Crowds welcome Dornier to RAF Museum Cosford

More than 100 people saw the dismantled aircraft arrive on the back of three lorries, with children waving and cheering as it went past. The main body of the aircraft was the first to be uncovered and unloaded by crane, with the wings, engine and other parts due to be unloaded and placed in purpose-built hydration tunnels later today.

The plane was pulled out of the English Channel off the Kent coastline in a £500,000 recovery operation.

General manager Alex Medhurst said: "There's a huge amount of work that has gone into this. It was supposed to be here earlier this week but the weather has been a big problem.

"It's great that it's finally here and I'm glad to see so many people have come down, especially considering that we were not sure when it would get here."

Darren Priday, deputy conservation centre manager, said: "It's been a long and tiring week with highs and lows.

"I was fortunate enough to see it being lifted out of the water.

"It was a huge relief to see her for the first time. It was just pure excitement."

Once the aircraft is put in the hydration tunnels, it will be sprayed with a combination of citric acid and water to remove crustaceans and stabilise the metals. It will continue to be monitored and it is estimated it could take up to two years before the next stage of the conservation work starts.

Welder Gary Pearson, aged 42, of Codsall, said he had made a special visit to RAF Museum Cosford to see the aircraft arrive.

The father-of-three said: "I've been following this since it was discovered. It is an amazing piece of history."

The German bomber was shot down by the RAF more than 70 years ago. Experts from the RAF Museum and marine recovery company SeaTech successfully lifted the plane from its watery grave at Goodwin Sands, near Ramsgate. It will eventually be transferred to the RAF Museum in London.