Barracuda Aircraft Wreck Site, Solent, Hampshire: Examination, Analysis and Conservation of Artefacts Recovered from a Second World War Aircraft Wreck
Author(s): Sarah Paynter, Francesca Gherardi, Angela Middleton, Quita Mould, David Morris
Leather artefacts constituting personal belongings as well as aircraft components and a polymer strip were recovered from the wreck of an unidentified Barracuda aircraft by Wessex Archaeology in 2019. The question of identifying this wreck, from among at least two Barracuda Mk II aircraft known to have been lost in the vicinity, was addressed by analysing paint remnants on these components and comparing the results to paint samples from other Barracuda aircraft made by different manufacturers. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analyses were used. Objects from the site were furthermore described and conserved for archive deposition. These objects and components will form part of the “Barracuda Live: The Big Rebuild” at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in due course.
- Report Number:
- 29/2024
- Series:
- Research Report
- Pages:
- 38
- Keywords:
- Leather Second World War
