HISTORY
It was a twin-engine light bomber, built in the United States by Martin in 1575 units, all destined for the British RAF, for which they entered service from 1942.
It was 14,78 meters long, had a wingspan of 18,69 m, and could reach a speed of 490 km/h. Its armament consisted of eight 7,7 mm Vickers machine guns, four in the wing, two in the dorsal turret, and two in the ventral turret. It could carry up to 900 kg of bombs.
Although the identification is not yet completely certain, it can be said, with a very high probability, that the Martin Baltimore in question is AG699, belonging to the 69th RAF Squadron based in Malta.
AG699 failed to return to base from a maritime reconnaissance mission in the Pantelleria area on 15 June 1942, as part of Operations Harpoon and Vigorous, two heavily escorted convoys, one from Alexandria and the other from Gibraltar, carrying vital supplies for resistance support and operations in Malta.
AG699 had been intercepted and shot down by a Bf 109 of Stab/JG 53 taking off from Pantelleria and piloted by Leutnant Franz Schiess.
Three members of the crew of AG699, pilot Sgt. F.W. Baum, radio operator and gunner Sgt. W.E. Fincham, and gunner R.T. Purslow, survived and were taken prisoner, while Sgt. A. Greaves, navigator, died in the ditching.
Sources:
F. Portella, “LINOSA EXPEDITION REPORT – JUNE 2022”
https://web.archive.org/web/20070920041158/
http://www.marylandaviationmuseum.org/history/martin_aircraft/16_baltimore.html
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_187_Baltimore
Photo: USAAF, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
THE WRECK
The wreck is located a few hundred meters off the coast of the island of Linosa and lies on a gently sloping sandy seabed.
The tail portion rests in 85 meters of water, the bow in 87 meters. The bow is pointing at 220°.
The wreck is in excellent condition, except for a fracture halfway through the fuselage near a twin machine gun and a small portion of the missing left wing. Finally, the forward observer's post is bent to the left side. Directly below the observer's post, there is a hole in the sand approximately 1.5 m in diameter and almost 1 m deep. It is likely that the hole was dug by the impact of the aircraft falling from 87 meters onto the sand, and that impact also further damaged and deflected the fragile observer's post.
The pilot's fairing is still intact, as are the instruments and controls, although no longer in their original location.
The wreck is only partially buried, with the wings and tailplane still raised from the seabed. The vertical tailplane is intact, and the rudder is positioned to starboard. The two three-bladed metal propellers are in excellent condition (the right one is slightly bent). They were most likely stationary and "flapping" when the aircraft landed.
The surface of the aircraft appears to be colonized by marine organisms and there are no traces of paint.
It's worth noting that there are no known complete Martin Baltimore aircraft: no aircraft survived World War II and its subsequent dismantling: only a few pieces remain in a few museums and a wreck in the waters off the Greek island of Ikaria. This greatly enhances the historical and symbolic value of the discovery and identification.
THE MODEL
The three-dimensional model of the wreck is the result of 25.585 photographs, taken in the summer of 2023. Their creation required over 8 hours of bottom time on the wreck, while their processing required over a week of computing time.
Photos: M. Arena, S. Gualtieri, P. Labò, A. Ferrandi, C. De Seta
Elaboration: S. Gualtieri, K. Beemster Leverenz, N. Arena
JOURNEY INTO THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL WRECK
3D photogrammetry of the wreck, freely accessible
Immersive 360° video up to 8K resolution in 3D viewable with smartphone, laptop or
head set “A Martin Baltimore tour with SDSS”
The 3D file to print it with a 3D printer
Virtual tour of the wreck in a virtual reconstruction
Cargo manifest
Ship's plan sheet
Bonus video of some wrecks from the Battle of the Convoys