Divers in Labrador discover WWII aircraft
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 | 1:29 PM NT Comments2Recommend22
CBC News
Divers in Labrador have discovered the wreckage of a Canadian military plane that crashed in 1942 off Battle Harbour.
It's the first time anyone has laid eyes on the Catalina seaplane since it plummeted into the waters of Battle Harbour, taking two crew members with it. The Catalina, fitted with floats, was a submarine patrol aircraft in WWII.
That day in 1942, the plane, believed to be carrying around eight crew members, was coming into Battle Harbour when an explosive device on the wing went off.
Local folklore says the crash sent water 17 metres into the air. People in the fishing village rescued some of the crew members, and recovered the body of another, but two went down with the plane.
Divers with Ocean Quest, a Newfoundland-based company, explored the crash site this week, and brought back photos and video of the wreckage on the ocean floor.
Michael Earle, manager of Battle Harbour Historic Trust, which now manages the historic site at Battle Harbour, said the pictures show an amazing underwater site.
"To see a diver hovering above this huge engine, it just brought all the stories that we had heard around here to life," he said.
Earle said the divers have been in contact with the Canadian military about how to explore and interpret the crash site, as it is technically a grave.
"I would not want to see it even moved off the bottom," Earle said. "Now is a great opportunity for us to interpret the crash and interpret that engine."
Through a partnership with Ocean Quest and the Battle Harbour Historic Trust, Earle said he hopes the site will become an attraction for divers.
Battle Harbour, a site that houses the last original mercantile fishing premises in Newfoundland and Labrador, is a village on a small island off Labrador's south coast.
Divers in Labrador discover WWII aircraft
Divers in Labrador discover WWII aircraft
For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman. 
