Up next in 10
In November 1944, a B-17 Flying Fortress was struck by flak, killing the navigator instantly. His crew placed him in the nose tunnel for safekeeping, intending to bring him home. The aircraft never made it back and ditched off the island of Vis in Croatia.
For decades, the wreck lay silent on the seabed, guarding Ernest Vienneau until his remains were finally recovered by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA)
In this video I explore this incredibly preserved B-17 Wreck. You will see the cockpit, the engines, and the specific tunnel section where the navigator was found.
In this dive:
*The history of the B-17 mission in 1944.
*Technical Scuba Diving Vis Island: navigating the deep wreck
*A comparison of the ditching performance of the B-17 and B-24
You may also enjoy my video about diving the B-24 Lady Luck which lies close by - https://youtu.be/QUUmdqExamo
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*THE LOCATION*
If you want to dive this B-17, the B-24 Lady Luck, and/or the many other wrecks on the island of Vis, I strongly recommend Manta Divers and my friend Andi Marovic. He's at [email protected] or https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61580766149788
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*THANKS*
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
For 80 years, this B17 flying fortress
0:04
carried a dead man. His name was Ernest
0:08
Veno, a young American airman whose job
0:11
was to guide the bomber across miles and
0:14
miles of hostile territory.
0:17
Navig, what's the ETA for our target?
0:20
About 11 minutes. He was killed
0:22
instantly when the aircraft was hit by
0:25
flack on a bombing mission over Europe.
0:28
In a heavy bomber, the navigator sat in
0:31
the nose, surrounded by glass and thin
0:34
aluminum. It was one of the most exposed
0:37
positions in the aircraft. With nowhere
0:40
else to place him, the crew laid his
0:42
body in the narrow tunnel beneath the
0:44
pilot seats and kept flying.
0:48
When I first dived this aircraft, he was
0:50
still there. His body had remained
0:53
inside since 1944,
0:56
lying exactly where the crew placed him
0:58
in the final minutes of the flight.
1:02
For decades, he remained there until
1:05
sometime after my dive, a formal
1:08
recovery operation took place. His
1:11
remains recovered, identified, returned
1:15
home, and buried where he belonged.
1:19
The footage you are seeing now comes
1:21
from after that recovery. The dive I'm
1:24
talking about came before it. By this
1:28
stage of the war, American heavy bombers
1:30
were operating at the very edge of their
1:32
range. Most launch from large Allied air
1:36
bases in southern Italy. long prepared
1:39
runways built specifically for four
1:42
engine aircraft flying deep into
1:44
occupied Europe.
1:46
When bombers were damaged over the
1:48
Balkans or central Europe, getting back
1:51
was almost impossible.
1:54
Crews looked for anywhere they could
1:55
still reach, and the island of Viz
1:58
became one of those lifelines.
2:00
Located on the eastern side of the
2:02
Adriatic, damaged bombers could use it
2:05
to avoid a long and dangerous sea
2:07
crossing. By mid 1944, it had been
2:11
turned into a forward Allied air base.
2:14
An emergency airirst strip had been
2:16
carved out of the island and been
2:18
brought into use just months before this
2:20
aircraft was lost. So why did this B7
2:24
not try to land?
2:26
Because viz was never a safe airfield
2:29
for a heavy bomber. The strip was short
2:32
and rough, built for emergencies, not
2:35
for damaged 4 engine aircraft arriving
2:38
heavy and compromised. For a B7 in that
2:42
condition, a wheels down landing was a
2:44
serious gamble. If anything went wrong
2:47
on approach or touchdown, the aircraft
2:50
could break apart, collapse its
2:52
undercarriage, or burn with the crew
2:54
trapped inside.
2:56
Ditching near shore was different. It
2:59
allowed the pilot to control the
3:01
touchdown, keep the aircraft afloat, and
3:04
get the crew out quickly with rescue
3:06
close by. That's why this aircraft did
3:09
not attempt the runway. It was still
3:11
flyable, but it wasn't safely landable.
3:15
And that choice seemed to be a really
3:18
good one. Although the impact was hard,
3:21
the aircraft stayed afloat. Every
3:23
surviving crewman got out uninjured.
3:28
Local boats reached the scene and tried
3:30
to tow the aircraft back towards shore,
3:32
but it was too badly damaged. As it
3:35
finally sank, the nose went first and
3:38
struck the seabed, causing the damage
3:41
that we can still see today.
3:44
The rest of the aircraft followed,
3:46
sliding down the slope behind it. And
3:50
that explains exactly why we see the
3:52
wreck as it is today.
