Wellington Bomber N2980

ON THE 21ST SEPTEMBER 1985 WELLINGTON BOMBER N2980 'R'R FOR ROBERT WAS RECOVERED FROM A DEPTH OF/ 70 METRES AT A LOCATION 200 METRES DIRECTLY OFF SHORE FROM THIS POINT./ THE WIMPY WAS RAF BOMBER COMMANDS MAINSTAY IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THE 2ND WORLD WAR 1939 - 45. ITS UNIQUE GEODETIC CONSTRUCTION, THE BRAINCHILD OF THE LEGENDARY SIR BARNES WALLIS OF BOUNCING/ BOMB FAME, ENABLED IT TO SURVIVE BATTLE DAMAGE THAT WOULD HAVE DESTROYED LESSER MACHINES./ WHILE 11,461 WELLINGTONS WERE BUILT, MORE THAN ANY OTHER BRITISH BOMBER. N2980 IS NOW THE ONLY/ KNOWN EXAMPLE OF ITS BREED THAT SAW ACTION TO HAVE SURVIVED INTACT FROM THOSE YEARS OF/ BLOOD, TOIL, TEARS AND SWEAT./ N2980 IS AN EARLY MK 1A BUILT BY VICKERS ARMSTRONGS AT WEYBRIDGE IN NOV 1939. WHILE SERVING WITH/ 149 SQUADRON AT MILDENHALL IT TOOK PART IN THE FAMOUS BATTLE OF HELIGOLANDBIGHT ON THE 18TH DEC. 39./ THIS WAS THE FIRST MAJOR ENCOUNTER OF THE WAR BETWEEN THE ROYAL AIR FORCE AND THE LUFTWAFFE. FROM A FORCE OF 22 WELLINGTONS DRAWN FROM 149, 9 AND 37 SQUADRONS, THE LUFTWAFFE SHOT DOWN 12./ IT WAS A DIRECT RESULT OF THIS DAYLIGHT RAID ON WILHELMSHAVEN THAT BOMBER COMMAND ABANDONED/ PRE-WAR POLICY OF DAYLIGHT RAIDS ON TACTICAL TARGETS AND SWITCHED TO NIGHT OPERATIONS. THE THEORY LONG/ CHERISHED, THAT THE BOMBER WILL ALWAYS GET THROUGH, PERISHED THAT DAY ALONG WITH THE 12 WIMPYS./ N2980 ALSO SERVED WTH 37 SQUADRON AT FELTWELL AND AFTER 14 MISSIONS OVER GERMANY WAS RETIRED/ FROM ACTIVE SERVICE TO 20 OP TRG. UNIT AT LOSSIEMOUTH IN OCT. 1940. WHILE ON NAVIGATION (...) EXERCISE/ IT DITCHED ON LOCH NESS DURING A SNOW STORM ON NEW YEARS EVE DUE TO FAILURE OF THE STARBOARD ENGINE./ OF THE 8 CREW MEMBERS, 6 BAILED OUT, THE TAIL GUNNER WAS KILLED WHEN HIS PARACHUTE FAILED TO OPEN./ THE PILOT AND CO PILOT DITCHED THE AIRCRAFT AND ROWED ASHORE IN THEIR INFLATABLE DINGHY./ N2980, NOW RESTORED, CAN BE SEEN ON THE SITE WHERE IT WAS BUILT, AT BROOKLANDS MUSEUM, WEYBRIDGE./ THIS PLAQUE WAS ERECTED BY THE LOCH NESS WELLINGTON ASSOC, LTD, ON THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE/BATTLE OF THE HELIGOLAND BIGHT, 18TH DEC. 1989, TO COMMEMORATE THE RECOVERY OF 'R FOR ROBERT'/UNVEILED BY PUPILS FROM DRUMSMITTAL SCHOOL/NEWMILL CASTINGS LTD, ELGIN Plaque about SONAR scan SIDE-SCAN SONAR IMAGE OF UNDERWATER WELLINGTON / In 1940 the Wellington World War II Bomber "Robert" ditched opposite this site in / Loch Ness as detailed in the nearby memorial. It lay lost and forgotten for 36 years. In the interim, scanning sonar was invented, then manufactured and ultimately / deployed in the Loch by a team of the Academy of Applied Science (USA), led by / Dr. Robert H. Rines, searching for evidence of living underwater creatures. / Imagine the surprise when in June 1976, the sonar screen suddenly etched out the image of the sunken aircraft on the Loch bottom. Robert had found Robert! The almost / intact plane was later lifted from the Loch in 1985 and is now on display at the / Brooklands Aircraft Museum near London. / Dedicated June 29 2002