Old Wings Genova

Sezione GAVS - Gruppo Amici Velivoli Storici

Aeronautical wreckages
 

Written by Cap. Ernesto Serpetta

What is the reason that divers scuba divers to look for wreckages? Spirit of adventure and of research are fundamental motivations, such as the curiosity of discovering new things, seeing ships of various type, shipwrecked more or less in recent times, famous transatlantic liners from which derive myths, history about humans and about technology, battleships or aircrafts which sank for damages or historical events, shot down war planes and so on.

Obviously the curiosity comes alongside and links with the history of what is searched of found: a history which some times is faced in a superficial way and not deepened in relation with the subject of the research, with the causes which took it to that place and with the events that caused the sinking.

A relict has to be considered as a historical testimony, a technological realisation, result of human’s knowledge, a gift that should not be forgotten in the seabed.

The Associations which are involved in historical aircrafts, in various levels, give a higher value to the find in comparison with a scuba diver which observes the wreckage, simply as an element of the seascape.

The aeronautical Associations which are historically interested in this field are involved in many fronts which range from the restoration, both static and dynamic, to the simple conservation of parts of rare and even unique specimen, pieces which have a great technological and cultural value. Below can be given further considerations:

- A wreckage is destined to be ruined with the passing time, processes come to use up or to eat into metals in an irreparable way, the phenomenon is due and related with time and it is inevitable.
- A further conservation hazard is called “souvenir” (in Italian “ricordino”): an irrepressible need for some people who want to take home “something” of the wreckage they found.

- Nowadays it is possible to recover aircrafts found in the seabed, it is possible to restore them and partially reconstruct them till they can fly again. These are particular operations which need complex interventions that some times are too long both in the case of researching documentations or original pieces and for the reconstruction of the missing parts. In Italy, in opposite to many others countries, European and not, restoration is identified almost exclusively as an operation of static conservation of the aircraft.

- Often aircrafts lying in the seabed constitute the last and the unique remained sign, that is an obvious and a very important testimony, of the aeronautical field, of time machines disappeared from the sky.
That’s why we wish that the main part of aircrafts could be recovered and opportunely treated, to be conserved and get it visible from everybody. We furthermore remember that behind each means of transport it exist a personal history and a human history about those that worked and flown with each machine, historical memories written by men who sometimes where alive and other time were died with their airplane.

The underwater activity can, and maybe, has to be seen as an archaeological activity, a way to discover and spread what sea conserves with regard to the works done by man. It appears quite restrictive to stop to the identification and to the censure of the wreckage, to the study of his history and of what caused the ditching.

We usually talk about the industrial archaeology as a research, tutelage and valorisation of the industrial and the historical heritage and as a possible means for cultural, economical and social development: in this particular context are collocated the Aeronautical Associations which work for the historical reconstruction of the machine and of his history, also linked to whom that have reconstructed it and used it.

It is then right to sensitize scuba divers with regard to the aeronautical finds because they constitute an important sign of the scientific and technological progress.

Now you can have a look to some following review about two restorations, one of which is relatively easy and the other is definitely more complex.

The first restoration underlines that with a strong will and as much economical availability it’s not so impossible to execute dynamical restorations as it happened for this FW190D9. Forward we will make some simple considerations about those works, which we have taken to make you an example.

… That was a relatively easy dynamical restoration, taking into account some consideration and modality of the kind of technical intervention which will give the possibility to fly to this wonderful model of the 40’s…