3:55
This isn't an aircraft scattered by
3:57
violence. It's a wreck laid out by
4:01
gravity. Now, that's a huge difference
4:04
from one of the other videos that I've
4:05
got on this channel, the B24 Lady Luck,
4:09
which is absolutely smashed to bits by
4:12
comparison. I'm going to talk about the
4:15
reasons why later on, but first of all,
4:18
let's have a look up close at this B7.
4:22
And you can see here, this is looking in
4:24
through the window into the cockpit.
4:26
It's absolutely incredible. You can see
4:28
the controls. You can see many of the
4:31
gauges. You can even see some of the
4:34
padding from the seats in which the
4:36
pilots would have sat. this level of
4:39
detail after this amount of time.
4:41
Absolutely incredible. One of the other
4:44
interesting things is that both windows
4:46
are open. And the reason for that is
4:49
because that was how the pilots escaped
4:51
from a ditched aircraft.
4:54
Moving up there, you can see the upper
4:56
turret with its two machine guns pointed
4:59
towards the stern. That little bit there
5:02
which is open, that's where the life
5:04
rafts would have come out.
5:13
And then up here, this hatch you can see
5:16
at the top which is missing the glass.
5:18
That's where the majority of the crew
5:20
would have escaped from
5:22
[Applause]
5:32
[Music]
5:54
moving towards the stern now or the rear
5:57
of the aircraft. You can see it does
6:00
actually have a bit of damage there. And
6:02
that would have been done during the uh
6:04
the impact. It kind of broke apart a
6:07
bit. That area there that just down to
6:09
the left, that's where the two mid
6:12
gunners would have been with their 50
6:14
caliber machine guns pointing out either
6:16
side. And those would have been
6:18
jettisoned before the aircraft came into
6:20
ditch. It was part of the formal
6:22
ditching procedure. Heading towards the
6:25
rear of the aircraft. Now this is the
6:27
deepest point just about 70 m and you
6:31
can see there the rear turret. Once
6:34
again two 50 caliber machine guns on
6:37
there. The gunner would have looked out
6:39
of that window and covered you know
6:42
quite a significant arc. Obviously a
6:44
really important job to keep the
6:47
fighters away from the back of the
6:48
aircraft. These aircraft flew in
6:51
formation. So the gunners would have
6:54
worked together between multiple
6:56
aircraft. They established defensive
6:59
zones and they would cover each other.
7:01
So they would all try and help each
7:03
other out. Obviously that's not what got
7:06
this B7. It was hit by flack. As you can
7:10
see, we're moving forward again past the
7:12
huge tail on the left hand side over the
7:15
top of the, you know, monumental
7:16
stabilizers and carrying back towards
7:19
the cockpit. You can see there's uh a
7:22
hole on the left hand side there. There
7:24
was a small door there to allow entry
7:27
and exit to the aircraft. And then
7:29
moving forward, we can see the waste gun
7:31
position. Again, as I've already said,
7:34
the guns were ditched. But as you can
7:36
see, when you look inside, you can see
7:39
how much stuff there is still in there.
7:41
You can see the mount just on the bottom
7:42
left hand side there. Absolutely um
7:46
incredible, you know, to see how much of
7:49
this is preserved. Okay, there's a bit
7:50
of the skin has gone, but frankly, most
7:53
of the structure is still there, which
7:56
is just incredible. One of the things
7:59
you may have noticed when we were
8:00
peering inside there was the Sperry ball
8:03
turret. It's still there underneath the
8:06
aircraft. And I've slowed down the piece
8:09
of footage looking in through the window
8:11
and also zoomed in a bit. And you could
8:13
just see where the ball or where the top
8:16
of the ball turret is there. So you can
8:18
see a little bit inside it coming out
8:21
and moving forward. You can see we're up
8:23
on the wing onto the starboard wing. You
8:25
can see there the hole to the left.
8:28
That's once again that's where all the
8:30
crew escaped from. That little box shape
8:33
once again on the left as I've already
8:35
said. That's where the life rafts came
8:37
from. There would have been one on
8:38
either side gone out over the wings. The
8:41
crew would have come out of that radio
8:42
operator's hatch onto the wings and
8:45
moved onto the life rafts apart from the
8:48
pilots who came out of the the windows.
