Polish historians find WWII bomber with remains of Canadian, British crew

CANOE ^ | December 1, 2006 | MONIKA SCISLOWSKA

[lizol]

Polish historians find WWII bomber with remains of Canadian, British crew

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA

WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Polish historians have recovered a Royal Air Force Halifax bomber from the Second World War and the remains of its Canadian and British crew, a find yielding treasures for a Warsaw museum that could also provide closure for the families of the doomed airmen.

The badly-damaged hull of the bomber from the 148 Squadron RAF, with remains of its crew, documents and personal belongings, was recently found buried under a field near the southern town of Dabrowa Tarnowska, project manager Piotr Sliwowski told The Associated Press.

According to records, the Halifax JP-276A took off on its final flight with a crew of five Canadians and two Britons from the Italian city of Brindisi around 8 p.m. on Aug. 4, 1944. Canadian pilot Capt. A.R. Blynn was leading the mission to drop supplies of weapons and ammunition to the Polish underground as the Warsaw ghetto uprising raged.

But it was shot down by Poland's Nazi occupiers and remained buried for more than six decades until local residents revealed its location earlier this year. They alerted Warsaw's Museum of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, which started recovery work about two months ago, Sliwowski said.

All elements are now in the museum in the capital undergoing conservation and restoration, said Sliwowski, who heads the museum's history department.

"This is an extraordinary, rare find," Sliwowski said. "There are only three Halifaxes in museums around the world."

The discovery took on a human dimension with the find of the remains of the airmen.

"These were boys aged 28 or 30. Their remains were for decades in the ground; now they will be able to return to their homelands," Sliwowski said.

The historians also found documents, notes and maps and personal items like a folding knife and an well-preserved aviator's badge, "looking like new," Sliwowski said.

"It takes you back 62 years and you start thinking, what were they like, what did they look like, did they have girl friends."

The historians have contacted the British and Canadian embassies in Warsaw.

The plane was part of the Allied effort to supply Poland's resistance near the end of the Second World War. Although its mission came early on in the Warsaw uprising, the planes were banned by British Air Marshal John Slessor from flying over the capital because of the danger and ordered to drop their supplies elsewhere, Sliwowski said.

Containers of weapons and ammunition were found aboard the crashed Halifax.

There are only two restored Halifax bombers in the world, one on display on Britain's Yorkshire Air Museum and the other at the Royal Canadian Air Force Museum in Trenton, Ont. A third Halifax is on display in its "as-recovered" condition at the Royal Air Force Bomber Command Museum in London.

[ARE SOLE]

There was no more beautiful bomber in WWII than the Boeing B-17, aesthetically speaking, IMNHO. Graceful and lethal.

Not so fast Jim.

The Mosquito was conceived as a bomber but it could out climb and out turn a Spitfire. And with is twin Rolls Royce Merlins, it was faster.

It cost a third of what a Lancaster bomber cost and suffered just 1/10th of the losses. It could carry 4000 lbs of bombs all the way to Berlin.

The Mosquito’s Light Night Striking Force took over from the heavy bombers attacking Berlin night after night virtually without loss with a crew of just two.

Each Mosquito delivering a heavier bomb load than the American B17 (crew of seven) heavy bomber, (for distant targets such as Berlin the B17's bomb load was less than 4000lb's). So fast and efficient was the Mosquito it was possible to bomb Berlin early in the evening, return, refuel, recrew and attack Berlin twice in the same night effectively doubling the size of the LNSF.

The upgraded Night Fighter Mk XXX was powered by the 1710 hp Rolls-Royce Merlin 76 engines giving it a maximum speed of 416 mph and a range of 1159 miles. It had the standard 4+4 armament in the nose. It first flew in 1944.

And it was beautiful,

Regards.

[ken5050]

Concur..BTW..Did you ever see the pics of the first versions of the B -17, the test flight prototypes..before they completely redesigned the tail assembly..it was really ugly..ungainly looking..

[ken5050]

Yup..it was beautiful....as was the P-38

[Snowyman]

And it was beautiful,

And it was made out of wood. Plywood and balsa.

[gymbeau]

You're right. I had forgotten the gorgeous Mosquito. I suppose I had meant to say the B-17 was the most beautiful heavy bomber.

Cheers
Jim

[ARE SOLE]

You're right. I had forgotten the gorgeous Mosquito. I suppose I had meant to say the B-17 was the most beautiful heavy bomber.

Aye, right Jim. You Candians know it well.

Regards.

[ozzymandus]

I would guess they were more like 18 and 20.

[fish hawk]

Is this a Polish joke?

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

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[ripley]

Welcome homeMen!!!!!Rest in peace.

AMEN

[mcfitz]

The pilot of this plane, Arnold Blynn, was my great uncle. He was married but had no children and I understand his wife remarried and is deceased. My mother and her siblings are awaiting more news of what they have found and any new information. My Grandfather spoke often of him and I have seen pictures of them. I only wish my Grandfather was still alive to see these pictures and know that his brother will finally rest in peace. Thank you to all who speak so highly of these men. We are glad to welcome them home and finally allow them to rest in peace. Thanks again

[alfa6]

Deepest Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[MissP-38]

Most definitely the P-38! My Dad was part of the 41st Photo Reconnaissance out of Guam. His plane was name for me!
He took photos of the damage after the bomb was dropped in '45.

[painter]

What a neat looking badge!

[painter]

most people today think the B-17 was the ONLY US bomber in the war, when in fact more B-24s were produced than B-17s, and they flew more missions and dropped more bomb tonnage than the B-17s. Go figure..

The B24 also carried a bigger bomb load. I think the Memphis Bell brought all of the attention to the B17 during WWII.

[ErnBatavia]

http://www.cloudnet.com/~jfb/

[ErnBatavia]

John Briol was wifey's uncle. Great book.

[Teacher317]

I'm not sure the sarcasm tag is necessary anymore. I'd bet a nickel they WOULD be forbidden, if the families wanted them as momentos.

[sixgroupgunner]

Its interesting that they found Merlins. Merlins were used only on early versions of the Halifax (pre-Mk III"s I eehink). Later marques were equiped with Hercules radials. I would have thought that by August 1944 pretty much all of the early marque Halifaxes would have been relegated to towing drones and other non-combative tasks. Early Lancasters, on the other hand, were powered by Hercules engines, which were changed to Merlins from Mk II on. For reasons no one seems to be able to explain, this swap of engine types significantly improved the performance of both aircraft. While it could not carry the same bomb load (partially because of the location of the main spar)the Halifax was actually slightly faster than the Lancaster. The Halifax pictured on this website was equiped with Merlins.

My father (who died on Christmas Day) was a Halifax tailgunner with 426 Thunderbird Squadron. The last conversation I had with was on Christmas Eve, and we talked about the discovery of this aircraft. He was particularly interested because the pilot, P.O. Blynn, was from Kingston, Nova Scotia, a small towm about five miles from where we live.