DORNIER 24 XPEDITION
The first of June 1949 the Dornier 24 assigned to the Aspretto�s
aeronaval base takes off from Saint Mandrier to Ajaccio. Halfway there, because
of the bad weather, the pilot decides to return to the base. He also informs his
base that he has a problem with one engine. But suddenly, near Port Cros, the
three engines stop. Captain Bohain, who pilots the plane, decides to land on
water. But the seaplane violently crashes. One of the two floats breaks loose
and the hydroplane overturns and sinks. The pilot is killed while the other crew
members are saved by a fishing boat, the Anne-Marie.
All traces of the Dornier 24 have disappeared except stories told by
fishermen, without any date or place.
But in 1999 a film made by two submarines in 1991 for the French Navy
(the Griffon and the Triton) was shown on television. The story says that the
Dornier 24 was discovered after a sea army exercise: a torpedo was deflected
from its trajectory and was lost. The minesweeper Thetys responsible for torpedo
search found the Dornier: the enormous metal mass attracted the torpedo which is
still laying in front of the plane�s cockpit.
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