8:51
And you can see them about to do it in
8:54
this piece of training footage. Now, all
8:57
I can say is that those windows aren't
8:59
very big. And I can imagine exactly how
9:03
challenging it must have been trying to
9:04
get out of them, especially if the guys
9:07
were wearing the full clothing that they
9:09
would have worn on a a bomber mission
9:11
over Germany when they've got, you know,
9:13
all the big heavy clothing and all that
9:15
kind of stuff. But they must have done
9:17
it because they all got out okay, even
9:19
though those windows do look really
9:21
small. Another interesting thing from
9:24
this angle is you can see how smashed
9:26
the nose is. And I've already said
9:28
that's what took the brunt when it hit
9:30
the seabed. And you can see there the
9:32
bombardier and navigator's position
9:34
which is right in the nose. Both
9:36
completely smashed, both completely
9:38
gone. And in here is where the body
9:43
would have been. Now it's not here when
9:45
this video was taken because it has been
9:48
recovered, but we are going to have a
9:50
look in here. And you can see the tunnel
9:52
where Ernest's body remained for all of
9:55
those years.
9:57
Now, one of the things people sometimes
9:59
ask me is, "How do I feel about diving
10:02
wrecks where people have died?" I'll be
10:06
honest, it doesn't bother me. Death is
10:09
part of life. We all routinely go to
10:13
places where people have died and
10:16
frankly where there are still bodies.
10:18
So, I've done any number of battlefield
10:20
tours. I've been to places like the SO
10:23
and Normandy and there are still bodies
10:26
there. There are still people missing
10:28
and almost certainly if you go to the SO
10:31
for instance, you're walking relatively
10:33
close to the remains of somebody.
10:36
To be honest, I don't really have a
10:39
problem with that because I think the
10:41
mere fact that you're there is part of
10:43
the process of remembering those people.
10:46
Me diving this wreck or not diving this
10:49
wreck is never going to bring Ernest
10:51
back to life. But the mere fact that
10:54
you're listening to me talking about him
10:56
now means that he's not as forgotten as
10:59
he might have been otherwise. People
11:01
will probably know that I'm an
11:02
exmilitary helicopter pilot. I flew on
11:05
operations.
11:07
Obviously, none of them were anywhere
11:09
near as dangerous or as risky or really
11:12
as important as what Nest and tens of
11:15
thousands of his comrades were doing. It
11:18
does mean though that I feel a sense of
11:19
kinship with them. And I think maybe I
11:23
get a sense of how they would feel if
11:26
this was my B7 and I'd been in there.
11:30
Would I be pleased that people were
11:31
still coming to visit me and remember
11:33
me? Yeah, I think I probably would be.
11:36
On the other hand, I know there'll be
11:38
loads of people who feel very
11:39
differently, and I guess that's the
11:41
thing. We all have our own opinions.
11:44
We're all entitled to them, and it's
11:46
okay to disagree.
11:48
I think it's also worth talking about
11:50
the recovery operation that took place.
11:52
This is something that the Americans
11:53
take really seriously, and where
11:56
possible, they always try to bring home
11:58
their aviators. So there's an
12:01
organization called the Defense P MIA
12:05
accounting agency and they go around the
12:08
world uh and try to locate, recover,
12:11
identify service personnel missing from
12:14
past wars. Obviously that's a time
12:17
consuming, expensive process, but
12:20
they're aware of the significant number
12:22
of World War II heavy bomber wrecks that
12:25
lie around Viz. and they they I think
12:29
are slowly working their way through
12:30
them. They started off in uh with a B24
12:33
that's a lot shallower than this. I
12:35
think in about 40 m and they then moved
12:38
on and they they've done this one. I'm
12:41
not sure whether they've got any plans
12:42
for doing any of the others, but I think
12:45
one of the problems is that the depth in
12:48
particular makes this sort of thing
12:49
really difficult. This one's 70 m and
12:53
quite a lot of the other bombers are
12:55
much deeper. So the B24 lady luck that I
12:58
mentioned earlier on that's 90 odd
13:01
meters
13:03
to do work at those depths to dive at
13:05
those depths is risky and dangerous and
13:09
very expensive and it's I'm not really
13:12
clear you know when we say there's a
13:14
body on this wreck. I don't think
13:16
there's very much. I don't think they
13:18
found very much,
13:20
but I guess it's important to them and
13:23
where they can, they'll do as much of it
13:25
as possible. Ultimately, they have to
13:28
balance the cost, the risk against, you
13:32
know, how good it is to bring somebody
13:34
home.
