This week, specialist divers and archaeologists completed an operation to retrieve the wreckage of a 1943 Fairey Barracuda Torpedo Bomber (believed to be No. BV739) - just in time for the 75^th anniversary of D-Day.

The three-seater plane, part of 810 Squadron Royal Navy Air Station, based at Lee-On-Solent is believed to have got into difficulty shortly after taking off for its test flight before crashing 500m from the coast in Portsmouth.

The Barracuda wreckage is the only one to have ever been found in one piece and the last remaining aircraft of its kind in the UK.

David Luetchford, Head of IFA2 for National Grid said: “Interconnectors are about bringing us closer to a zero-carbon future, but we must also respect the past. An important part of our job is to always have a thorough and sympathetic approach to archaeological finds. Over the course of the project we’ve inspected over 1,000 targets of interest, many of which were found to be unexploded ordnance, not unusual given the history of this location. However, to have found a 1943 Fairey Barracuda torpedo bomber is incredible and such a key piece of British history.

It’s not every day you get the chance to play a role in an operation like this and it is very lucky to have found the plane in such a small search area. We surveyed a 180-metre-wide area along the cable route and if we had chosen a slightly different route, there is a good chance the plane would never have been found.”

Work to fully retrieve the plane started on the 23^rd May is expected to take around three weeks in total as experts from Wessex Archaeology are carefully excavating the area around the aircraft and removing large amounts of silt and clay.

So far, both wings have successfully been lifted out of the waters and the remainder of the plane will be recovered by lifting it in sections over the coming days.

 “The recovery of the Fairey Barracuda will aid an ongoing Fleet Air Arm Museum project to recreate what will be the world’s only complete example of this type of aircraft. This will give us a chance to examine a unique lost piece of aviation history”.

Once retrieved, the parts will be taken to the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Museum in Somerset where it will be studied and used to rebuild a full-size Barracuda in the site’s aircraft hangar.

David Morris, Curator at The National Museum of the Royal Navy has been working on the project for several years and visited four other Barracuda crash sites to retrieve suitable parts.

He said: “This is an incredible find and a wonderful piece of British history. There are very few blueprints of the Barracuda plane design available so this wreckage will be studied to enable us to see how the plane segments fitted together and how we can use some of the parts we currently have.

“This find is a huge step forward for our project and we can’t wait to get it back to the museum and share our findings with the public.”

The plane’s pilot has been named as SUB LNT DJ Williams who managed to escape the crash and survived WW2.

The IFA2 team at The Big Bang @ Solent STEM event

We were delighted to be one of forty businesses providing activities for 1000 young people at the STEM at The Big Bang @ Solent STEM event in April. Our team worked with students throughout the day to explore and create electrical circuits.

Jacquie Jones, EBP South Project Manager said ‘The Big Bang Solent is a hugely popular event with schools and businesses. With research showing that the STEM skills shortage costs UK businesses around £1.5 billion per year this is a proactive established event that allows businesses to upskill young people.’

Jade Fuller, Project Manager of Employment and Skills at Solent LEP said ‘It is vital for employers and businesses to engage their future workforce and Big Bang @ Solent provides a great opportunity for them to do this. The Solent LEP is proud to sponsor events that enable young people to meet with organisations to ensure that they are aware of the future career pathways available to them.’

The Big Bang @ Solent is organised by EBP South to inspire young people to explore the career opportunities and industries STEM can open up to them.

We have been visiting local junior schools as part of a wider school engagement programme, and recently visited Crofton Hammond Junior School in Fareham.

Craig Hunter, IFA2’s Assistant Commercial Manager, led an assembly with ‘Mad Scientists’, Super Sian and Electric Eddy. 90 children in Year 4 attended the session, which kicked off with a careers talk from Craig on engineering. Super Sian and Electric Eddy then took over, giving insight into the history of electricity and teaching the year group about some of the most famous electricians.

The children were keen to get involved in an experiment to demonstrate how electric currents are conducted. The Van de Graaff generator concluded the session, and was met with delight from all the pupils!

As we continue to work on the IFA2 project, we are keen to support children living in the local area, making learning about STEM subjects engaging and fun.

Our school engagement programme is open to all local primary schools – for more information, email info@ifa2interconnector.com or call 0800 0194 576.