Balmoral 2024: WWII fighter engine found in bog
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00:00 This is Ray Burroughs, MBE, Chairman of the Ulster Aviation Society, and he's standing proudly here beside the engine of a Hurricane.
00:11 Ray, isn't that great, giving the technical name for this?
00:13 That is correct, it's a Rolls Royce Merlin engine, one of the most famous engines during World War II.
00:18 It not only powered the Hurricane, it powered the Spitfire, the Lancaster, the Mosquito, and eventually the American Mustang.
00:25 And this particular one, this is where the propellers would have been here, Ray?
00:30 Yes.
00:31 And this one has got a very tragic story behind it.
00:35 Yes, the Hurricane took off from Aldergrove in 1940, it was being flown by a Polish pilot.
00:41 Can we just walk around it here while you're talking?
00:43 We were up and around the Cushing Don, Cushing Dall area, the engine seized, and the Polish pilot of course tried to get out.
00:51 Unfortunately, when he stepped out, it went to jump off, his car was too open, and caught around the aircraft.
00:57 So he had no option but to get back in, and by that time the aircraft was in an almost vertical dive.
01:03 So obviously he was killed?
01:06 He was, yes.
01:07 Yes, tragically. And you recovered it in the 1980s?
01:09 We recovered the engine in the 1980s.
01:11 We dug down into the beach bog about 12 feet, and we came across the back of the engine.
01:17 We then erected a short tripod, lock and tackle, dug the hole bigger and deeper, and actually pulled out the whole engine.
01:25 So now anyone can come and, they can book some tickets and come and see it for themselves, and hear the full story?
01:31 Absolutely.
01:32 And where are you based?
01:33 We're based at the Maes Long Cache.
01:35 And they can find you online?
01:36 They can find us online, we have a very active Facebook page, and they'll have no difficulty coming to see us.
01:43 Thank you very much.