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Aeroplane traces its lineage back to the weekly The Aeroplane, launched in June 1911, and is still continuing to provide the best historic-aviation coverage around. Aeroplane magazine is dedicated to offering the most in-depth and entertaining read on all aspects of aviation history and preservation. With a distinct emphasis on military machines from the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, the magazine features such icons as the Spitfire, Hurricane, Lancaster and many more. However, Aeroplane also regularly includes articles on historic civil light aircraft and other types that are scarcely covered elsewhere – making it the most balance historic aviation monthly on the market.

Dornier lift gets underway

A sidescan sonar image of the inverted Dornier 17Z WerkNr 1160, lying on the Goodwin Sands off Kent. RAFM

After three years of planning, the operation to recover the world’s only surviving Dornier Do 17Z began off the East Kent coast during the early hours of May 4, when specialist salvage barge, the GPS Apollo, anchored above the spot where the bomber has lain for the past 73 years. During the preceding weeks, divers descended 50ft to the wreck site, on the Goodwin Sands off the town of Deal, to assemble a purpose-built lifting frame around the delicate structure.

The frame is of modular construction, with the lower sections being inserted beneath the wings and rear fuselage before attachment to the upper lifting portion. Once on the surface, the lifting frame is designed to double up as a transport cradle, on which the Dornier was due to be towed north up the coast and then down the river Medway to Chatham, where the “Flying Pencil” was to come ashore.