:00:00. > :00:00.I will be back at the top of the hour but first, looked the
:00:00. > :00:12.challenges faced in raising a German bomber from the sea bed. June 2013.
:00:13. > :00:17.Over 70 years after it crashed in the sea off the Kent coast, a
:00:18. > :00:23.remarkable survivor of the Second World War breaks the surface of the
:00:24. > :00:29.English Channel. The world 's only version of this aeroplane. Known as
:00:30. > :00:32.those who flew it as the flying pencil. Five years after this unique
:00:33. > :00:41.wreck was discovered it has been raised by Britain's RAF Museum. We
:00:42. > :00:44.were there to view it. Now we have returned to talk to those closely
:00:45. > :00:51.involved in the recovery and discover more about this striking
:00:52. > :01:03.relic of the Battle of written. `` Battle of Britain. The seas were
:01:04. > :01:10.calm when the salvage vessel GPS Apollo dropped anchor over the sands
:01:11. > :01:14.in early May. 15 metres below lay all that was left of a wartime plane
:01:15. > :01:19.which nobody thought still existed anywhere in the world. Not only
:01:20. > :01:27.that, it was a true veteran of the Battle of Britain. An aeroplane with
:01:28. > :01:33.a single history. It was shot down on the 26th of August 1914. This is
:01:34. > :01:42.the RAF Museum in north London and on the tarmac here in the car park
:01:43. > :01:45.they have painted the outline. This is where the aircraft raised will
:01:46. > :01:49.eventually end up. In this programme we will be looking back at a
:01:50. > :01:53.successful salvage operation that at one point came perilously close to
:01:54. > :01:58.failure. We will be learning more about the crew of the aircraft and
:01:59. > :02:03.the company that made it. We will see how it has been conserved for
:02:04. > :02:10.the future and we will ask what happens next. It was one of the
:02:11. > :02:16.mainstays of the German bomber fleet at the start of World War II. Day
:02:17. > :02:19.after day, night after night, it pummelled airfields and cities in
:02:20. > :02:23.the run`up to what Hitler hoped would be an invasion. The aeroplane
:02:24. > :02:29.was fast and manoeuvrable, easy to fly at very low altitude and it was
:02:30. > :02:34.popular with its pilots. It was out run and outgunned by the RAF's
:02:35. > :02:44.fighters. From 1941 it was phased out in favour of upgrades. Out here
:02:45. > :02:47.in the salvage effort was justified by the unique status of the wreck
:02:48. > :02:53.but almost immediately things began to go wrong to the frustration of
:02:54. > :02:58.the men from the museum. We probably had the worst may in the UK for
:02:59. > :03:01.about 200 years. We lost two weeks of work on the aircraft due to bad
:03:02. > :03:08.weather. It was exceptionally frustrating. Very stressful, I had
:03:09. > :03:15.to say. No fault of anyone, just mother nature, the wind and the sea,
:03:16. > :03:18.three quarters of the time they sat in the porch just waiting on the
:03:19. > :03:23.weather changing. The original plan had been to build a rigid frame
:03:24. > :03:31.around the cradle of the aircraft to hold it safely while it was raised.
:03:32. > :03:38.The cradle would take the stranger in the lift. The hazardous currents
:03:39. > :03:44.meant that the divers could only go down to assemble it for 40 minutes
:03:45. > :03:47.twice per day. The tides turned and the current season but it was soon
:03:48. > :03:52.clear that that plan was not working. It had been devised by this
:03:53. > :03:59.man, Martin Barker. The main problem was the weather. We were getting
:04:00. > :04:05.limited time to work. We were running out of time, anyway. It was
:04:06. > :04:09.complicated by the fact that we encountered hard talk under the
:04:10. > :04:16.aircraft. It was very problematic to insert the frame partly because of
:04:17. > :04:26.the sea bed. It did not help matters. Not only that but the RAF
:04:27. > :04:31.Museum had a limited budget and it was fast running out. The team on
:04:32. > :04:41.the barge were determined to make it happen but I could see the ? ringing
:04:42. > :04:48.up. There had to be a balance. There had to be a point where we said
:04:49. > :04:51.enough is enough. I think in retrospect we grasp that nettle soon
:04:52. > :04:57.enough to be able to find an alternative. It was apparent that it
:04:58. > :05:01.was going to take far too long. Something had to change. There were
:05:02. > :05:09.a few meetings where we looked at the available options something we
:05:10. > :05:13.considered was to cut it into sections. Nobody wanted to do that
:05:14. > :05:16.and from an operational point of view it did not work for us because
:05:17. > :05:26.one of the big problems we had was that we needed a lift to be flat. To
:05:27. > :05:34.do for them we needed flat it very flat. We knew it had to be done in
:05:35. > :05:38.one left. It became obvious we would not get it done in the time frame so
:05:39. > :05:49.we an emergency meeting to alleviate this problem. We came up with an
:05:50. > :05:57.idea of attaching in to the airframe itself. The idea of building a frame
:05:58. > :06:00.around underwater was abandoned. The museum decided it had to do what all
:06:01. > :06:11.parties had hoped to avoid all along. Attach cables and hope that
:06:12. > :06:16.the airframe could take it. To help take the frame they inserted a beam
:06:17. > :06:21.inside it. We have spent so much effort thinking through the recovery
:06:22. > :06:23.and looking at the issues and the structure and getting the
:06:24. > :06:29.appropriate drawings and engineering information available, that when it
:06:30. > :06:34.came to change the recovery methodology we were in a very good
:06:35. > :06:40.position. The revised plan was put into action on Sunday 2nd of June.
