HALIFAX HR871

Back in July, we had an opportunity to join the Swedish Coast and Sea Centre and the crew of 'River Thames' to document the salvage operation of the Halifax HR871 - a WWII bomber lying at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

A Royal Canadian Air Force heavy bomber, Halifax HR871, served with No. 405 Pathfinder Squadron. Piloted by F/S John Philips, the Halifax was returning from a raid to Hamburg on Aug. 3 1943, when it was struck by lightning and lost two engines and vital flight controls. The crew diverted to neutral Sweden and bailed out of the aircraft. They survived and returned to the UK after being interned for several months.

[TOP]

Rotol laminated wooden prop blade, found UNDER the sand and dug up; notice shattered Merlin engine on the right.

[TOP-LEFT]

Divers swim along the featureless seabed, searching for new parts of Halifax HR871.

[TOP-CENTER]

Kevin Saari holds the main spar of the horizontal tailplane, found UNDER the sand and recovered.

[TOP-RIGHT]

Divers Swim off to the River Thames with their prize of the tailplane main spar.

[TOP-LEFT & RIGHT]

A diver operates vacuum hoses - BLUE and GREEN - digging away the 80 years of sand around the Halifax parts.

[TOP-CENTER]

A diver looks at a Rotol laminated wooden prop blade found UNDER the sand and dug up; notice shattered Merlin engine on the left.

[TOP]

Rotol laminated wooden prop blade, found UNDER the sand and dug up; notice shattered Merlin engine on the right.

[TOP-LEFT]

Divers uncover parts of the wreckage from underneath the sand.

[TOP-CENTER]

A diver operates vacuum hoses - BLUE and GREEN - digging away the 80 years of sand around the Halifax parts.

[TOP-RIGHT]

Salvaged Merlin engine at Trelleborg port.

[TOP-LEFT]

A diver during an ascent back to the surface with one of the vacuum hoses as a reference.

[TOP-RIGHT]

Salvage vessel River Thames on the location of the crash site of the Halifax HR871.

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