Minesweepers find aircraft wrecks on the seabed

A NATO minesweeper squadron yesterday found a Beaufighter wartime bomber and a late 1940s Firefly naval fighter in searches off Malta.

Ray Polidano, who heads the Malta Aviation Museum, said the assistance of the minesweepers had been sought so that their equipment could check the condition of a number of known aircraft wrecks on the seabed. That operation led to the discovery of the hitherto unknown wrecks of the two aircraft.

Mr Polidano said the Beaufighter was in good condition while the Firefly was in five pieces. However, there were no plans to recover them.

Among the known wrecks located yesterday was that of an American Skyraider whose pilot was the first to have ever been rescued by a helicopter, in 1946.

One of the vessels accompanying the minesweepers, the FGS Danau of the German Navy, also provided the AFM Air Squadron with the opportunity for some deck landing experience for its helicopter pilots. The AFM said all its helicopter pilots and crews are being trained so that operations can then be conducted using the AFM’s P61 long-range patrol boat, which has a helicopter deck.

Similar training was carried out on the USS Robert G. Bradley in April.

Some of the helicopter crews logged as much as 20 landings on deck during a single sortie.