There are no plans to raise the Baltimore’s wreck and restore it for museum display and preservation.
Some of the most satisfying, not to mention poignantly solemn, moments are those when a long-lost ship or aircraft wreck is finally found.
The latest such example to make headlines is a World War II aircraft story that has a multinational nexus with Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Greece. In the process, an eighty-two-year-old story has finally found some closure.
The Story’s Beginnings
The story comes to us from two sources, namely an article by Kapil Kajal for Interesting Engineering reshared on MSN on or about April 10, 2025, titled “WWII Aussie bomber shot down by Nazis found in Greek waters after 82 years,” as well as an official Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) press release dated March 26, 2025. To quote the latter source:
“Operated by RAAF’s No 454 Squadron, Baltimore FW282 was returning from a mission over the Aegean Sea on 3 December 1943 when it was intercepted by German fighter aircraft and sustained heavy damage … While ditching into the ocean, pilot Flight Lieutenant Horsley was knocked unconscious and awoke as water filled the cockpit. After swimming to the surface and realising he was alone, Flight Lieutenant Horsley swam to shore, where he was handed over to German authorities. The pilot spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner of war in Germany. The other three crewmembers were listed as missing, believed killed.”
The other three crewmembers were:
The Wreckage Is Found
Fast-forward to 2024, and the Greek technical diving group AegeanTec, which specializes in exploring deep-water wrecks beyond the reach of recreational divers, located the wreck in 61 meters (200.13 feet) of water off the island of Antikythera.
Believing it to be a RAAF warplane, AegeanTec contacted History and Heritage-Air Force, which assessed the discovery, and positively confirmed the wreckage as that of RAAF Baltimore FW282.
The Martin Model 187 (A-30) Baltimore Bomber Brief History and Specifications
Built in the United States by the Glenn L. Martin Company (which became Martin Marietta in 1961 and Lockheed Martin in 1995)—whose most famous World War II aircraft were the B-26 Marauder medium bomber and the PBM Mariner flying boat—the Model 187 Baltimore (designated by the U.S. Army Air Forces as the A-30 Baltimore) made its maiden flight on June 14, 1941, and officially went operational later that year.
Tech specs and vital stats of the warbird (courtesy of Martin Hill in a 2017 article for HistoryNet) were as follows:
- Fuselage Length: 48.5 feet
- Wingspan: 61 feet
- Powerplant: Two 1,600-hp Wright GR2600-A5B5 Double Cyclone engines
- Max Airspeed: 300+ mph
- Cruise speed: 220 mph
- Service Ceiling: 24,000 feet
- Combat Range: 950 miles)
- Armament:
- Guns:
- Two forward-firing .303-inch Browning machine guns in each wing
- Additional Browning .303 on a flexible mount in an open cockpit just aft of the pilot (Mark I variant)
- Replaced in the Mark III variant by Boulton-Paul turret packing four .303-inch machine guns
- In turn, replaced in the Mk. IV variant by a Martin 250CE turret, with a twin .50-caliber mount
- Replaced in the Mark III variant by Boulton-Paul turret packing four .303-inch machine guns
- Bombs: 2,000 lb. bomb payload
- Guns:
A total of 1,575 airframes were built. Other purchasers of the Baltimore included the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force (Italy’s air force for the remaining two years of WWII after the overthrow of Mussolini), the Free French Air Force, the Royal Hellenic Air Force, the Turkish Air Force, and the South African Air Force.
The last operational Baltimore was retired on December 23, 1949.
Where to From Here?
Senior leaders from the RAAF, RNZAF, and Royal Air Force (RAF) made the following public statements:
“This aircraft discovery is significant and offers the chance to provide closure to families. The efforts of groups such as AegeanTec are critical for us in accounting for those 3143 Australian aviators with no known grave from the Second World War and the Korean conflict. I am pleased, alongside my colleagues from the RAF and RNZAF, to this week to be able to announce the find and for us to acknowledge, collectively, the bravery of this combined crew of aviators from our three nations.”-Air Marshal Stephen Chappell, RAAF chief of Air Force.
“I hope it will bring some sense of closure for the families. The sacrifice of this brave crew has long been remembered, especially by their families, and we can now honour their final resting-place with the respect they deserve.”-Air Vice-Marshal Darryn Webb, RNZAF chief of Air Force.
“It’s an honour to acknowledge the bravery of the multinational crew. This was a generation who embodied the importance of service and comradeship. Their efforts were the base on which the RAF continues to maintain the security of the UK at home and abroad.”-Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, RAF chief of the Air Staff.
From these quoted statements, it is evident that there are no plans to raise the Baltimore’s wreck and restore it for museum display and preservation for posterity, but rather the wreckage will be left in place as an honored war grave.
Meanwhile, there are no known surviving Baltimore bombers, unfortunately.
About the Author: Christian D. Orr
Christian D. Orr was previously a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ) and 19FortyFive. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch, The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS). If you’d like to pick his brain further, you can ofttimes find him at the Old Virginia Tobacco Company (OVTC) lounge in Manassas, Virginia, partaking of fine stogies and good quality human camaraderie.
Image: Wikimedia Commons.