13:35
What I want to do now is quickly return
13:37
to something I've mentioned already, the
13:40
B24. So, I've talked about the B24 Lady
13:43
Luck, which is the subject of another
13:45
one of my videos. And if you haven't
13:47
seen it, obviously uh I think you'll
13:49
really enjoy it. And I'll put a link in
13:50
the description and above. But the B-24
13:54
is really interesting because what it
13:55
shows is a very different sort of crash
13:58
site to this one. And more importantly,
14:00
a very different tale. On this B7,
14:04
all of the crew who were there for the
14:08
landing survived. The only casualty
14:10
earnest
14:12
occurred, you know, when they were
14:14
actually on the mission. The B24 is very
14:17
different. All 10 crew members were
14:20
alive at the start of the landing
14:22
process. Only one of them survived. And
14:26
that is down to the differences between
14:29
the way that the B-24 and the B17
14:32
performed when they landed on water. And
14:34
it's an absolutely incredible thing,
14:37
especially considering that the Rex are
14:39
only a few miles apart. They landed at a
14:43
very similar time, you know, in
14:45
relatively similar circumstances. And
14:47
the reason is that the B-24 were
14:50
notoriously poor at ditching. They had a
14:52
high wing and a slabsided fuselage,
14:56
which meant that even a wellexecuted
14:58
ditching often ended violently.
15:01
Instead of skimming across the surface,
15:03
the nose dug in and basically the
15:06
aircraft broke apart very violently into
15:10
two bits.
15:12
By contrast, the B17 had a low wing and
15:16
a big surface area. And what that meant
15:18
is that you could ditch it much more
15:21
smoothly. And because of that, they were
15:24
far more likely to stay intact and even
15:27
float as we saw in these uh in this
15:30
situation. So, it's incredible. Two
15:32
aircraft, very similar size, very
15:35
similar roles, completely different
15:37
performance when ditched. And this was
15:40
obviously all about design rather than
15:43
crew skill or anything else. The B-24
15:47
was designed to carry more bombs. And it
15:50
could carry significantly more bombs
15:52
than a than a B7 uh depending on the
15:55
range and the amount of fuel, but you
15:57
know, up to twice as much uh bomb load,
15:59
which when you consider that they had
16:01
the same crew, they were a similar sort
16:03
of size. That's why the American High
16:06
Command was, you know, preferred the
16:09
B-24 to the B7. What was the trade-off
16:12
for that? Well, the trade-off was the B7
16:14
was probably more survivable and it was
16:18
definitely more survivable when it came
16:20
to ditching on water. So really
16:23
interesting thing there that the uh
16:25
Americans prioritized
16:28
this ability to I guess deliver effect
16:30
to the enemy over their own crews
16:34
survivability.
16:36
Nothing shows that better than the two
16:39
wrecks that we see here on the seabed in
16:41
viz. the completely intact B17 in which
16:46
everybody
16:48
survived the landing versus the B-24
16:52
Lady Luck. You know what a name where
16:56
everybody survived up until the moment
16:58
of the impact and then only one person
17:01
lived to tell the tale. It's a
17:04
fascinating contrast and as a diver an
17:08
absolute privilege to be able to witness
17:11
these things and to understand exactly
17:14
what happened. I mean the simple fact is
17:17
these wrecks don't need drama adding to
17:19
them. Everything that matters is already
17:23
here. You can see the damaged aircraft.
17:26
You can see how the crew made the
17:29
decisions.
17:31
We can talk about the navigator who
17:33
never made it out and the aircraft that
17:36
carried that moment with it for decades.
17:41
The evidence was preserved here in the
17:43
sea. We can see how the aircraft was
17:46
ditched, how the crew escaped, and
17:50
understand why it lies exactly as it
17:53
does today. I think I'd also like to
17:56
thank the work of those who came later
18:00
because they've closed one part of the
18:03
story. The aircraft though still remains
18:07
where it fell, silent.
18:10
But the man who guided it across the sky
18:12
is no longer here. He's home.
18:16
Probably back where he belongs.
18:20
For me, I think dives like this really
18:23
matter. Not necessarily for the depth,
18:26
not for the difficulty, but because I
18:30
feel that they connect us directly to,
18:35
you know, really important events,
18:38
real decisions that were made by real
18:40
people under pressure. And so I think
18:44
it's fair to say this isn't just a B7 on
18:47
the seabed. It's not just a beautifully
18:51
preserved wreck. It's not just an
18:54
incredible dive, although it is all of
18:56
those things as well. It's actually the
19:00
last chapter of a journey that began in
19:03
the air and ended right here.
19:10
I'm Dom Robinson, Deep Wreck Diver. I
19:14
hope you've enjoyed this video and I'll
19:16
look forward to seeing you on the next
19:18
one.