Maritime record MWX1602 - B17 Flying Fortress (Abbotsbury Bomber)

FLYING FORTRESS - Ditched because of damage sustained during bombing raid over Europe. 29-APR-1991 Lies on flat sandy seabed in general depth 13m. Sometimes only the tailplane is exposed, at others the whole aircraft can be seen. (1) The pilot of the American Flying Fortress later described how, in 1943, he was coming in low towards the Dorset coast and was unable to gain height because of damage sustained in a raid over Europe. He spotted the yellow water along the edge of the beach at Abbotsbury. Judging this to be a sign that the water was only a few inches deep, he ditched his failing aircraft, expecting that he and his crew could literally step out of the aircraft and wade ashore...the Fortress is still lying 13 metres down on the seabed at Abbotsbury (2, 3 & 4)

Daily Record 54/43 At 15.35 hours on 5-12-43 in sea ½ mile offshore from new Coastguard Station Abbotsbury MR985047 American Flying Fortress no 297 shortage of fuel.Abbotsbury, Dorset. (5)

"At 15:25 in the afternoon of the 5th of December, 1943, an American Fortress aeroplane crashed in the sea, two to three hundred yards from the beach, half a mile north west of the Abbotsbury coastguard station, as she was returning from an operational flight, A moderate north-north-west wind was blowing, with a slight sea. Two Abbotsbury fishermen saw the crash and put out in their 12 feet rowing boat. They found three men in the water, two of them trying to keep the third man afloat. Another was drifting away in a rubber dinghy. Six were standing on the fuselage of the aeroplane. The two fishermen first rescued the man who was being supported in the water; he was a man of over sixteen stone, and it was only with considerable difficulty that the rescuers hauled him on board. They then rescued the other two men in the sea and made for shore where they again had great difficulty, and shipped a lot of water in getting the big man out of the boat. They then put out again at once to the six men on the rapidly sinking aeroplane, rescued and landed them, put out a third time and rescued the last man from the dinghy. Meanwhile, a doctor was trying to revive the big man, but failed. It was thought that shock, not drowning, caused his death.
Rewards £3." (Source: Supplement to Annual Reports of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution 1939-46)

<1> United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, 1992, Hydrographic Office wreck index (Index). SWX4837.

<2> Hinchcliffe, J and V, 1984, Dive Dorset: a diver guide (1st Edition), p36-37 (Monograph). SWX1714.

<3> Hinchcliffe, J and V, 1999, Dive Dorset: a diver guide (3rd Edition), Wreck 13, p33-34 (Monograph). SWX1.

<4> Le Pard, G, 1995-2003, Dorset Coast Forum Maritime Archaeological Database, Aircraft 1 (Digital archive). SWX8707.

<5> Dorset Police, Daily reports from Chief Constable 1939-1945 (Unpublished document). SDO10197.

<6> Cumming, E, The Dorset shipwreck and maritime incident directory, 12 (Monograph). SDO16406.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 832530 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Apr 9 2024 12:00PM