SUMMARY OF SALVAGE
Extracts from:
THE TIMES 22nd January 1954
PORTO AZZURRO, ELBA, Jan 21 - The Favilla, one of the two ships of the Anglo-Mediterranean Sea Recovery Company, reported late tonight that she has probably located the main part of the fuselage of the Comet.
THE TIMES 6th February 1954
With care and patience a needle can be found even in a
haystack. It is on
these lines that the Royal Navy is conducting a search for parts of the
wrecked Comet jet
airliner lost by the British Overseas Airways Corporation in the
Tyrrhean Sea on
January 10.
It is a formidable operation. Probably never before has the Navy
been set so strange
a task; nor have so many expert brains and large sums of money been
devoted to recovering
pieces of twisted and torn metal of so intrinsic worth. Yet upon the
success of the
salvage operation may depend the future of Britain’s foremost jet
airliner -
the de Havilland Comet - and, most important of all, the future safety,
perhaps, of many
travellers by air.
THE TIMES 10th February 1954
A search made today for wreckage of the lost Comet airliner in the area south of the island of Elba, where an Italian motor trawler, the Sirio, last Saturday located with its nets a large object, is reported to have confirmed the belief that this object is the fuselage of the aircraft.
THE TIMES 17th February 1954
SEA SALVOR, OFF ELBA, Feb. 16. - Underwater television on board the frigate Wakeful today sighted “a large piece of the body” of the Comet airliner which crashed in the sea off Elba last month with the loss of 35 lives.
THE TIMES 22nd February 1954
ON BOARD R.F.A. SEA SALVOR. On the boat deck of
this salvage vessel
lies part of the Comet airliner which was lost off Elba just six weeks
ago today. Some
clothing, sea wet and muddy, is drying in the warm Mediterranean
sunshine and the tattered
and torn metal parts have been hosed clean.
The recovery of these items, probably the most important so far brought
up, from 67
fathoms deep, is due to the skilful use of new underwater television
equipment and to the
skill of the officers and men of the Sea Salvor.
THE TIMES 18th March 1954
THE TIMES 28th May 1954
The complete tail section of the Comet aircraft which
crashed near Elba
in January has been recovered from the sea and is on its way to Rome,
where a B.O.A.C.
Hastings aircraft is expected to arrive from London today to fly to
England.
The latest piece of wreckage to be recovered is reported by Italian
sources to be
approximately 10ft. by 16ft. in size and is one of the most important
sections of the
aircraft recovered so far..............the tail section was found 600
yards from where the
engines and a large section of fuselage had previously recovered. The
recovery of this
section virtually completes the salvage operation. The search for Comet
wreckage has been
going on for just over four months.
