actually talked to people and kept the chronology of the event well. Some neat interviews and that AC....SWEET! A shame that the Austrian Bomb Squad took all the ammo off to destroy, would have been real cool to "make safe" and sell to collectors, then again, 60yr old wet ammo probably unsafe to even make safe.

[Pat Carry]

It sounds like Austria kept the machine guns as well. Thats too bad.

[Jack Cook]

It sounds like Austria kept the machine guns as well. Thats too bad.

Never ASS-U-ME

[Pat Carry]

Jack, you must know something I dont about them there guns!

[Holedigger]

There was a quote of something about Austrian law having to do with allowing export of guns and munitions....they did not clarify and I also came away wondering if the guns were seized or not?!? It would be a shame if they took them just to destroy them! Red Tape!!