View non-flash version
LW170 was spared the junk pile and was commissioned by the meteorological division. In August of 1945 while on a routine weather patrol it sprang a fuel leak and its crew was forced to ditch the aircraft in the Atlantic off the west coast of Ireland. The crew drifted for some time before being rescued and several hours later the Halifax slowly sank nose first. The RAF had a basic position given by the navigator on the LW170 as to the ditching point and a ditching radio fix with latitude and longitude to within three nautical miles from triangulated land stations. When the four search and rescue aircraft arrived in the search area to begin a visual search for the men in the dinghy or the air- craft itself they found the Halifax within fifteen minutes floating along the ocean surface. The crew and life raft were found shortly after. As the crew waited for rescue the navigator continued to take copious notes. Based on these logs and navigation fixes along with ocean currents Kjarsgaard believes he has a promising area on the Atlantics Abyssal plane in which to search. This is not the first aircraft Kjarsgaard has raised. Previous projects in Norway, Belgium and Malta have served as learning expe- riences for Kjarsgaard and his team. One such search and recovery expedition took them to a lake in Norway. During the Second World War in an effort to thwart the www.seadiscovery.com Marine Technology Reporter 33Air Marshal W.A. "Billy" Bishop V.C. , an Allied ace of World War I, pins wings on Leading Aircraftman R.N. Harrison ofMontclair, NJ upon his graduation from No. 2 Service Flying Training School at Uplands, Ontario (July 31, 1942). Karl Kjarsgaard , who led the recovery team in 1997, with the aluminum ingots from Halifax LW682. Image: Canadian Armed Forces Image: Bomber Command Museum of Canada (Continued on page 48)MTR#1 (18-33):MTR Layouts 1/3/2012 10:29 AM Page 33
