Bad weather delays RAF Cosford Dornier bomber move
An attempt to bring the only surviving German Second World War Dornier Do 17 bomber from its watery grave in the English Channel has been postponed for at least a week due to bad weather.
The aircraft was shot down more than 70 years ago during the Battle of Britain and the project is believed to be the biggest recovery of its kind in British waters.
But attempts by Cosford's RAF Museum to raise the relic have been hit by strong winds over the weeks and the operation has now gone back into port after an unsuccessful try last night that was abandoned due to high winds.
Museum spokesman Ajay Srivastava said that it was unlikely that any attempt would be made this week because of the weather but that another try to bring the aircraft to the surface would commence as soon as the weather improved.
The plan to raise the Dornier has had to be adapted and now involves attaching lifting equipment to what are believed to be the strongest parts of the aircraft's frame and raising it whole, in a single lift instead of constructing a cage around it, which was the original plan.
It will then be placed on a barge and sent to the museum's conservation centre at Cosford, Shropshire.