:06:41. > :06:43.Through the day it looks promising and we got out to the site and we
:06:44. > :06:48.have the sponsors and the media people waiting to see the boats
:06:49. > :06:54.which was a big thing to organise. At about 8am the wind got up and it
:06:55. > :07:01.was dangerous to proceed so we had to call things off. Just as the
:07:02. > :07:06.current was low enough to put the diver in, the wind picked up and the
:07:07. > :07:11.movement on the barge meant that it was beginning to get dangerous.
:07:12. > :07:19.Ultimately safety is the most important factor. We had to stop the
:07:20. > :07:28.operation on health and safety. Again, mother nature playing her
:07:29. > :07:40.card. We will look at it at 1am I think. That was incredibly
:07:41. > :07:45.frustrating. Next morning the weather was no better and it was a
:07:46. > :07:48.low point for everyone. After last night had to be abandoned there were
:07:49. > :07:55.hopes that they could try again today but the wind is still too
:07:56. > :08:00.high. We had lost it and we did not know when we would get the next
:08:01. > :08:13.opportunity. There is no doubt that we probably exhausted, by then, all
:08:14. > :08:19.of the available resources. I think there was a realisation that we were
:08:20. > :08:25.very close to having to give up. On the other hand, deep frustration, we
:08:26. > :08:29.knew how close we had come. We knew how close we were to being
:08:30. > :08:38.successful if the weather had obliged. Money was running out, yes.
:08:39. > :08:42.Luckily we received Best adventure of the nation from the American
:08:43. > :08:50.foundation `` a substantial animation. That gave us the
:08:51. > :09:05.opportunity to go back. `` substantial donation. Then the
:09:06. > :09:10.forecast looked good. The GPS Apollo set sail once more. As it arrived
:09:11. > :09:15.over the site, the anchors were deployed to keep the vessel stable.
:09:16. > :09:22.And then, fake intermediate again. This time it had nothing to do with
:09:23. > :09:28.the weather. I nearly died. One of the anchor cables got caught in a
:09:29. > :09:36.propeller and we just thought, what's next? Everything came to a
:09:37. > :09:40.juddering halt. The diver went down to free the cable and he succeeded
:09:41. > :09:51.far more quickly than anyone had expected. We were thinking about how
:09:52. > :10:03.we were wrapping up the project. Then we heard an engine fire. They
:10:04. > :10:11.said they have freed the cable and the anchor is set. It was nerve
:10:12. > :10:17.wracking but we knew there was this big risk that we had to go through
:10:18. > :10:28.with it. It was well worth going for. The dive master looked at his
:10:29. > :10:33.watch and they went in. Suddenly from being down and thinking it was
:10:34. > :10:40.ended we were on a high. I was fortunate enough to be watching it
:10:41. > :10:50.from the cabin. The next thing you know, somebody said, lift, and here
:10:51. > :10:55.comes the aeroplane. I had worked on it for two years without meeting it.
:10:56. > :11:04.I had a visualisation about what it looked like. When it came to the
:11:05. > :11:14.surface it was exactly what I had anticipated. That was quite a
:11:15. > :11:23.relief. I was very concerned that it was not very strong when it was
:11:24. > :11:35.being lifted. The skin was getting quite weak. Up and in one piece.
:11:36. > :11:39.Just. Throughout the night they sprayed it with sea water to flush
:11:40. > :11:45.out rubbish and to prevent corrosion setting in. The job was not yet
:11:46. > :11:51.done. For one thing, they still had to get it ashore. The next day, news
:11:52. > :11:54.of the successful lift went around the world and for this family in
:11:55. > :12:00.Germany it have a special significance. This woman is the
:12:01. > :12:07.daughter of one of the planes crew. The navigator. This is his grandson,
:12:08. > :12:20.Kristian. On the 26th of August in 1940, Herman and his crew took off
:12:21. > :12:25.from occupied Belgium. Soon they were joined by well over 100
:12:26. > :12:34.fighters. They flew over the English Channel towards the Thames estuary.
