Aircraft Crash Sites at Sea: A Scoping Study Wessex Archaeology 66641.02
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AIRCRAFT CRASH SITES AT SEA:A SCOPING STUDYA
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EPORTRef: 66641.02Summary
Wessex Archaeology have been funded by English Heritage through the Aggregates LevySustainability Fund to undertake a scoping study to identify current gaps in data andunderstanding relating to aircraft crash sites at sea. The study arises partly out of thediscovery of aircraft parts and associated human remains as a result of marine aggregatedredging.The objectives of the Scoping Study are as follows:
to review existing literature relating to the archaeology of aircraft crash sitesat sea, existing guidance, and the legislative context;
to clarify the range and archaeological potential of aircraft crash sites, bypresenting examples of aircraft crash sites, which will include a range of siteconditions and mechanisms affecting site survival, their management andinvestigation;
to establish the relationship, in terms of numbers and composition, betweenthe National Monuments Record record of crash sites/casualties at sea, andthe possible extent of the overall resource, the surviving resource of aircraft inpreservation, and aviation history overall;
to identify and describe possible additional sources of data, situated both inthe UK and abroad, relating to aircraft crash sites;
to gauge, by active engagement, public interest and values in respect of aircraft crash sites at sea;
to summarise the role and interests of existing authorities and stakeholders inaircraft crash sites;
to contribute to interim guidance for the marine aggregate industry on thereporting, management and investigation of aircraft crash sites at sea; to beforthcoming as part of the ALSF dissemination project;
to make the results of the project available to specialist and generalaudiences, both in England and globally.Thousands of aircraft are likely to have been lost in UK territorial and near-territorial watersduring the 20th century. A high proportion of these losses are likely to be combat losses or accidental losses of military aircraft that occurred during WWII. The potential resource istherefore very large.