NAVY NEWS, NOVEMBER 2007 13
Chart to plot
aircraft
crash sites
Finding a new roll
ARCHAEOLOGY experts have
begun drawing an ambitious map
of the waters around England
– charting the spot where aircraft
fell from the sky.
English Heritage has charged for the Harrier
the team at Wessex Archaeology in
Salisbury with the mammoth task
of studying the sites of crashed or
ditched aircraft and helicopters,
be they friend or foe.
Recreational divers and,
S
OME people might think that the Navy’s future
carrier programme is already on a ‘go slow’ - so
far it’s been a decade in the making.
increasingly, dredging fi rms
But going slow could be the key
plucking aggregates from the
to the success of our new fl at-tops
sea bed are stumbling across
thanks to trials by a team from
fuselages, engine parts and other
ATEC, operating from France’s
debris from lost planes.
fl agship carrier Charles de Gaulle.
The team has given advice
Before you all reach for your
to dredging fi rms on how to
acronym lists, ATEC is the
spot aircraft parts amid the
Aircraft Test and Evaluation
tons of gravel and silt they haul
Centre, a partnership of military
from the sea bed – allowing the
personnel, in this case from Fast
archaeologists to accurately plot
Jet Test Squadron at Boscombe
the place where the aircraft went
Down, and civilian scientists from
down.
defence fi rm QinetiQ.
If dredgers do uncover a
Extra work is being done between
wreck site, all dredging stops;
now and the commissioning of
the aircraft are automatically
HM Ships Queen Elizabeth and
safeguarded under the 1986
Prince of Wales in 2014 and 2016
Protection of Military Remains
to enhance the capability of the
Act, so an exclusion zone is
F35B Joint Strike Fighter – the jet
declared around the spot while
which will provide the two ships’
● HUD for heights... A cockpit-
investigations continue.
punch.
eye view of the approach to the
Already charted by the
Trials have already been
Charles de Gaulle from the VAAC
archaeologists is the place where
conducted using the VAAC, an
Harrier and (right) a sizeable
S/Lt J F Yeates’ Supermarine
experimental two-seat Harrier
number of French sailors watch
Attacker plunged into the
operated by the Boscombe
as the specially-adapted jump
Channel off Worthing shortly after
Down experts, to see what can
jet prepares to land on France’s
taking off from the air station at
be squeezed out of JSF when it
fl agship
Ford in July 1956.
eventually appears on the scene.
Pictures: Lt Chris Götke
Five decades later, the dredger
This special Harrier has a rear
Arco Dart hauled wreckage from
cockpit with a similar control
punishment, the VAAC Harrier on
the plane (Yeates’ successfully
layout to the JSF; the experimental
the trial doing a SRVL would then
ejected and was unharmed) out
fl ying controls in the rear cockpit
carry out an airshow bounce (hop)
of the water with sand and gravel.
of the aircraft have been tuned
on deck and then stop in the air
Checks with the RAF and FAA
to match the same responses
before vertically landing on deck.
Museum eventually traced the
predicted from JSF in the hover.
You could call it hopscotch, RN-
parts to the early jet fi ghter, serial
Basically, this means that the
style.
number WP275.
evaluation pilot feels like he is
What slow landings give you is
The Salisbury-based ‘time
fl ying a future JSF.
that your aircraft
team’ has also recently identifi ed
The front cockpit
can return to a
parts of a Junkers Ju88 bomber
has standard Harrier
carrier with more
and possibly an American P51
controls so that
fuel and a heavier
Mustang fi ghter or B25 Mitchell
the safety pilot
payload than
bomber.
monitoring the fl ight
would be possible
Indeed, records show that 935
can take control
recovering using the
aircraft were lost off the Sussex
if something goes
old hover-alongside
coast alone between 1939 and
wrong.
technique.
1945.
Britain’s carriers
The principle of
“Many families today are still
have already
the SRVL is that the
touched by the issue,” said Euan
been used to test
aircraft is mainly
McNeill of Wessex Archaeology.
systems on the JSF
using its jet engine
“It represents a challenge
programme, notably
to stay airborne
when an ‘Autoland’
– ethical and logistical – for the
(‘jetborne’) but
system was used to
marine aggregate industry and
uses some lift from
allow the VAAC Harrier to land
heritage professionals.”
the wing and aircraft body to
on HMS Invincible without input
His team is asking anyone
increase the landing weight of the
from the pilot when she was under
with records or knowledge
JSF, increasing the ‘bring-back’
way in 2005.
of a crash site at sea to get in
capability for fuel and stores.
For the latest series of trials
touch via blogs.wessexarch.
