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A Second World War bomber which lay at the bottom of the Aegean Sea for more than 80 years has been rediscovered.
The wreck was found last year by specialist divers off the Greek island of Antikythera, more than 60 metres below sea level.
Baltimore FW282, operated by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), was shot down in December 1943 while returning from a reconnaissance mission. British airman Leslie Norman Rowe died in the incident, as did RAAF Pilot Officer Colin William Walker and Royal New Zealand Air Force Warrant Officer John Gartside.
The sole survivor was Australian pilot William Alroy Hugh Horsley, who was captured and spent the rest of the war in German captivity.
Horsley later described his escape from the waters in which FW282 crashed. ‘The aircraft was submerged at the nose, and water was up to my neck. I released my safety harness, stood up and the aircraft submerged under me.’
‘I swam over the spot where the aircraft submerged, but no one else left the aircraft, which sank in deep water about 300 yards from the northern shore of Antikythera,’ Horsley added. ‘I then swam to shore in full sight of the spot until picked up by some fishermen.’
Suspecting it to be the missing RAAF aircraft, AegeanTec, the Greek technical diving team that made the discovery, reported their find to the history and heritage branch of the Australian Air Force. It was later positively identified as the missing Baltimore FW282.
‘This aircraft discovery is significant and offers the chance to provide closure to families,’ said RAAF chief, Air Marshal Stephen Chappell.
Chappell’s counterpart in the RAF, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, added that the find affirmed relations between the British, Australian, and New Zealand airforces.
‘It’s an honour to acknowledge the bravery of the multinational crew,’ Sir Richard said. ‘This was a generation that embodied the importance of service and comradeship.’
