Aviation Archaeology Offshore: The Recovery of a Rare Ju88 Aircraft Wreck during Work for the New London Gateway Port

Abstract

During dredging works for the new London Gateway Port in 2011, fragments of a German Ju 88 bomber were recovered from the Thames Estuary. Subsequent archaeological investigation by Wessex Archaeology, using geophysical survey and divers, resulted in the location of the wreck site and its subsequent recovery under licence in 2012. Post-recovery analysis has enabled it to be identified as a very rare prototype Ju 88T. The aircraft, flown by men of the secretive Luftwaffe special operations unit VOdL, was lost during a reconnaissance mission to record bomb damage at Chelmsford in 1943. The Norwegian fighter ace who shot it down, Marius Eriksen, subsequently achieved fame as a Norwegian skiing champion and actor. The recovery was unusual in that it was carried out as a staged archaeological investigation and in the context of offshore development, where ‘avoidance’ is the usual strategy.     

Bruit aérien et équité environnementale dans les quatre plus grandes métropoles canadiennes

Previous environmental equity studies have examined the spatial distribution of aircraft noise across cities. Their findings show that, in several cities, visible minorities and low-income populations are most affected by aircraft noise. In contrast, one study concludes that well-off populations are the most affected. These contradictory findings support the use of a comparative approach for several cities. The aim of this study is twofold. First, we want to identify if there are groups in the population that are in a situation of inequity to aircraft noise exposure in Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver, and Calgary. Then, we want to check if the exposure to the aircraft noise of the different groups varies significantly from one metropolis to another. We use the recommended noise exposure contour maps in Canada: the Noise Exposure Forecasts. Next, four variables are extracted from the 2016 Statistics Canada census at a fine-scale level (dissemination areas): that is, the percentages of low-income, visible minorities, 0- to 15-year-old, and 65-year-old and over populations. The results of a mixed effects logistic regression model show that environmental inequities in terms of exposure to aircraft noise for the four population groups are not consistent from city to city.     

In-situ Corrosion Studies on Wrecked Aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy in Chuuk Lagoon, Federated States of Micronesia

A preliminary in-situ corrosion survey of the submerged Japanese WWII aircraft in Chuuk Lagoon, in the Federated States of Micronesia, has provided information on the way in which the wrecks interact with the marine environment. The aircraft are characterised by a lack of encrusting marine organisms and are clearly identifiable. The values of pH and the corrosion potentials vary with depth and the voltage depends on the composition of the underlying metal alloys. It is possible that with additional data from these non-destructive methods techniques it will be possible to provide marine archaeologists with appropriate diagnostic tools.
© 2006 The Author.