:12:35. > :12:38.Somewhere over the North Kent coast the formation turned south just
:12:39. > :12:48.outside Ramsgate. RAF fighter command sent planes up to meet them.
:12:49. > :12:53.The aeroplane was hit in with both aeroplanes engines crippled its of
:12:54. > :13:05.no chance of getting back to base. The only option was a controlled
:13:06. > :13:16.crash. The pilot survived. They were captured and sent to Canada as
:13:17. > :13:21.prisoners of war. Herman sent his mother a postcard from the camp,
:13:22. > :13:27.made from a photograph, it clearly shows an injury to his left hand. He
:13:28. > :13:31.lost two fingers in the crash. He had joined because he had flown
:13:32. > :13:39.gliders before the war. He would never fly again. He never told me
:13:40. > :13:43.about the time when he was at war. I think because people wanted to
:13:44. > :13:47.forget all of these terrible events. He always stressed that he was a
:13:48. > :13:56.pacifist and against any kind of islands in war. `` any kind of
:13:57. > :14:02.violence in war. All of the remaining photographs I have are
:14:03. > :14:14.here. This is showing him with his uniform. With his parachute. Four
:14:15. > :14:22.years before he died he talked to me and said he would like to show me
:14:23. > :14:33.something. Then he showed me this picture frame. Then he said, I have
:14:34. > :14:38.two show you something because I remember there is little secret in
:14:39. > :14:43.it. He took this knife and worked a little bit with the night and
:14:44. > :14:51.suddenly opened this one. What we can see is there is metal that he
:14:52. > :14:55.got in the Second World War. G2 the fact that it was not allowed to keep
:14:56. > :15:02.all of the metals with the prisoners of war, he was afraid that he would
:15:03. > :15:12.never see this medal again. He sent it as a gift. This was what we were
:15:13. > :15:20.covered 15 years ago. `` recovered. It was a very amazing and exciting
:15:21. > :15:22.moment for me. Hundreds of these planes were built but even here in
:15:23. > :15:32.southern Germany they do not have one. Only a few fragments. They do
:15:33. > :15:39.have lots about the plane's talented designer. In 1910 he went to work
:15:40. > :15:43.for the airship maker. He designed this rotating hanger which airships
:15:44. > :15:49.could enter whatever the direction of the wind. Zeppelin was so
:15:50. > :15:57.impressed to gave him his own division to run. In the 1920s the
:15:58. > :16:03.name meant flying boats which sold around the world to postal services
:16:04. > :16:11.and Arctic explorers. And then, he produced something truly
:16:12. > :16:14.astonishing, I gigantic plain `` a gigantic aeroplane. So big and
:16:15. > :16:19.powerful that it could cross the Atlantic. The interior of it was
:16:20. > :16:26.luxuriously appointed and it could hold up to 169 people. It first flew
:16:27. > :16:31.in July 1929, just about the time that Germany was finally permitted,
:16:32. > :16:36.a decade after the end of the First World War, to start building
:16:37. > :16:42.military again. Officially it was a civilian mail plane. Everyone knew
:16:43. > :16:46.it was really a military design. When you see the prototypes it is
:16:47. > :16:56.easy to see why it was nicknamed the flying pencil. It was his job to
:16:57. > :17:01.write the aircraft instruction manuals. He vividly remembers the
:17:02. > :17:14.first time he was introduced to the aeroplane. TRANSLATION: Yes, it was
:17:15. > :17:21.in simple terms, a symbol of high`speed. Smooth surfaces
:17:22. > :17:23.everywhere. You also had a modernised cockpit arrangement where
:17:24. > :17:28.you said the crew must be able to work together. The pilot with the
:17:29. > :17:32.navigator, the navigator with the mechanic. It was really a perfect
:17:33. > :17:50.construction. A pinnacle of the time. A special aeroplane and a
:17:51. > :17:55.technology marvel. But first, health and safety checks. A magazine from a
:17:56. > :17:59.machine gun had been recovered. The army were called in and the men from
:18:00. > :18:05.the museum retired to a safe distance while it was x`rayed. It
:18:06. > :18:11.was completely empty. Evidence that cheering that fierce air battle the
:18:12. > :18:16.German crew fought back. The plan was to take the aeroplane to the
:18:17. > :18:20.RAF's musician in Shropshire but first the recovery team had to
:18:21. > :18:30.even at that stage we have spent from the fuse
:18:31. > :18:33.even at that stage we have spent quite a lot of money getting the
:18:34. > :18:41.right equipment out there and buying all of the cutting gear. We thought
:18:42. > :18:48.we would have to cut through the wing. We were fortunate enough to
:18:49. > :18:54.fit through it. Next, they had to lift the aircraft onto flatbed
:18:55. > :18:57.trucks. Here the team faced another unexpected problem. All of the
:18:58. > :19:07.information we have beforehand that the aeroplane weighed five
:19:08. > :19:11.tonnes. When we separated it, we expected the wings themselves to
:19:12. > :19:15.weigh between one and two tonnes. They weighed nearly eight. It was
:19:16. > :19:25.four times the weight we had allowed for in the wing section of the
:19:26. > :19:33.plane. The frame now came into its own on dry land but would it be
:19:34. > :19:38.strong enough? The way I designed that frame was for it to take one
:19:39. > :19:40.time at the centre of each frame member. I do think it was ever going
:19:41. > :19:57.to fail. From the outside I'm sure it looked
:19:58. > :20:07.calm and professional but we were looking nervous.