This should offer similar
co.uk/aircraftcrashsitesatsea/
held, the ATEC team headed to

payload benefi ts to a US Navy ● Shimmer and VAAC... The unique Harrier readies for take-off on
the Med and to the de Gaulle (at
or 01722 326867 to help the
Super Hornet, which is brought Charles de Gaulle’s huge fl ight deck
40,000 tonnes she’s about two-
archaeologists draw up an initial
to a screeching halt by wires on
thirds the size of the RN’s future
study.
American fl at-tops.
carriers, but possesses a suffi ciently
“The UK future carriers’ big
Map makers
long deck) to test the ‘Shipborne decks allow us to explore different
Rolling Vertical Landings’ (SRVL, ways of recovering the JSF with
sorry, another acronym) concept. a view to increasing the potential
stay put
Existing Harriers land on ‘bring back’ of the aircraft
Illustrious and Ark Royal by compared to the traditional
hovering alongside the carriers vertical landings which Harriers
then ‘translating’ sideways before conduct,” said Lt Chris Götke RN,
THE people who compile the
dropping gently on to the fl ight the VAAC Harrier Project Pilot.
charts which guide the ships
deck. “This was the fi rst series of
of Her Majesty’s Navy around
The idea of SRVL is to touch embarked piloted SRVL trials to
the globe will be staying put in
down at about 30mph relative broaden our understanding of the
Taunton.
to the ship, with wind down the concept.”
Whitehall has ruled out
deck; a JSF would then use wheel With the trials on Charles de
a possible move by the UK
brakes to stop without the need for Gaulle completed, the team has
Hydrographic Offi ce from
arrester wires (the JSF F35B does returned to Boscombe Down to
Somerset to Devon after an
not have an arrestor hook). conduct further tests; they will
eight-month review of the offi ce’s
As Harrier brakes are not also make use of QinetiQ’s Harrier
future.
designed for this kind of simulators at Bedford.
The hydrographic offi ce began
moving to Taunton during World
War 2 and moved there in toto in
the 1960s.
Clock ticking for Whimbrel
Its key aim is to provide the
RN and British merchant seamen A £2m campaign has been formally launched to bring the last surviving
with the most accurate charts of Royal Navy warship from the Battle of the Atlantic back to Britain as a
the world’s oceans and sea lanes museum.
available. It’s now responsible for HMS Whimbrel was one of the mainstays of the struggle against the
supplying seven out of ten of the U-boat; she is one of 29 Black Swan-class sloops which was built to
world’s mariners with maps. safeguard the nation’s lifelines in World War 2 and served with Johnnie
Whitehall has been looking Walker’s legendary anti-submarine pack.
at providing the UKHO with When she was no longer needed by the RN in 1949 she was sold to
THE ROYAL ALFRED
buildings and facilities better the Egyptians, who used her until 2002, latterly as a training ship.
suited to its 21st Century needs Whimbrel (or ENS Tariq as she is now) is relatively intact; she has SEAFARERS’ SOCIETY
– and considered moving the changed surprisingly little since her days under the White Ensign.
organisation to Exeter to sit The HMS Whimbrel Project intends to bring the ship back from
Providing quality long term edge of Banstead. Donations Head Office, Weston Acres,
alongside the Met Offi ce. Egypt and preserve her on the Mersey as a living memorial to the
nursing care for Seafarers and their and legacies are vital to us and Woodmansterne Lane, Banstead,
Junior Defence Minister men on the Atlantic runs; their battle was directed from the Western
Derek Twigg said that option Approaches headquarters in Liverpool.
dependants. The nation owes a help ensure that our residents
Surrey SM7 3HA.
had now been ruled out and the The Egyptians want to sell the ship by June 2008, so the appeal faces
great deal to its seafarers and our continue to receive the best
hydrographic offi ce and its 1,000 a tight deadline to buy the sloop outright – then bring her home.
home provides them with a safe possible care.
Tel: 01737 353763
staff would be staying in Taunton “The Battle of the Atlantic had enormous significance for the survival haven in old age and adversity.
one way or another. of this country – and the overall Allied success,” said campaign chairman For further information about the
Fax: 01737 362678
The MOD is now looking into Vice Admiral Mike Gretton.
We offer modern en suite rooms services we provide, or for advice
www.royalalfredseafarers.com
either redeveloping the UKHO’s “The battle deserves to be commemorated properly, particularly in
and sheltered flats set in 14 acres on tax efficient giving, please
existing Admiralty Way site, or tribute to the 100,000 men who died in it.”
moving to a new building in the Details of the appeal can be found at www.hmswhimbrel.org or by
of lovely Surrey countryside on the contact: The Chief Executive, Reg Charity No 209776 Est 1865
centre of Taunton. calling 0845 1270780.
NNEW 013_NN_Nov.indd 1EW 013_NN_Nov.indd 1 222/10/07 08:30:352/10/07 08:30:35
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