Any status on this B-17 recovery?

[B-29 Super Fort]

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/b17regis ... 23008.html

[FlyingFortB17]

I do not believe this is the same B-17, but parts from this plane were pulled from a lake and the majority of the wreckage is still down there.

http://www.samoloty.ow.pl/str196a.htm

[tom d. friedman]

is the crash in the zuider zee swampy thing area?? or do i need a geography refresher??

[Harm-Jan Strating]

Afraid you do need a refresher. The Ijsselmeer (formerly the Zuiderzee) is a big lake in The Netherlands.

[DIK SHEPHERD]

Whatever happened to all of that stuff reportedly pulled out of the Zuiderzee, particularly during the 1960s and 1970s?

[Harm-Jan Strating]

Some of it can be found in some of the dutch museums. The most substantial recovery that I can remember, a largely intact B-24 that was recovered with the only surviving crew-member present, was later scrapped, with some parts now on display at the Air Force Museum in Soesterberg. A friend of mine had a prop of (reportedly) this aircraft as a small memorial at the entrance of his companies premises.

A P-47 that was recovered from the Ijsselmeer was for a while displayed at a museum in Lelystad bus was later reportedly sold to Germany. The current whereabouts of this aircraft (that was easily recognisable as a P-47) are unknown to me.

Harm-Jan

[B-29 Super Fort]

I do not believe this is the same B-17, but parts from this plane were pulled from a lake and the majority of the wreckage is still down there.

http://www.samoloty.ow.pl/str196a.htm

Thanks I guess we are still looking for the answer to this mystery B-17.

[tom d. friedman]

the p-47 mentioned was flown by an ohioan who lived 3 hours to the east of me toward the pennsylvania border. he was found in the cockpit in the mid 90's. i have the details on file if anybody is interested.

[airnutz]

I do not believe this is the same B-17, but parts from this plane were pulled from a lake and the majority of the wreckage is still down there.

http://www.samoloty.ow.pl/str196a.htm

Thanks I guess we are still looking for the answer to this mystery B-17.

Hi B-29SuperFort,

The one in the photo(Poland), has been identified as 44-6117, 91st BG,
B-17G, went down 21 June, 1944. www.samoloty.ow.pl/str337a.htm

If you mean the B-17F, 42-3008 of your original query in the Swedish lake
then no, not yet.

[B-29 Super Fort]

quote]

Hi B-29SuperFort,

The one in the photo(Poland), has been identified as 44-6117, 91st BG,
B-17G, went down 21 June, 1944. www.samoloty.ow.pl/str337a.htm

If you mean the B-17F, 42-3008 of your original query in the Swedish lake
then no, not yet.

Yes, sorry I mean the B-17F, 42-3008. What interests me is the description in the Warbird Registry that says it was discovered intact.

[airnutz]

Yes thanks for the clarification B29SF, does sound interesting. As footnoted,
the original source for that info was Geoff Goodall's Warbird Directory, 4th
Edition 2004. I wonder if the Swede location was mis-transcripted??
Poeskallavik yields NO hits with that spelling? Can someone have a look
in the book, please?

[Warbirdnerd]

the original source for that info was Geoff Goodall's Warbird Directory, 4th
Edition 2004. I wonder if the Swede location was mis-transcripted??
Poeskallavik yields NO hits with that spelling? Can someone have a look
in the book, please?

Here is the entry:
7944 • B-17F 42-3008 ditched into lake, Poeskallavik, Sweden 8.5.44
(-DL) located intact, planned salvage from lake .93

[DaveM2]

From my buddy Jan in Sweden

"Re the ever-lasting tale of 42-38008, she was discovered in September 1982 by three fishermen from Oskarshamn on the east coast of Sweden. The wreck is at 40 metres depth, with the fuselage being broken just aft of the wings. Some parts have been recovered, but an attempt during the late 1990s by the Gotlands Flygmuseum to recover her stalled.

One of the many diving expeditions to the wreck saw a diver nearly decapitated when an oxygen bottle broke away. It would appear that the Flying Fortress will remain at the bottom of the Baltic Sea for the forseeable future, mostly due to lack of money and restoration facilities. As she did not serve in the Flygvapnet, the Flygvapenmuseum has no interest in raising and restoring 42-38008. A shame really, as sonar photos show her to be in quite good condition. "

Note it is in the sea, not a lake, but being the Baltic it is cold and doesn't have many 'troublesome' organisms

Dave

[Jan]

B-17G s/n 42-38008, 'Clay Pidgeon' ditched in the Baltic Sea off the Swedish east coast on 8 May 1944. Airnutz, the Swedish alphabet has three additional letters, å, ä and ö, and "Poeskallavik" is spelled Påskallavik, so no wonder you couldn't find any references to it.

Although the location of the ditching is usually given as Påskallavik, that is the name of the parish. However, most reports on this B-17 also mentions the city of Oskarshamn, which is the nearest large city, about 10 kilometres north of Påskallavik. Incidentally, you might also find references to the island of Vållö as the location of the Clay Pidgeon's demise...

One propeller from 42-38008 can be seen here: http://hem.passagen.se/forcelanding/main.htm, and the rest of here here: http://hemsidor.torget.se/users/d/dead/b17.htm

Regards,

Jan

[Jan]

Scott and all,

Please note that the B-17 at Påskallavik is indeed s/n 42-38008, which was B-17G-25-DL c/n 8782, and NOT 42-3008, which was B-17F-15-DL c/n 7974.

Regards,

Jan