:20:08. > :20:17.To this day, everyone involved the project are astonished it weighed so
:20:18. > :20:21.much. Apparently there was simply far more water, sand and sea life
:20:22. > :20:24.still in the rectum anyone believed was possible.
:20:25. > :20:44.Slowly the trucks set out on their journey from Ramsgate through Kent,
:20:45. > :20:52.around the M25 and up towards the Midlands. Five days after coming up
:20:53. > :21:02.from the sea bed, the aeroplane arrived. By now, it was starting to
:21:03. > :21:07.dry out. The potentially disastrous trade of affairs. The team worked
:21:08. > :21:14.fast to get it unloaded. It was so much heavier than expected, causing
:21:15. > :21:19.last`minute changes. The museum had brought to poly tunnels, one to hold
:21:20. > :21:23.the wing and want to hold the body. Inside they had installed a
:21:24. > :21:30.hydration system with a mixture of water and citric acid. The idea was
:21:31. > :21:34.that the acid would clean the aeroplane and stop corrosion setting
:21:35. > :21:40.in. The training and development manager here remembers its arrival.
:21:41. > :21:47.In fairness to everyone involved, no one had any idea what was going on.
:21:48. > :21:55.Everyone knew the aircraft and we expected sand and silt is and
:21:56. > :22:00.shellfish. The sheer volume and mass of sea life has been incredible. It
:22:01. > :22:08.is that unexpected component that has caused the most headaches so
:22:09. > :22:14.far. The sea life included algae which flourished in the heat and
:22:15. > :22:20.blocked the pipes with a thick junk. Soon the sprays were running around
:22:21. > :22:25.the clock so that junk did not have the chance to build up. Once these
:22:26. > :22:31.things started to decay the smell was appalling. We went through about
:22:32. > :22:39.three weeks of just pure decay. You could smell decay. It was not
:22:40. > :22:44.pleasant. One of our apprentices, when she went home, her mother was
:22:45. > :22:48.not letting her in the house, she had to be hosed down in the garden.
:22:49. > :22:56.Since these pictures were filmed it has been split into two make it
:22:57. > :23:05.easier to handle. Algae growth is still a problem in what is affect
:23:06. > :23:09.the giant greenhouse. Meanwhile, in the dry of the conservation Centre,
:23:10. > :23:12.volunteers and apprentices have been cleaning up some of the smaller
:23:13. > :23:19.artefacts brought up with the aeroplane. In the long run, it will
:23:20. > :23:24.go on display at the RAF Museum in North London. A poignant and
:23:25. > :23:27.battered survivor of the Second World War. Instead of lying upside
:23:28. > :23:34.down, it will be turned the right way up. To prevent further decay it
:23:35. > :23:38.will have been conserved. It will not be restored to its original
:23:39. > :23:43.condition. To do that then you could not call it that. It would not be
:23:44. > :23:47.genuine. There would not be that iconic link to the past, that
:23:48. > :23:53.crucial piece of British history. You would lose that completely. That
:23:54. > :24:03.is why I am so keen that we should just preserve the original artefact.
:24:04. > :24:18.A number of characteristics features are missing. We would like to
:24:19. > :24:26.recreate these elements to help the visitor see the original site. You
:24:27. > :24:32.can link that aircraft back to a particular day in 1940, most of the
:24:33. > :24:39.artefacts in the collection here do not have that very firm anchor at a
:24:40. > :24:49.particular time and place, because they have got a long history. To be
:24:50. > :24:55.honest, capturing an object and its story in a moment in time, it is
:24:56. > :25:07.rare. There were human beings involved. Much the same as the royal
:25:08. > :25:11.air force, we want to get the same story brought across. From both
:25:12. > :25:17.sides. How did they feel, much the same of their RAF compatriots, what
:25:18. > :25:20.happened on that day. It is a powerful weapon of war but we want
:25:21. > :25:27.to tell the story of the battle.