Found wreck of a Douglas A-20
A warm evening in late July, in Rome. The phone rings. "Hello, Eleanor, what are you doing tomorrow?". Are Giorgio Campanini and Laura Nalli, diving friends Roman experience in international waters of Ponza. "Andrea and Valentina of Ponza Diving Center, they discovered something new. An airplane, absolutely intact, the Second World War to 60 meters deep'...". Twelve hours' later we are already 'gliding at full speed' to a point sometime between Ponza and Palmarola, at the height of the Sand of the two bricks. Andrea gives instructions to Valentina, at the helm, to coincide exactly three alignments that indicate the exact point of immersion. Peep the designs scrawled on a scrap of paper: "Align the white house with the mountain" ... but they are all white, the houses of Ponza?! We, from the bottom. "We dress quickly and we throw into the water. A fifteen meters already 'see the end: a pile of rocks aligned stop light of the sand. We go down again, the "rocks" are made in the silhouette of a plane! E 'leaning on the white sand, absolutely intact. As recently placed on the bottom, led by its drivers to the last landing, as if ready to take off from this track underwater, fly through the water and, again, in the sky. We arrive at the bottom: 58 meters are accurate. The clarity of the typical sea of \u200b\u200bPonza makes everything look easy and simple, while in reality 'this is a very challenging dive, but because it' s absolutely "square" conduct that is' always maximum depth '. There 'a lot of time to lose, then: a quick tour of the plane to realize that is not' very large, will 'fifty feet long with a wingspan similar, two propellers and two large gaps in body of the plane, a bow and just behind the wings: here's' a machine gun, still rotating. The "face" and 'cut the height of the passenger compartment intact the glass of the windscreen and' clouded by encrusting sponges and bryozoans. Patches of tens of networks held in the years surrounding the plane engines and the nose, red and orange sponges covering the metal structure in patches. Tall and imposing the helm, chosen by an ... Squid step to abandon its eggs.
After 18 minutes of immersion, with reluctance, we detach from the plane to begin the ascent: the decompression starts already for prudence 'to 12 meters and will last around' more 'than half an hour, went to exchange impressions and emotions with alphabet mute and eloquent gestures and facial expressions. We do not have time to put your head out of the water that we bury the boys diving with an avalanche of questions: how, when you find out? And that plane was? What 'the story? When and 'sunk? "Let's go with order" Andrea smiles. "And 'ever since we opened the diving ponzesi we were talking about this phantom airplane. An acquaintance of ours recounted seeing a plane falling during the War, when he still a boy. Finally in June we got a fisherman, and between dives in the diving, has brought with it '. We descended into the blue overall, believe not find anything ... and instead we just fell over! "As I have been told so many stories on this aircraft," adds Valerie. "They say it was even ditched too close to the coast and then was dragged off and then let it sink again. But what kind of plane it is, and what nationality, 'this really do not know. It would be interesting but' try find out. " We agree, of course, and we agree to immediately involved my father, an aeronautical engineer. Knocked off 'a sketch, adding all the details that come to mind: quote, estimated length, wingspan. A fax to England and shortly after a phone call my father and 'even more' me intrigued by this discovery is already 'begins to make assumptions, could be a British destroyer, or perhaps an American. Or maybe also German, who knows'. Do you need other photos that depict the engines ("Fundamental to know if online or star," who knows 'who wants to' say), then the shape of the rudder, the nose ... Leaving for Corsica, passes the baton to Roberto Rinaldi. The double shots for me, even for my father and his colleagues, meanwhile, have already 'fans to this story. The next day in his office, photocopies find waiting for me. "I think can be an A-20 "and 'the interim award." To be sure I would need more photos, but I do think it's him. "Meanwhile, spread other" urban legends ": it is said that the plane both English and that, having seen him fall, a fisherman has been rushed to collect the drivers who, since then, they return every year to visit. It should be easy to verify, but it happens and the fisherman 'who died just a couple of months ago, the venerable age 'of 90-odd years. And no one, Ponza, knows anything or' of this story. The voice of the discovery spreads: talk about newspapers, television and cares, it seems, even the famous CNN. spend weeks and so far the aircraft and 'still without a name, its history is still unknown. In the coming weeks we will dive again, trying to clarify the mystery: we will take steps to compare them with the A-20 reported by the books and, if they match, we will try to locate, according to the drawings, and to discover the national emblems . If the paint will have 'endured fifty years of diving, we perhaps to read the serial numbers of the aircraft: and at that point, trace the history of this aircraft and its ill-fated last mission should not be difficult. We will keep you informed!
The history of the A-20
The career of Douglas A-20 attack plane built in different configurations, and 'was in many ways much less spectacular than that of other aircraft: it was particularly important protagonist of operations it 'stood out in decisive battles, but was' an air of great expectations and above all extremely versatile, used in operations to attack both day and night, equipped for reconnaissance and photodetector for enemy territory, the bombing and a quantity ', about thirty in all, distinct from other uses. At the forefront of just about anywhere and under any condition (from Russia to the Pacific and even in the desert) was, according to the pilots, one of the best combat aircraft to fly.
The first nation to buy the Douglas Model 7B "was France, but the required changes were such that it was out virtually a new aircraft, which was given the name DB-7 (DB Bomber Douglas), who run 'maiden flight August 17, 1939. France ordered 'total 951 airplanes, but few of them were delivered and used, before the surrender. The rest were bought and renovated by the British for pilot training as the Boston I. The Royal Air Force commissioned 'right after the construction of dozens of other aircraft primarily as bombers, but after the German blitz in the United Kingdom a number of DB-7 was set up to hunt at night and penetration, and then renamed Havoc I. Given the extreme adaptability 'of the plane, which allowed use of a different nature, including the United States would order a wide specimens, which were named A-20. The DB-7, in its various forms, was used by the military Air Forces of all Allied nations, for which there were models that flew under the American flag, French, Belgian, South African, Russian, Dutch, a dozen aircraft were purchased even from Brazil. Production was interrupted September 20, 1944: it was built in different models and configurations, a total of 7385 specimens. In Europe, the American A-20 carried 39,493 sorties, which dropped 28,443 tons of bombs. During this raid 265 aircraft were shot down. The plane of Ponza is one of these? Note Ponza Diving Center
Since June 2000 the aircraft was presumably buried. It 'a strange phenomenon, but the bottom is up 7 meters (from 59 to 52 meters where it was present). The diving will keep us updated on what's new. Each year the staff make at least a dive to check any changes .
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