Part of aircraft washed up on Sicilian coastline...

[dave_b]

Today I found this aircraft part on the Sicilian coastline precisely here: 38.16727872171935, 12.768899395479409 (Open in Google) It appears to be part of an aircraft's fuselage that's been washed up. Can anyone identify the aircraft? Many thanks.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Its part of the wheel well of missing airliner MH370…



No seriously, are there any visible numbers?

 

[dave_b]

The only visible number I can see is in this image. The code is E366. It's adjacent to the ends of two electrical wires that are screwed into the aluminium.

 

[Freddy]

The geographical coordinates correspond to the beach of San Vito lo Capo, Trapani, Sicily.
To tell the truth, at first I had thought of a plane shot down in that area during the WWII and, in an initial research, I had found some of them.
For example:
12/03/1943 Beaufort II DD928 39 SQN RAF Shot down by flak, 4 killed
12/03/1943 Beaufort II DD934 39 SQN RAF Shot down by flak, 4 killed
11/09/1943 Beaufighter VI EL534 272 SQN RAF Lost unknown reason 2 rescued
09/26/1943 Beaufighter TFX ? 255 SQN RAF Mid air collision 2 KIA.
05/09/1943 Bf 109 G-4 19523 4./JG 27, Officer. Otto Hein, WIA
06/18/1943 Bf 109 G-4 19586 TC+CD Rote 11 + - 5/JG 27 Officer. Herbert Lotter, MIA. Fuselage recovered Aug. 2003 about 3 miles off San Vito lo Capo.
17/05/1943 Bf 109 G-6 16451 DS+SN Weiße 18 + - 4./JG 27 Fw. Josef Brandl, MIA. Unk causes.

Subsequently, after a more careful examination of some of the photos I noticed that, apart from the label with the number E366 which, apparently and from its state of conservation, would seem to be made of plastic, there are some details that suggest a much more recent aircraft.

1) In the same photo ... da8182dd.jpg, the connectors for the electrical cables near the label appear to be made of plastic and of a fairly "modern" design
2) In the photos ...59f5cdf4.jpg, ...ad11f241.jpg, ...5641e856.jpg and ...5538a953.jpg, a small white support, perhaps a nylon cable fastener, is clearly visible on the perforated sheet, fixed with a stainless steel screw. This detail also seems absolutely "modern".
3) Even assuming that it is an internal part of the structure, given the protruding and round-headed rivets, I could not understand the reason for the dark gray painting which did not seem to me to protect the aluminium. Then I noticed, in the photo ...da8182dd.jpg, that there is a fragment of the gray paint that is peeling off and which shows the original aluminum protector in the classic light green color. It therefore seems to be understood that the covering gray paint was applied subsequently although I cannot understand the reasons for this.

In summary, among the planes that crashed in that stretch of sea, there is also this one, to which the part probably belonged:
Date of crash: Tuesday 18 September 1973
Time: c. 9.30 pm LT
Type: Lockheed F-104S Starfighter ASA (built by Aeritalia)
Owner/operator: 36 Stormo 21 Gruppo Italian Air Force (AMI)
Registration: MM6738 aircraft 53-2 (belonging to 53 Stormo)
MSN: 783-1038
Fatalities: Fatalities: 1
Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location: Near San Vito Lo Capo (TP), Sicily - Italy
Phase: Approach
Nature: Military Departure airport: Trapani-Birgi (LICT) (9.50 pm)
Destination airport: Trapani-Birgi (LICT)
Confidence Rating: Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources
Narrative: Most probably flew into the sea after take-off during an Air Defense Exercise. The body of Ten. Carlo Comana has never been found
Sources: http://www.916-starfighter.de/F-104_AMI_losses.htm
http://archiviostorico.unita.it/cgi-bin/highlightPdf.cgi?t=ebook&file=/archivio/uni_1973_ 09/19730920 _0008.pdf (not yet available)

I tried, among the images of crashed F-104s, to find something resembling the wreck shown in the photos, or also parts painted in dark gray, or even the number E366 (in the F-104 maintenance manuals), but, unfortunately, I couldn't find anything more.

 

[SaparotRob]

I love a good detective story.