While on the final Hamburg raid of 1943 this 405 Squadron Halifax bomber, HR871, was struck by lightning putting out the two inner engines and various instruments. The crew bailed out over Sweden and HR871 on her still running two outer engines headed out over the Baltic sea and eventually crashed into the water and sank to the bottom. On that eventful night this inner engine, put out of action by the lightning strike came to rest upside down where it would remain for the next 78 years until recovered by Halifax 57 Rescue, it remained Upside-down until reaching the RAF Snaith museum workshop.

After 80 years after the bottom of the Baltic sea this spark plug still works!

As I clean the Baltic sea sand from this Rolls Royce Merlin engine from Halifax HR871 which had sat upside-down for 80 years reveals its secrets....
While inspecting the valves and valve seats that remain one has half of it missing , I suspect the seat was cracked in two while in service and as the head corroded away half fell out.
None of the other seats have suffered in this way.

This Rolls Royce Merlin engine from Halifax HR871 which was ditched by the crew after a lightning strike on the last of the Hamburg raids in 1943, the aircraft coming to rest at the bottom of the Baltic sea where this engine sat upside-down for 80 years....
I am quite blown away some of the cylinders have a shine to them!

We have two engines for display at the RAF Snaith museum, a Rolls Royce Merlin engine from Halifax HR871 which was ditched by the crew after a lightning strike on the last of the Hamburg raids in 1943, this engine sat at the bottom of the Baltic sea for 80 years...
The other is a post war Bristol Hercules engine that was at some point taken out of service and stored.... eventually being a display item at a couple of museums...
At some point some clown removed the spark plugs allowing moisture into the cylinders and wrecking what could of been recommissioned to run.

While on the final Hamburg raid of 1943 this 405 Squadron Halifax bomber, HR871, was struck by lightning putting out the two inner engines and various instruments. The crew bailed out over Sweden and HR871 on her still running two outer engines headed out over the Baltic sea and eventually crashed into the water and sank to the bottom. On that eventful night this inner engine, put out of action by the lightning strike came to rest upside down where it would remain for the next 78 years until recovered by Halifax 57 Rescue, it remained Upside-down until reaching the RAF Snaith museum workshop.
Video coming soon.

Finally the Rolls Royce Merlin engine from Halifax HR871 is the correct way up! Possibly the first time since 1943 !
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Handley Page Halifax HR871 of the 405 Squadron RCAF took a lightning strike on the last Hamburg raid on August 2nd 1943, the crew bailed to safety over Sweden and HR871 flew out over the Baltic sea before crashing into the water...
This Rolls Royce Merlin engine from Halifax HR871 came to rest Upside-down on the sea bed where it sat 79 years before Halifax 57 Rescue recovered it.... and it sat the same way on a pallet until today!

A Rolls Royce Merlin engine from Halifax HR871 has sat upside down since 1943 , 79 years at the bottom of the Baltic sea and has remained this way since recovery....
Its time to turn it the correct way up and see what remains of the top of this iconic engine....

The Rolls Royce Merlin V12 from Halifax HR871 gets a step closer to being turned over the correct way after giving the inside the crankcase a few coats of @Lanoguard to help prevent further corrosion....
https://youtu.be/2P-LX1yg9k0?si=l2fq9bcDbrpeputJ

Slowly but surely we bring the former Officers quarters on WAAF site No.1 back to life.

So last August a Rolls Royce Merlin engine from Halifax HR871 arrived at the RAF Snaith museum after spending the best part of 80 years in the Baltic sea!
When it arrived it sat upside-down on the pallet hiding what remains on top of the engine....
Now its about ready to turn over the correct way.

Here we have a Rolls Royce Merlin engine from Halifax HR871 which was ditched by the crew on the last of the Hamburg raids in August 1943 after a lightning strike put both inner engines out of action....this being one of them.
The aircraft came to rest at the bottom of the Baltic sea where it sat for 79 years when Halifax 57 Rescue recovered parts of Halifax HR871.
Now to be displayed at the RAF Snaith museum it needs turning over the correct way but before I can some protection is needed.... this is after two coats of Lanoguard...

So today we investigate the drainage for the former toilets and kitchens on WAAF Site No.1, a dispersed site that served RAF Snaith airfield during WW2.
We also take a look at the Stanton air raid shelter and unearth a golden gem!

Please check out Bodgers channel here.... https://www.youtube.com/@beardedbodger

An engine to be on display at the RAF Snaith museum is this Rolls Royce Merlin engine from Halifax HR871 which was ditched on the last of the Hamburg raids in 1943 after a lightning strike.
It needs turning the right way up but before that some kind of preservation is needed inside the crankcase.....

A Rolls Royce Merlin engine from Halifax HR871 which was ditched over Sweden in August 1943 on the last of the Hamburg raids...
After the crew safely bailed out the Halifax flew out over and eventually crashing into the Baltic sea.

The RAF Snaith museum is located on the former WAAF Site No.1, a dispersed site for the main airfield, the building being the former Officers quarters that included a kitchen which is now back in use.... and this saw one drain backing up and the other had not been much better.....
With the removal of what could be WW2 cooking fat the drains flow once more.

So I decided to investigate the drains at the RAF Snaith museum kitchen..... the drains being the original WW2 ones..... Under one manhole cover was quite a build up of what I suspect is fat build up from both the RAF and Womens Land Army 1941 - 1950 .
After removing the fat I wondered what heat would do to it......

Some days I feel like a history magnet!
After the first opening of the year at the RAF Snaith museum the voluteers take a well earned break but there are many jobs and projects going on that ideally need to be finished for the 12th May ,the official opening of the museum.
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https://fundrazr.com/profiles/halifax-57-rescue-canada
https://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca/

Handley Page Halifax MZ765 took off from RAF Snaith on the 17th February 1945 heading out for an operation but while still over the UK it suffered an engine fire and exploded .... sadly killing two crew and the last time these spark plugs worked.... Will they still work? Let's find out.

Handley Page Halifax MZ765 of 51 Squadron of RAF Snaith was on a daylight raid when it suffered an engine fire and crashed at 13:25 on the 17th February 1945 in Sussex. Sadly killing the Pilot and Bomb Aimer .
79 years later this cylinder from one of the engines returned to RAF Snaith (museum) and I rigged up an ignition coil to see if the plugs still spark.

Here we have a reduction gear casing from a Bristol Hercules engine from Halifax MZ763 which was shot down over the Netherlands in September 1944... The reduction gears are on display at the RAF Snaith museum and the casing has been lightened ready for a 3d printed propeller but first it needs painting black as it was originally.

At 1.20pm on the 19th June 1943 while bomb loads were prepared for the nights operation one of the fuzed bombs exploded setting off other bombs with devastating results at RAF Snaith, a bomber airfield in 4 Group Bomber Command, home to 51 Squadron flying the Halifax bomber.
Some say it was an accident while others claim it to be sabotage, which as crazy as it might sound was an act that happened to Halifax HR936 !
The RAF Snaith museum was open over the Easter weekend and some fetched some actual shrapnel from the bomb dump explosion!

So many distractions in the workshop !
It started with a Rolls Royce Merlin engine and recovered parts of Halifax HR871 which took part in the final Hamburg raid in 1943, the aircraft was ditched over Sweden and came to rest at the bottom of the Baltic sea.
Then we had a reduction gear from Halifax MZ763 which was shot down over the Netherlands in September 1944...
Then came a Bristol Hercules engine......
Today.... today we have the engine cowlings from Lancaster KB974!

It's the week before the Easter weekend and I still have lots to do!

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