Great posts Ulrich. I know if anything ends up in a bog as a rule they are very well preserved as bogs lack oxygen and therefore there's little deterioration.
Not long ago on another site was a Russian fighter that crashed into a bog, when recovered the pilot was still in the plane and considering he had been there for over 60 years was amazingly preserved.
Last edited by enfield303t; 06-10-2011 at 01:35 AM.
Why use a 50 pound bomb when a 500 pound bomb will do?
Something happened here with Hurricane in Kent some years ago. The parachute billowed when a gust of wind came too. The body was so complete that they were able to do a post mortem on him. They found bullets in him but couldn't decide whether he died due to the bullets hitting him or the plane hitting the ground. I suppose it's academic really. His name was Hugh Beresford.
But those tanks found in Russian bogs were absolutely amazing............... Any more Ulrich?
For hard core Luger collectors: See Joachim Goertz and and John Walter, THE NAVY LUGER (LPI Press, 1988) for the inventories of & numbers of Navy Lugers that went down aboard various German Navy vessels in WWI
It certainly would be for the odd crate of guns still in the grease that would have ended up at the bottom of the ocean to somehow be preserved. Archaeologists do find wood and metal artefacts in very good state of preservation that are sometimes centuries old. Not very likely, but possible. Even less likely would be to find one ...
Many years ago I had a MP 41 that had been in water a long time. It was amazing just how good it was and the only visible sign was a very rough bore which was not a problem to have fixed.
The wood was almost as good as new and I think part of that was someone had painted it with a ugly green oil based paint.
I never had it fixed and sold it to a collector which I regret as having it today would permit me to have a great prohib. lic.
Why use a 50 pound bomb when a 500 pound bomb will do?
Do we know for certain that rifles packed for overseas delivery were actually in cosmoline? It just seems like it would quite a burden on the troops to degrease them upon issue.
After the war when the rifles were put up for long term storage of course there is no doubt.
Some of the foreign "arsenals" i suspect preserved rifles in drained motor oil from the look of them. :
I was reminded of this thread today when I saw a bundle of Inglis made bare, Mk2 phosphated Bren butt slides. They were factory new and in the thickest dark brown grease you could ever imagine, then wrapped in a thin brown wax proof paper. To be honest, the thickness of the grease and paper wrapping almost hid the identity of what was inside. Just degreasing one in the hot degreasing tub took ages
I'm sure if these were inside a crate in deep water, they'd have survived. I don't know that, but if I refined this grease to create petrol, I'd be awash with the stuff! Multiply that x 30 butt slides and.................................
There is a ww1wreck off long island ,the"oregon" divers find ammo---.45 and 30-06---in fair to poor conditions----no firearms,but plenty of walnut stocks. Tom
fighter that crashed into a bog, when recovered the pilot was still in the plane and considering he had been there for over 60 years was amazingly preserved.
PM
