Warplane hidden in sands for 68 years
ITS ghostly outline shrouded by the sand and shallow water of a British beach, this is the wreckage of a Second World War fighter plane that may soon be back on dry land after nearly 70 years.
A charity yesterday announced plans to retrieve the remains of the aircraft, a US Lockheed P38 Lightning, from its resting place in Gwynedd, north Wales.
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It has lain there since it crashed on a training exercise in 1942 and the sea only gave up its secret after the sands suddenly shifted.
Its location is still hush-hush to protect from trophy hunters what has been described as one of the most important Second World War finds in recent history.
Amazingly, pilot Lt Robert Elliott walked away from the crash without a scratch but he went missing in action three months later while serving in America’s North Africa campaign.
Now the US-based International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) is looking for backing to raise the plane, dubbed the Maid of Harlech after the 13th-century castle nearby, and for a British museum to accept it.
TIGHAR’S Ric Gillespie said: “Nature did a good job hiding her but until she can be rescued from the sands of time, her actual location must remain confidential. The looting of historic wreck sites by unscrupulous souvenir hunters is a major problem worldwide.”