Martin Baltimore AG699
The Story
It was a light twin-engine bomber built in the United States by Martin, with a total of 1575 units all destined for the British RAF, where they entered service starting in 1942.
It was 14.78 meters long, had a wingspan of 18.69 meters, and could reach a speed of 490 km/h. Its armament consisted of eight 7.7mm Vickers machine guns, four of which were wing-mounted, two in the dorsal turret, and two in a ventral position. It could carry up to 900 kg of bombs.
Although the identification is not yet entirely certain, it can be stated with very high probability that the Martin Baltimore in question is the AG699, belonging to the 69th RAF Squadron based in Malta.
The AG699 did not return to base from a maritime reconnaissance mission in the area of Pantelleria on June 15, 1942, as part of Operations Harpoon and Vigorous, two heavily escorted convoys, one coming from Alexandria and the other from Gibraltar, carrying vital supplies for the support of resistance and operations in Malta.
The AG699 was intercepted and shot down by a Bf 109 from Stab/JG 53 taking off from Pantelleria and piloted by Leutnant Franz Schiess.
Three crew members of the AG699, pilot Serg. F. W. Baum, radio operator and gunner Serg. W. E. Fincham, and gunner R.T. Purslow, were rescued and taken prisoner, while Serg. A. Greaves, the navigator, died during the ditching.
Sources:
F. Portella, “REPORT SPEDIZIONE LINOSA – GIUGNO 2022”
https://web.archive.org/web/20070920041158/http://www.marylandaviationmuseum.org/history/martin_aircraft/16_baltimore.html
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_187_Baltimore
Photo: USAAF, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The Model
The three-dimensional model of the wreck is the result of 25,585 photos taken in the summer of 2023. Their creation required more than 8 hours of bottom time on the wreck, while their processing required over a week of computing time.
Photo: M. Arena, S. Gualtieri, P. Labò, A.Ferrandi, C. De Seta
Processing: S. Gualtieri, K. Beemster Leverenz, N. Arena
The Wreck
The wreck is located a few hundred meters from the coast of the island of Linosa and lies on a gently sloping sandy bottom.
The tail section rests at a depth of 85 meters, the bow at 87 meters depth. The bow is oriented at 220°.
The wreck is in excellent condition except for a fracture in the middle of the fuselage where a twin machine gun was located and a small portion of the left wing missing; finally, the forward observer’s position is bent to the left side. Below the observer’s position, right underneath it, there is a hole in the sand approximately 1.5 m in diameter and almost 1 m deep. It is easy to imagine that the hole was dug by the impact of the aircraft falling from 87 meters onto the sand, as well as that this impact further damaged and shifted the fragile observer’s position.
The pilot’s cockpit is still intact, as are the instruments and controls albeit no longer in their original position.
The wreck is only partially buried in sand, with the wings and tailplane still raised off the seabed. The vertical tailplane is intact, and the rudder is positioned to the right. The two propellers are metallic, three-bladed, in excellent condition (the right one is slightly bent), most likely they were stopped and “feathered” during the ditching.
The surface of the aircraft is colonized by marine organisms, and there are no traces of paint.
It is worth noting that no intact examples of the Martin Baltimore are known: no aircraft survived the Second World War and subsequent scrappings: only a few museums have some pieces and a wreck in the waters of the Greek island of Ikaria. This significantly increases the historical and symbolic value of the discovery and identification.
