Divers in search for Hurricane off Lihou
A SCUBA diving team have vowed to return to find a sunken Second World War plane in the waters off Lihou Island after the first search failed.
The Hawker Hurricane crashed north of Lihou on 11 April 1941.
Scottish RAF pilot Robert ‘Bobby’ Stirling had lost his bearings while chasing a German bomber and ditched.
Local pilot and historian Tim Osborne has made it his mission to get the Scottish RAF pilot’s story told.
He put the word out that he was looking to assemble a dive crew to search for the wreck. Within hours, local divers Phil Warry and JP Fallaize volunteered and local fisherman Zeb Le Noury gave his time, skippering skills and his boat to the cause.
‘We did a lot of calculations to develop a search area. When the tides were right Phil and JP went down,’ Mr Osborne said.
‘The area the wreck is on would be sand and gravel but there are a lot of rocks around there, so the boys needed to know what they were doing. They were down there for about an hour and a half and had good visibility.’
The divers did not find the wreck.
‘We now know we need to be in shallower water nearby. We are looking for a needle in a haystack, but we’ve narrowed the haystack. I am absolutely confident the wreck is there. We have corroborating evidence of the ditching. We will keep diving until we find it.’
The divers and the skipper have committed to another dive in early September.
Mr Osborne said finding what is left of the wreck on the next dive would complete Bobby’s story.
Stirling’s War, made by Gareth Papworth and Element Films UK and starring local actor David Hyett, will be launched at the Performing Arts Centre on 13 October.
Bobby Stirling’s grandson and his wife and their two sons are set to attend the premier.
If the team finds the wreck on their next dive, it will be included in the film, as will a closing song written and performed by Mr Osborne.
