Flying boats in Windermere BBC Inside Out

[parahandy]

Forgot to ask last week, but did anyone else see the bit on the BBC North West Inside out programme about the scuttled Sunderland flying boats?

One guy of the divers was attempting to relocate them, make an interesting wreck dive!!!!!!. www bbc.co.uk/insideout click on the North West menu.

[Ben Harris]

Yeah I saw it, it was a bit wierd with that diver saying he knew the location than forgetting, bit wierd. Would be a good dive, how deeps that bit of Windermere?
Anyone got a sonar??

[Lou]

And the southern version had 'em looking at brittle stars in Kimmeredge Bay!

I think yours was a bit more hardcore!!

[andy2tanx]

you may need a sonar to find the plane, but when you've found it you'll need a 20ft long pole to shove through the silt to contact the fuselage!!

[Ben Harris]

Always liked a challenge... Silt Diving!!

[parahandy]

According to a rough map furnished by an Aviation historian contact (and it's only a sketch) there 30m of water there. There used to be a fair wall dive nearby, as already mentioned the bottoms mud and silt.  Need a fair sized lifting bag!!!!!!!:lol2:

[Ben Harris]

Couple of Balloons and a few DSMBs should do the job.

[parahandy]

Ben
Reminds me of the last time I dived the lake and used a SMB in Windermere,doing the old checking about drill on the ascent a bloody speed boat and water skier sped past overhead.
Yes i could see him :maniac:My SMB had one of those pretty Blue and White A Flags on top.
Don't think they know the meaning of an A Flag, think he thought it was a marker for water skiing:scared:

[Ben Harris]

Isnt that why people carry dive knifes!! (only joking!)

[Hobby]

I've done a fair bit of digging on this as one of my old man's dive partners came from the area and his Grandmother(honestly) told him the story.This is confirmed via research into local newspaper archives etc.Now there seems to be a couple of versions of this story,one is that several boats were scuttled.I was led to beleive that several boats broke their moorings one night in foul weather,two collided and one sank.Now I know someone else "here" has done a proper search re.this and found traces submerged deep in the mud that appear to be the boat/boats.Now I know the person in question,have great confidence that he knows his stuff and if he says it's not on it is'nt, so basically my interest in this intriguing tale was countered as the boats appeared to be beyond reasonable reach.However,earlier in the course of things,before I came to know,well anyone here,I'd made an attempt to contact a local man who sometime ago claimed he'd found,complete and on the bottom one of the boats.The guy had moved abroad however and I'd given up hope of contacting him when months later out of the blue he came hame to visit and contacted me.Now the guys not a diver as such,he dives I beleive in the pusuit of other agendas and recounted to me how he unexpectedly came across the F.boat some 5 years ago.3 yrs ago he decided to have another look but failed to find it,he gave me a rough location as to where he was when he found it.I intended to take the matter up with the guy who'd found the other traces and see if anything matched but I have'nt got round to it,yet.That's all I can tell you,flying boats are a passion of mine and I'd dearly love to dive her if she's there,but she maybe buried.Whatever,the story continues!Take care all,Hobby.